How to not fail at your goals in 2022

Focusing on your identity and the power of people

As it’s the beginning of a new year, most of us have probably spent some time reflecting on 2021 and have thought about how we can improve for this new beginning.

Unfortunately, the reality is, unless implemented correctly, you will not accomplish your New Year’s goals or resolutions.

Ok, that’s a bit harsh, but it’s the truth. Studies have shown that 67% of people give up on their New Year’s goals within 1 month of making them.

“Although setting New Year resolutions is a popular activity in many cultures, our findings are consistent with the folk wisdom that people are not particularly good at sticking to them (study).”

How can you make changes that stick?

While, you might be saying, “Wow thanks for all this negativity Sul, I guess I might as well just give up now….” (okay loser). I’ll teach you a concept and a system on how to get your ideal habits to stick in 2022.

Concept: Focus on the identity, not the goal

When most people set their New Year’s goals, they are hyperfocused on the outcome. That is the first step towards failure.

Take these goals you’ve set and reframe them for the identity they’re centred around.

For example:

• Goal: I want to lose 10 lbs

• Identity: I’m going to be a healthy person

I recommend taking this idea and applying it to each of the goals you’ve set. By focusing on embodying the identity — you will feel ownership of the goal and it will apply to more areas of your life than just this singular goal.

Going back to the example, by taking on the identity of a healthy person, perhaps you’ll reject the donut offered to you by your coworker because you’re now a healthy person who doesn’t eat donuts. By embodying the identity, you may unconsciously set rules to ensure that you keep your word (by not lying to yourself).

System: Socialize it

There’s a tweet that I think about frequently from George Mack (Writer, Marketer):

George Mack @george__mack

3. Shaan Clubs • Cliche trope: "You're the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with" • @ShaanVP takes this simple cliche and actually implements it - by creating clubs of similar people. • He wanted to learn poker, so lived in a house of people learning poker

This tweet discusses Shaan Puri (one of the hosts of the My First Million podcast) and how every time he wants to learn something new, he makes groups that socialize his learning process. Instead of approaching the concept on his own, he creates a club centred around the concept.

This is such a simple yet powerful system.

An easier way to implement this system is to:

1. Find others who either represent what you want to become or who want to embody the same identity as you.

2. Create a group chat.

3. Have an accountability group call once a week.

In 2021, I wanted to become a more consistent reader, so instead of pursuing this alone, I asked 3 of my closest friends if they wanted to create a book club together. We’ve now read 5 books together and will hopefully smash through 12 together as a group this year (on our way to becoming bonafide readers)!

How to make that system even easier

Ok but now you might be saying, “OMG Sul, but I don’t have any friends that want to do XYZ with me!!!” (my god stop complaining).

Well, I have an even easier solution. In 2021, Justin Kan (co-founder of Twitch) and Omar Jalalzada launched Kin Habits, a social habit tracker.

Justin Kan ❄️ @justinkan

Finally launched Kin, the social habit tracker app I’ve been working on with @OmarJalalzada @damienkan @amittm for a year. It’s a labor of love for us! Check us out in Product Hunt.

producthunt.comKin Habits - Build healthy habits with friends | Product HuntKin is a social habit tracking app that helps you create long-lasting changes. We make it easy and fun to build healthy habits effectively. Take courses to learn new habits or improve existing ones, share habits with friends and much more.

This app is the simplest way to build habits online with others. On Kin, you can build shared habits with friends or use their built-in social network to meet others trying to build habits similar to you!

Using Kin has assisted me in:

• Becoming more self-aware (meditation, journalling habits)

• Being healthier overall (workouts, daily sunlight, stretching habits)

• Sleeping better (bedtime habits)

I honestly believe that if you download and use Kin for 1 month, your ability to achieve your wishes for 2022 will increase by at least 2x.

Kin has many built-in habits to choose from such as gratitude journaling, walking, or yoga but you can add whichever habits you’d like and either share them with a specific group or publicly to anyone who has the app.

In my opinion, Kin is the easiest way to manifest the saying, “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”.

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Keep in mind this is just one concept and one system to help you achieve whatever you may desire in 2022. If you want to learn more specifically about identity-based habits, check out Atomic Habits by James Clear or the post at this link.

If you want to learn more systems on how to achieve more in 2022, please favourite this post and comment so I know you’d like more!

Also, make sure to follow me on Twitter @sulmahmood and subscribe if you enjoyed it!