It's Never Too Late to Change Your Life

Mount Shasta, California

The first of the year provides a classic opportunity to reset and refocus. Millions of people around the globe set New Year's resolutions to help prompt themselves to change their lives. While January 1st might seem like a magical moment to make a change, every year that passes I've spent less and less time setting resolutions.

As I shared back in 2018, the data shows that "only 9% of people report being successful in achieving their New Year’s resolutions, with 42% failing before the end of January." From the get-go, New Year's Day seems to be an atrociously bad time to make a change.

For people seeking to get outside more often—if not every day—the difficulty is compounded. This time of the year in the northern hemisphere is the absolute worst. Even if you enjoy winter sports, motivating yourself to get out the door every single day is a true feat of persistence. Poor weather conditions and the lack of daylight provide very real challenges that need to be overcome. This challenge is compounded by the inevitable sicknesses this time of year, COVID or no COVID.

Regardless of the challenge that January 1st poses, I've been blown away by all the people that have posted on social media who are choosing to get outside and be active every single day in 2021. I applaud the decision, and wish all of you the very best! Let's do this thing!

But at the time of this publication, it's now 5 days into the New Year. What if you're reading this article and you want to change your life by taking the Outside 365 challenge? Is it too late to make a change? Do you have to wait for the first of the year to commit to a change in your life, to make a decision to transform your daily existence?

Hell no!

It's so important to remind ourselves that it's never too late to change your life. This applies in so many ways:

• It's never too late to set a new goal — whether it's 5 days into the new year or 5 months.

• You're never too old to make a change. Whether you're in your 20s or your 70s, your future hasn't been decided. You can choose to make a change, starting now.

• The past is gone. Even if you've made poor choices in years past, you can choose today to make a better choice.

• Ignore your sunk costs. Even if you've spent a lot of time getting to where you are today, that doesn't mean you have to continue walking down the same path. You can always choose to pivot and begin walking in an entirely different direction.

The past is dead and buried. The future doesn't exist yet. All that we have is today, and today is the day that you could choose to change your life.