One of the principals at the Sourena V. Group is Chris Stevenson.  He presents on stage with me and also takes my content and puts it on video.  In addition, he also speaks internationally about customer service and the fitness business.  He’s been a serial entrepreneur for over two decades.  Lastly, he is one of my best friends.  We have so much fun together.

Once a week he writes a newsletter.  This is one of my favorites.

One of the reasons I like this is because we have similar views on what it takes to become amazing.

Welcome to 2020! To kick off the new year correctly, I thought it was appropriate to share some thoughts in the area of new year's resolutions. You often hear people say resolutions don't work. While you could argue both sides, I would say that the real issue isn't about resolutions, it is that change in general. Change is hard because we often approach it the wrong way. The new year hits, we are motivated and inspired, so we create big game-changing goals. Setting ambitious goals isn't the problem, it's our approach to achieving them. We often go all in and try to change everything at once. This approach is often ineffective and can lead to disappointment and giving up. One of the reasons normally successful people fail is they take on too much. The most effective way to create and sustain change comes from taking consistent small steps. Here are three reasons small steps are so effective.

1. Small steps are unintimidating. Big changes can feel overwhelming and can actually be discouraging. Even if we see the long-term benefit of a big change, it is still often overwhelming. Small steps are much more welcomed and easier to process.

2. Small steps take less time and resources to execute. They simplify things and help take away excuses. Small steps are also much easier to implement in an already crazy and busy schedule.

3. Breaking a goal into small steps helps to create more opportunities for small victories. Small victories build confidence, improve morale and keep us engaged and motivated.

As an example, let's say you want to focus more on personal development so you decide you need to read more. You buy a few good books and tell yourself you are going to read one book a week. You do well the first two days, but then life gets in the way and then you don't read for the rest of the week. You feel bad that you didn't hit your goal and then decide you just don't have the time. You failed. The small step approach looks different. You buy one book. You set your alarm five minutes earlier in the morning. You read for five minutes as soon as you wake up. No matter what happens you always have that time, so you are successful 30 days in a row. You read a good part of the book and you feel empowered and successful. You now wake up and start reading without even thinking about it. The next month you wake up six minutes earlier and get a little bit more done. By month 12, you are only getting up 15 to 20 minutes earlier and you are a habitual reader! See how easy that is?

Studies show that it takes 21 days to reach the tipping point of a new habit and around 60 days for it to stick. Given that data, I recommend that for each big, hairy, audacious goal you have, pick one small change every month that moves you toward that goal. This adds up. In just one year, you will have 12 new habits. Those habits will have a profound impact on your ultimate goal.