I’m running the 2nd beta round of my Just Start cohort in February. You’ll design and implement a career experiment by gathering real data to inform your next step.

By the time you’re reading this, most people will have given up on their New Year’s Resolutions. In fact, 92% of people will never achieve their goals.

I promise this isn’t meant to start on a depressing note—but it is an honest one.

While I didn’t make many New Years Resolutions this year, I did proclaim some pretty lofty manifestations and goals for the year.

But prior to finding work that I actually enjoyed, I wasn’t consistent in much.

Brushing my teeth and taking workout classes “counted” but when it came to my career goals, I was lost.

That’s because I’d make big goals for myself, like “start looking for a new job”, but I didn’t work on changing my inner belief system.

What the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, says is that people focus on the outcomes—losing 5 lbs, reducing screen time by 50%—but to change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself. You need to take on a new identity.

This past year, I’ve had multiple conversations that sounded something like, “I admire what you’re doing, but I’m not creative or ambitious enough to do it myself.”

To those people, I want to shake them and say, “IT’S BECAUSE YOU DON’T BELIEVE YOU’RE CREATIVE OR AMBITIOUS.”

(end rant)

It’s easy for me to say this now having come out of the other side OK, but I will say the reason I was able to make 6-figures in my first year was because I believed I could make it.

And while it might look like I accomplished a lot within my first year of going solo, there were multiple years of inner behind-the-scenes type of work that has allowed me to get where I am today.