The speaker discusses the common failure of New Year's resolutions and suggests a more effective approach: themes. They argue that setting specific, measurable goals often leads to disappointment and failure, as human behavior change is challenging. Instead, they propose the idea of setting a theme, such as 'Year of Reading' or 'Year of Health', which is broad and flexible.
The speaker explains that a theme is not about achieving a specific outcome but about creating a trend in the right direction. They emphasize that the trend line is more important than the exact data points. They also suggest that themes should be broad, directional, and resonant, as words are tuning forks for the brain.
The speaker shares their personal experience of setting a 'Year of Novelty' theme, which led to a more varied and interesting year. They argue that a good theme can't fail, as it points out paths you wouldn't have noticed otherwise, which can start to change you.
The speaker also mentions that themes should be broad enough to allow their meaning to adapt with you, without the guilt of having failed to meet the goals of a past version of yourself. They suggest that themes should be broad, directional, but most importantly: resonant.
Finally, the speaker encourages listeners to find a theme that resonates with them and try it out in the coming season. They conclude by emphasizing that themes are a fuzzy, high-level, longer-term way to navigate your brain at a broad area of change.
1. The speaker discusses the common failure of New Year's Resolutions, suggesting that most people do not achieve their goals due to the difficulty of changing human behavior.
2. The speaker proposes a gentler approach to achieving positive life change, suggesting that instead of setting specific goals, people should give themselves a theme.
3. The speaker provides examples of broad themes such as 'Year of Reading' or 'Year of Health'.
4. The speaker emphasizes that precision is not always necessary when trying to build oneself into a better version of oneself.
5. The speaker suggests that what matters is the trend line, not the exact data points.
6. The speaker argues that even decelerating the negative trend is a positive step.
7. The speaker encourages people to consider what they want more or less of in their lives.
8. The speaker suggests that life is a branching path and that the trend of one's decisions will lead to more or less of what they want.
9. The speaker provides an example of a theme called 'Year of Novelty', where the person tried new things instead of the known.
10. The speaker emphasizes that a good theme can't fail, as it points out paths one wouldn't have noticed otherwise, which will start to change you.
11. The speaker suggests that when picking a theme, it should be broad, directional, and resonant.
12. The speaker mentions that themes should be broad, directional, but most importantly: resonant.
13. The speaker suggests that themes are a fuzzy, high-level, longer term way to navigate your brain at a broad area of change.
14. The speaker suggests that smaller, specific systems in life might be set up below the theme.
15. The speaker suggests that the most concrete and sharp is the action or decision Current You is currently taking.
16. The speaker suggests that creating a theme is the bigger and broader to guide the smaller and shorter.
17. The speaker suggests that resolutions are a year, so why not swap them for a theme instead?
18. The speaker suggests that a season is a nice human length of time, and in a winter of learning, one can learn a lot.
19. The speaker suggests that nature's clock ticks on reminding you that flowers bloom but briefly, the summer sun will wane, leaves eventually drop, snow falls and snow melts, and flowers bloom but briefly.
20. The speaker suggests that one can be unchanging through all that, but whenever you are, if you've never had a theme, give yourself time to find one that resonates with you and try it out in the coming season.