![](https://thesteelemaiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/DD2D9944-9991-406C-8394-B8D9B9295868-scaled.jpg)
Resolutions can be divisive and I get that. I’m one of those admittedly annoying people that happens to love making a clear set of goals for myself at the start of each year. And while I won’t bore you with everything on my ’24 for ’24 List’ (some are as mundane as find a new dentist) I did want to share how I’m approaching them as a whole. Intentions and process rather than outcomes and shiny ‘afters’. As I look at the new year ahead I keep coming back to this phrase (from James Clear’s newsletter this week):
Think in decades, act in days.
When I consider the areas of my life where I’ve been met with any modicum of success thus far, it’s been because – without phrasing it as such – I’ve adopted this outlook.
– Career
– Personal Finances
– Health
– Relationships
All of it has been best served when I’ve had a long-term macro sense of where I wanted to be and then took small, measurable, daily actions in the interim towards those goals. I removed motivation and luck and divine intervention from the equation. It’s not fate that’s going to keep Adam and I together, or winning the lottery that’s going to stabilize my retirement, or some magic pill that’s going to help me stay in shape. It’s small acts, day by day.
![](https://thesteelemaiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/209D9E6F-F3D4-48FB-A23F-873185CAC17C-scaled.jpg)
In other, punchier, words: How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
Case in point – I’ve got several goals this year that this applies to perfectly. How do I publish a book someday? I write 1,000 words a week. How do I maintain my current strength/fitness? I wake-up at 6:15AM and exercise before work everyday, I add mileage to my running routine, I continue to be mindful to what I eat and drink. How do Adam and I plan for our financial future while also making the most of our current place in life as child-free newlyweds? We keep an active working budget that we review weekly and make joint decisions on new purchases/experiences along with savings/investments. It feels, if not easy, then simple.
![](https://thesteelemaiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/AC55FC90-908F-4CC8-AB61-D59B076F4AD1-scaled.jpg)
In reality, I’m sure there will be days when this approach feels hard rather than frictionless, and I’m not talking about a year of relentless self improvement, but I do think that this simple phrase is a great guiding light for me personally as I look forward to 2024.
I leave you with another phrase that gave me pause this week (it’s a week of motivational phrases – I’m not sorry!)
If it’s not: making me happier, making me money, making me better – I’m not doing it.
Here’s to 2024 friends.
![](https://thesteelemaiden.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/B2A06BC0-5AD7-43F3-BA39-1E9C0F8AAF53-scaled.jpg)
SHOP THE POST: