It’s 2021… Now what?

2020 was a hell of a year, right?

We’re all grateful it’s over.

Except…

Well shit y’all, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but literally nothing is different just because we have passed a human-created construct of temporal delineation. December 31st and January 1st are only a second apart, when you think about it. And while a lot of things can change in a moment, most things don’t.

In other words, just because it’s not 2020 anymore, doesn’t mean that everything is different all of a sudden.

It’s 2021. Now what?

I’m not trying to be a Debbie Downer here — in fact, I want to do the opposite. Look, I don’t subscribe to the New Year, New You ideology, and I generally don’t make New Year’s resolutions… But as we start a new year, it’s not a bad time to make some changes.

And after all, if you want your life to change, you have to change your life.

2021 is an opportunity

What do you want out of this year? Do you want things to stay the same, or get better? Do you want to stay the same, or get better?

No matter what you’d like to do with your life, there are two things you need to know.

1. 2021 is an opportunity — if you want to make a change, you might as well do it now.

2. 2021 comes with no guarantees — if you want it to be a good year, you’ve got to make it that way.

Making shit happen

2020 wasn’t a great year for most of the world, but you know what? I had some good times and incredible opportunities in 2020. I learned the basics of a trade, got an excellent job, bought a new truck, and got a second dog. I became a NOLS certified Wilderness First Responder, helped introduce college students to Leave No Trace fundamentals while backpacking in Badlands National Park, and finally learned how to use a map and compass.

Not everyone had those opportunities — some people have lost friends and loved ones, jobs, and businesses. 2020 was not gentle. But there are things we can control, and things that we can’t. We can’t control a virus, the economy, or what other people do.

We can control what we as individuals do.

Do you know what I’m going to do in 2021? Build new habits. Learn new things. Develop new skills. Become a better version of myself.

And no matter what 2021 has in store for us, I hope you do the same.

How to make it happen

The part about building new habits is key. Motivation gets you started. Discipline keeps you going. Habits make you succeed.

We only have so much willpower. When we have to make hard choices throughout our day or make ourselves do things we don’t want to, we diminish the amount of willpower we’ve got left for the day. But when we make something into a habit, we don’t have to think about it or exercise much willpower to complete the behavior.

We do it quite naturally. Because that’s what habits are. Behaviors that we do without thinking.

So no matter what you want to do this year, if you want to succeed at it, make it a habit.

Need a little help?

If you’re like me and have trouble building new habits — good ones anyway — then my Habit Builder Printable might help. I designed it to help me stick to it until the behavior I want becomes a habit. If it works for me, it can work for you too.