Chris Williamson: If You Don't Fix This Now, 2026 Is Already Over!

(Suspenseful music plays) Stop taking life so seriously. No one is getting out of this game alive, and in three generations, no one will even remember your name. And if that doesn't give you liberation to just drop your (beep) problems for a moment and find some joy, I don't know what will, because there'll never be a time when there's no problems in life. And that's why this time in between Christmas and New Year is a really wonderful time to plan big dreams and goals for the year. So let's talk about that. Chris Williamson is one of the world's leading podcast hosts and thinkers, and now he's back.

Educating us on how to build discipline, turning goals into results, what's stopping us finding love-

And what makes a good man in today's society. The single best question to work out what you should be doing next year, what would have to happen by the end of 2026 for me to look back and consider it a success? And it usually comes down to only a few things. The first one is, in order to pick something up, you have to put something down. So setting the bar unrealistically high does not increase your performance. Like, you'll probably lose 20 pounds and get a boyfriend. You can't do that and move cities and start a new business. So make the assumption, "I can do no more than I'm doing now." Second thing, if your life was a movie and the audience were watching, what would they be screaming at the screen telling you to do with your life? "It is obvious. Leave the relationship. The job is not working for you. The killer's hiding in the cupboard." Because if you're not careful with how you design what it is that you chase after, you can spend your entire life realizing that you climbed a huge (beep) ladder that was leaning up against the wrong wall. And is there anything else? So there is wonderful upside in trying to conquer and trying to achieve mastery, trying to really drive yourself to go and do stuff. But I'm not like, " (beep) your feelings. Just hustle and grind until your eyes bleed," either. Because one of the biggest lessons I've taken away from this year is, suppression isn't the same thing as strength, and it's a good thing for guys who feel their emotions to show that they feel their emotions, right? Like, I've been at some of my lowest points over the last 12 months. It felt like my better self was slipping through my fingers. I realized my emotions are legitimate, and denying myself that is not helping anything at all. What happened? (Heartbeat pounds) (sighs) I see messages all the time in the comments section that some of you didn't realize you didn't subscribe, so if you could do me a favor and double-check if you're a subscriber to this channel, that would be tremendously appreciated. It's the simple, it's the free thing that anybody that watches this show frequently can do to help us here to keep everything going in this show in the trajectory it's on. So please do double-check if you've subscribed, and, uh, thank you so much, because in a strange way, you are- you're part of our history, and you're on this journey with us, and I appreciate you for that. So yeah, thank you. (upbeat music plays) Chris, my audience care a lot about changing their life for the better, and I think at this time of year, change is front of mind for everybody. Everybody's thinking about New Year's resolutions, who I want to become in 2026. But when you look at the stats, 23% of people quit by the end of the first week of January their New Year's resolution, the thing they aimed at. Mm-hmm. Roughly half of people will quit their New Year's resolution, the change they sought, by the end of January, and only about 9% of people will keep their New Year's resolution for the full year. So I guess my opening question to you is, does this time of year matter at all? Is it a useful, productive time to be thinking about change in your point of view? I think the world is split into two camps. Uh, one camp says, "There is no difference between January 1st and December 31st. Like, why wait? It's December 10th. Just do it now," and the other camp likes the idea of there being a culturally appropriate moment to stop doing something and start doing something else. Most people need to realize that they're already spending tons of time worrying about the future and the past, by going back to this thing that they regret. "I wish I'd done this differently. Oh, I- I- I have, uh, uh, rumination about something that occurred. I have a sense of, uh, wistfulness for something that I've maybe missed and grief for something that I've lost." And then they're concerned about the future. They think, "I'm uncertain about this thing that's going to happen. I could plan. I could try and come up with a solution for this." So you're already worrying about the past. You're already doing reflection and planning, just in a very unstructured way where you don't get to choose when it hits you in the face. This is a culturally appropriate moment, like a- a scheduling appropriate moment for you to just step in and think, "Okay, in between Christmas and New Year..." People that work in retail, God bless you, people that have got- (laughs) got to go back to work and do that thing, but usually there's a bit of downtime. Mm-hmm. It's a little bit slower. It's Boxing Day, you're chilling out on the couch, and you're kind of thinking, "Wow, I was here again at mum and dad's house, or with the in-laws or whatever. What was I doing last year? What was it like last year?" You're already in a little bit of a reflective mode. There is no special magic super secret squirrel sauce in January 1st, but it is a good moment to check in because life tends to slow down a little bit. Mm-hmm. Work ten- work, uh, time is a little bit more slow. And you're already doing this. You're already thinking about the past and the future, and this is just a good structured opportunity to check in and do it. I guess the- the question that everybody should be asking themselves is, "What should I aim at?" And- and is there such a thing as aiming at too many things? What- what- what is a good goal for change? And when you think about all the people you've interviewed and the change you've seen in your own life- Mm-hmm. ... what- what does a productive New Year's resolution or productive goal sound like, and how do I- how do I get there? Yeah. It's very overwhelming. Uh, if you realize, "Wow, I can do anything I want. I could look at my entire life," that's terrifying. That's absolutely terrifying. One thing I would say, this is your opportunity to change anything, behaviorally. You can change anything you want. Not everything you want, right? That's the problem. You can become anything you want behaviorally, but you can't be everything you want, so you need to pick a small number. The single best question to work out what you should be doing next year, what would have to happen by the end of 2026 for me to look back on 2026 and consider it a success?I think that really helps to just give you a bit more perspective, and it usually comes down to only a few things. You don't usually have so much in your mind when you do that. Setting the bar unrealistically high does not increase your performance. Imagine this, imagine that you went into a buffet and you made your plate as big as possible. You said, "I want all of these things. I'm going to put all of this stuff on my plate, and my stomach is going to expand to be able to fit it."