Beating the Masses to 2025 New Year Resolutions

What if you also started one today, instead of January 1st?

Count to 3, but start doing it when you reach 2

My Instagram explore page have been boosting my productivity lately. Maybe I’m justifying my doom scrolling behavior, or perhaps I’m finally “using the technology” instead of the other way around.

One thing I’m continuing to learn about goal pursuits is to not give your mind too much time to think before taking action in realizing your big goals. The mind will always find at least one excuse to not do hard things.

Consider this approach, when you find yourself debating whether the task at hand is worth your time and effort, just start doing it as you count to three while considering some questions:

Would this harm myself or other people? No? Good, start counting

One.

Have I considered the impact on my other priorities? Yes. Great, go on

Two.

What’s the point of….START DOING IT NOW

Three.

This approach reduces the occasional intrusiveness of our desires while ensuring that we take action on the ones that truly deserve it.

Applying this on the grander scheme of things, I wanted to start pursuing one of my main goals for 2025 before I countdown to January 1st.

Starting My Task with 2 Things

Michele (Muh-kay-lay) and I were just strangers when he sat down to ask me whether I was a social media influencer (I’m not). I had recorded myself talking for 30 minutes with a tripod in the busy hostel cafe that morning, so his question wasn’t out of nowhere.

I told him that vlogging was just for fun. “Just creating some memories for myself”, I said half heartedly, because while it was true, I was hesitant in revealing the main reasons (that I’ll reveal to you below).

He smiled and followed up with another question: “Let me guess, you’re 20-something years old, and your goal is to make as much money as possible.”

Interesting conversation starter…I’ll bite.

At some point during our two hour conversation on career and life, Michele gestured with a cupped, upward facing palm. You might know what he’s referring to, especially if you’re a biological male.

He argued that successful people needs at least a combination of these two things:

• Intelligence (“book smart” + “street smart”)

• Courage (the “pair” he gestured) for taking action and driving measurable results

Coincidentally, I had just finished a YouTube video discussing similar ideas at the empty table before the silver haired Italian sat down. The video is titled “If You’re So Smart, Why Aren’t You Rich?”, in case you’re interested.

In addition to hearing about the past fifteen years of his life as a self-made digital nomad, Michele’s personal advice on success would become the final dose of motivation that pushes me to take action.

Alright, let’s publish my personal blog along with its first article.

The Main Reasons

I bet you didn’t catch me italicizing the word successful in the previous section. Or maybe you did, but I forced you to hold onto your question (thank you for your patience).

I italicized the word because it is one of those overused words that never really get defined. Well, I believe that there is not one single definition, and the beauty of life is that you get to decide what that the word means to you.

Part of my definition of success means fostering relationships with other individuals that push you to new heights. You might’ve heard the quote below:

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

It’s been a lonely journey for me, and most of the time it’s just me talking to myself and I. By publishing my internal conversations in different forms (blogging, vlogging, podcasting) to the external world, I’m confident that the internet would invite others to join these conversations. Together, we could challenge each other with new questions, perspectives, approaches to life…you know the drill. This was one of my main reasons for recording the video clip in the hostel cafe, although I would start by publishing blogs.

I know you just can’t wait for the eventual face reveal through my vlogs, but let me share the other main reason for starting this blog. Just a heads up, it might sound a little…grandiose.

Part of what drives me to persist through hard challenges is the knowledge that once I overcame it, I could help another human tackle a similar obstacle, and if that human found that helpful and shared that solution to other humans, I’ve enabled a positive chain of reaction that could benefit our collective whole.

I love sharing what I love with others. I love solving problems, and I’ve come to love sharing those problems once I’ve found the answer keys. You get the idea.

I used to think that I could just “send the elevator back down” when I’ve “made it”. Now I’m cautious around sentences that use two or more phrases in quotation marks.

Jokes aside, at the time of writing this article, I believe my life is already matching what my younger self would envision as the perfect life. Therefor, I have reasonable credibility for sharing some of the things that’s helped me get here. Even if you are in a totally different stage of life, I know that my writings could still serve as inspirations or reminders in your day to day.

In summary

Casper’s Chronicles will be more than just a blog—it'll serve as a reservoir of tools, mindsets, habits, among other things that could help one live their best life possible. Those wisdom would be drawn from my own adventures and the experiences of fellow travelers I encounter along this journey we call life.

If I’m lucky enough, you might become one of those travelers I get to engage with! I’m really excited and curious for where this will lead us.

Moving Forward

Whew, we’re finally close to the end of this article. Here’s my plan in maintaining the momentum.

Before I cross into the new year on a flight from Berlin to Barcelona, I’ll be publishing 3 more posts that will give you more details on what you may expect from this blog. I have purposely kept this first post vague in terms of the blog’s content, but detailed in the motivation and attitude I’m building it with.

Today is December 15th, 2024. I’m jumping on one of my new year’s resolution for 2025 by spending 3 hours and 36 minutes to write & publish my first article on Substack.

So…

Which one of your goals will you jump on?

Count to 3, and just go for it when you get to 2!

Special thanks to Avenue Hostel in Budapest for providing the free wifi needed to publish this article.

---