Plan A, Plan B: The Secret to Realistic New Year's Resolutions

The Delusion of New Year's Resolutions

• 🎯 New Year's resolutions are often unrealistic because they are set with a perfectionistic and aspirational mindset that doesn't align with current habits.
• 💡 This disconnect leads to resolutions being unsustainable, as they require becoming a completely different person overnight.
• 🧠 The humor in the common meme about setting resolutions requiring discipline never displayed highlights the gap between aspiration and reality.

Setting Realistic Goals

• 📌 Previous episodes discussed setting realistic goals and the concept of a minimum baseline, a goal so small it's guaranteed to be achievable.
• ⚠️ A sign of a goal being a "fantasy" is the rush to achieve it, indicating a focus on the immediate dopamine hit rather than long-term sustainability.
• ✅ Even a minimum baseline goal is better than an hour-long activity done for a few days, emphasizing consistency over intensity.

Introducing Plan A, Plan B

• 🚀 The "Plan A, Plan B" concept is introduced as a tool for habit-based goals, especially useful for those with unpredictable schedules.
• 🛠️ Plan A is the ideal plan for when life is cooperating, while Plan B is a simplified version for when life is challenging (e.g., illness, increased work, family emergencies).
• 💡 This strategy was developed coaching lawyers with highly variable schedules, preventing them from falling off the wagon entirely when disruptions occurred.

The Mechanics of Plan B

• 🏃‍♀️ An example is given: Plan A might be running 5 miles three times a week, while Plan B could be running 2 miles on a treadmill twice a week or a 20-minute walk.
• 🧘 For a minimum baseline goal like 15 minutes of yoga daily, Plan B could be 5 minutes daily, 5 minutes three times a week, or even 2 minutes of mindful breathing.
• ✅ The core idea is to always have a step-down option regardless of how minimal the baseline goal is.

Why Plan B Prevents Decision Fatigue

• 🧠 Deciding on Plan B ahead of time prevents decision fatigue and mental negotiation during stressful periods when energy is already low.
• ⚡ This upfront thought work requires confronting perfectionism and inadequacy beliefs when you have the mental resources, rather than when you are already overwhelmed.
• 💬 By pre-determining Plan B, you execute a decision rather than agonizing over what is possible, thus avoiding self-beatings and emotional drama.
• 💖 Setting Plan B allows for self-compassion, acknowledging that it's better to do something than nothing, and not expecting to be a perfect machine.

Resources for Goal Setting

• 📚 The host offers a free way to access previous podcast episodes on goal setting, resolutions, and perfectionism by texting "resolutions" to +13479971784 or visiting unfuckyourbrain.com/resolutions.
• 🎓 A free training on "How to Stop Caring What Other People Think" is also available via unfuckyourbrain.com/caring or by texting "caring" to +13479971784.