Giving Yourself
The Best Shot at WINNING. 

Don’t Wait for January 1st: Build Your Success Environment Now

You know the drill. Every December, you start thinking about those New Year’s resolutions. Maybe it’s getting healthier, finally launching that side project you’ve been wanting to start, or building better habits. You tell yourself, “January 1st is my fresh start!” But here’s what I want you to consider. What if some of the most important work isn’t the resolution itself, but what you do right now, in these final days of December…?
If you’re someone who genuinely believes in New Year’s resolutions? There’s real power in that commitment. So lets take it serious! I’m going to challenge you to think differently this year. Instead of waiting for the calendar to flip to see the 1st, use these remaining days to create an environment that makes your success inevitable. Think about it this way too. You’ll have a head start on everyone else who’s waiting.

Why Your Environment Matters: More Than Your Motivation

Let me be direct with you. Motivation is unreliable. It’s wonderful when it shows up! But, it’s a terrible foundation for lasting change. You’ll feel fired up on January 1st, maybe even through the first week or two. But by mid-January, when the initial excitement fades and life gets complicated again, motivation won’t be enough. So what keeps you going then?

What will carry you through? Your environment.
Your environment includes everything around you. Your physical space, your daily systems you use, the people you interact with, the information you consume, and the routines you’ve established. So when your environment supports your goals, you don’t have to rely on willpower alone. You’re not constantly fighting against friction. Instead, you’re setting yourself up so that the right choices become the easy choices.
Think about it this way. If your resolution is to eat healthier, but your kitchen is stocked with junk food and you haven’t planned any meal prep systems, or looked at what your going to start replacing certain items with. You’re setting yourself up for an uphill battle right away. But if you spend this remaining time clearing out temptations, stocking healthy options, and creating a simple meal planning routine if needed, you’re building momentum before January even arrives.

The Power of: Starting Now

There’s a great feeling we get about beginning before you “have to.” When it has to do with bettering ourselves or a situation of course.. When you start preparing your environment now, you’re sending yourself a powerful message. This matters! I am ACTUALLY serious about doing this. You’re not just talking about change. You’re actively investing in it.

Starting now also gives you a crucial advantage. Practice time! You can test your systems, identify obstacles, and make adjustments before the pressure of “New Year, New You” sets in. By January 1st, you won’t be starting from scratch, you’ll be building on a foundation you’ve already laid the ground work for.
Plus, let’s be honest. These last days of December are often slower. The holiday rush winds down, work quiets, and you have pockets of time that might otherwise slip away. Why not use this natural pause to set yourself up for the year ahead?

How to Build: Your Success Environment

Let me walk you through some practical steps you can take right now to create an environment that supports your goals.

Clarify Your Intention
Before you change anything externally, get clear internally. What do you actually want to achieve? Don’t just say “get fit” or “be more productive.” You need to get specific. What would success look like? How would your life be different? What would you be doing daily?
Write this down. Make it concrete. This clarity will guide every environmental change you make.

Audit Your Current Environment
Take an honest look at your surroundings. Walk through your home, your workspace, your car. Look at your phone’s home screen, your browser bookmarks, your calendar. Ask yourself, does this environment support the person I want to become, or does it support my old patterns?
Notice where friction could exists for good habits and where bad habits are too easily reintroduced. If you want to read more but your books are in a closet while your TV remote is on the coffee table, that’s valuable information.

Remove the Obstacles
This is where you get to play offense. Start removing the things that make unwanted behaviors easy. Unsubscribe from tempting marketing emails. Delete apps that drain your time. Clear the clutter that overwhelms you. Unfollow social media accounts or websites that leave you feeling inadequate.
You don’t need to do everything at once. Pick one or two high-impact changes. What’s the biggest obstacle standing between you and your goal? Address that first.

Install the Supports
Now add the things that make desired behaviors easier. If you want to exercise in the morning, lay out your workout clothes the night before as an example. If you want to drink more water, put a full glass on your nightstand or on the kitchen counter. If you want to write daily, create a dedicated writing space with everything you need already there.
Think about defaults. What can you set up once that will serve you repeatedly? Maybe it’s automating savings transfers, scheduling recurring calendar blocks for important work, or signing up for a service that delivers healthy meals.

Design: Your Social Environment

Your environment isn’t just physical, it’s social too. Who are you spending time with? Who encourages your growth? Who pulls you back into old patterns?
You don’t need to cut people out of your life or maybe you do? But you can be intentional about who you engage with and when. Consider joining a group aligned with your goals. Find an accountability partner. Tell supportive people about your intentions.

Create Visual Reminders
Out of sight really is out of mind. Make your goals visible. Put a sticky note on your bathroom mirror. Set a meaningful image as your phone wallpaper. Create a vision board or simply write your intention on a card you’ll see daily.
These aren’t just decorations. These are mental cues that keep your commitment front and center when daily life tries to pull you off course.

Your Action Plan: For The Rest Of The Year

Here’s what I want you to do before December ends:
Choose your top one or two resolutions. Get specific about what success/journey would look like. Then identify the single biggest environmental change that would support each goal. Maybe it’s reorganizing a space, setting up a new system, or having a conversation with someone important.
Make that change this week. Don’t wait! Don’t overthink it. Just do the one thing that will make the biggest difference.
Then, on January 1st, you won’t be starting from zero. You’ll be stepping into an environment you’ve intentionally designed for your success. Your resolution won’t just be a wish. It’ll be supported by everything around you.

The Truth About: Lasting Change

BUT real change doesn’t happen because of a date on the calendar. It happens because you’ve made it easier to move forward than to stay stuck. It happens because you’ve stopped relying on motivation alone and started building habits or routines that work, even when you don’t feel like it.
You have these days right now! This gift of time between the old year and the new. Don’t waste them waiting. USE THEM BUILDING. Create the environment that your future self will thank you for.
Because here’s what I know. You’re capable of achieving what you’ve set out to do. But capability isn’t enough. You need support, structure, and different habits. You need an environment that works with you, not against you.
So start today. Your January 1st self is counting on you.

#PROJECTABETTERME