New Year's Commitment For Basketball vs New Year's Resolution

2020 is almost here! Let’s make it the best year of our lives, because 2021 will be here before we know it.

Most of my life I’ve started the new year with a resolution, yet not once did I finish the year by completing the resolution.

The way I see it, resolutions are like goals… they’re something that you want to do. But to reach your dreams, you need something stronger than just a “want.”

Commitments are something that you have to do. When you change your goals into commitments, when you can turn, “I want to” into “I have to,” your whole life changes.

I hope you’ll join me January 1, 2020 and make a commitment that will change your life. Here’s the 3-step process that I’ll be going through this year.

STEP 1: PICK ONE HABIT

The biggest mistake people make with New Year’s Resolutions is being overzealous.

When it comes to building habits, less is more.

Motivated people often make the mistake of thinking that if a 5-minute commitment is good, then a 30-minute commitment must be even better. What I’ve found is that focusing on big goals usually ends in failure. Focusing on small habits usually ends in success.

What ONE THING can you do every day for 5 minutes?

The best part about a 5-minute commitment is that even when you’re sick, tired or unmotivated, you can still muster up the energy to do anything for 5 minutes. And once you get going, 5 minutes usually turns into 15 or 30 minutes.

I have my players ball handle for 5 minutes a day. Over the course of a month, those short 5-minute ball handling sessions turn into over 2 hours of training.

Starting January 1, I’ll be studying the soft tissue specialist from the LA Clippers, Lenny Parracino, every day for 365 days straight. While I might not get a lot smarter in the first week, by the end of the year, I’ll have a great understanding of the way he thinks and works with athletes.

Here are some daily activities that might work for your 2020 New Year’s Commitment:

Practice guitar for 5 minutes
Ask your partner 1 question a day
Meditate for 5 minutes
Write 1 page in your journal
Study a subject for 5 minutes
Sacrifice soda pop for water
Stretch for 5 minutes before bed
Complete 20 push ups, 20 air squats and 20 sit ups
Build a website for 5 minutes a day
Write 1 paragraph of your autobiography
Limit yourself on social media to only 5 minutes a day

The hardest part of doing any of these activities is just starting. If you can commit to just taking action, you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish in a year.

STEP 2: HANG YOUR CALENDAR

This might be the most important step, because many people think they can be successful without it.

We want to believe that we’ll remember our commitments, but I’ve found that even motivated people have days when they simply forget.

Hanging a calendar on your wall is a visual reminder of the promise you made. It should be the first thing you see when you wake in the morning, and the last thing you see before you go to bed.

Click here to download your FREE Commitment Calendar

I have my calendar hung in my closet and see it every morning when I get dressed and every night before I go to bed. I really believe it’s been the key to my success.

If you want to ensure your success, download the Commitment Calendar and hang it on your wall today!

STEP 3: PRACTICE FOR 5 MINUTES

Every day that you practice your daily 5-minute habit, you earn the right to mark an “X” on your calendar.

For 2020, commit to doing your 5-minute commitment and then build your chain of success by marking your progress on your calendar.

It’s easy to fail if you only have a couple days of success in a row. But if you have 30, 60 or 90 “X’s” in a row, you’ll do whatever it takes to keep your streak alive.

I’ve been marking “X’s” on my calendar for 4 years and have over 1,500 X’s in a row. At this point there’s no way I’m going to break the chain!

Remember, you make goals for your best day and commitments for your worst day. The reason why we only make a 5-minute commitment is that the hardest part of being successful is simply starting.

The hardest part of learning guitar is walking over to the case, pulling out the guitar and sitting down. Once you’ve done the hard part, 5 minutes of practice usually turns into 15 or 30 minutes.

The hardest part of working out is just doing your first set. Once you’ve completed 1 round of a circuit, might as well do 2 or 3.

While I’m studying Verkhoshansky for all of 2020, on a good day I might read one of his books for 2 hours. But on my worst day… if I’m sick, tired or just unmotivated, I can promise you that I’ll still study for 5 minutes.

The journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step. I hope you’ll join me in making 2020 the best year of our lives by committing to 5-minutes of work every day.