Ok so it’s not only the end of the week this week. It’s the end of 2021. So for the “Best Friday Ever” episode I had to do something special. So I brought in the big guns/gun. That’s right. I’m bringing in Tim Ferriss one of the pioneers and reigning kings of the pod-iverse. Tim is a HUGE reason why I started The Jason Wright Show in the first place.

Few people that I’ve never met nor most likely ever will meet have had such a profound impact on my life. So I thought I would turn the mic over to Tim today.

This is an episode of Tim’s show he recently published on doing a year end review vs. new year’s resolutions. I think it’s genius. The best part is taking the time to abrogate those things you did the previous year that made you miserable so as to not repeat them. This is a HUGE benefit and best practice.

Here’s what Tim had to say on his site http://www.tim.blog.

70 COMMENTSTOPICS: CATEGORIESPRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY, PROTECTING TIME, THE TIM FERRISS SHOW

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I’m often asked about how I approach New Year’s resolutions. The truth is that I no longer approach them at all, even though I did for decades. Why the change? I have found “past year reviews” (PYR) more informed, valuable, and actionable than half-blindly looking forward with broad resolutions. I did my first PYR after a mentor’s young daughter died of cancer on December 31st, eight years ago, and I’ve done it every year since. Her passing was a somber reminder that our days here are too precious not to fill them with the people and activities that nourish us most. The PYR takes just 30–60 minutes and looks like this:

1. Grab a notepad and create two columns: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE.
2. Go through your calendar from the last year, looking at every week.
3. For each week, jot down on the pad any people or activities or commitments that triggered peak positive or negative emotions for that month. Put them in their respective columns.
4. Once you’ve gone through the past year, look at your notepad list and ask, “What 20% of each column produced the most reliable or powerful peaks?”
5. Based on the answers, take your “positive” leaders and schedule more of them in the new year. Get them on the calendar now! Book things with friends and prepay for activities/events/commitments that you know work. It’s not real until it’s in the calendar. That’s step one. Step two is to take your “negative” leaders, put “NOT-TO-DO LIST” at the top, and put them somewhere you can see them each morning for the first few weeks of 2022. These are the people and things you *know* make you miserable, so don’t put them on your calendar out of obligation, guilt, FOMO, or other nonsense.

That’s it! If you try it, let me know how it goes.

And just remember: it’s not enough to remove the negative. That simply creates a void. Get the positive things on the calendar ASAP, lest they get crowded out by the bullshit and noise that will otherwise fill your days.

Good luck and godspeed, everyone!

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If you prefer to listen to the audio version of this blog post, you can find the audio on The Tim Ferriss Show podcast:

I want to include all of the post because I don’t want there to be any mistake. This is NOT my material. It’s Tim’s. I just thought it was so good this would be a great way to share it. I couldn’t have presented this exercise any better so why reinvent the wheel?

Happy New Yew folks!