Life

12 Ways To Do Better Next Year

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With another year gone, it’s time to reflect on what you accomplished and what you couldn’t. And if you’re like any other ambitious man out there, you would probably have a lot of regrets on the opportunities missed and things you wish you had done better. Before you start planning yet another new year’s resolution, let this list help you make next year even better.

1. Take full responsibility

Assume that you have full control over everything that matters in your life. No more excuses, no more blaming, no more bitching about how the world is stacked up against you. It’s not easy, but it’s quite simple: change yourself and your environment to suit your needs, stop trying to change what you can’t and accept them, and adapt to your situation as necessary. If you want a better life, hold yourself totally responsible.

2. Spend less time on politics

I realized this more this year than ever before: people spend way too much time reading and talking about politics instead of doing things that bring value. People either go on the Internet to complain and whine about what’s happening around the world that they don’t like, or, boast about how the world will be better because X happened or if only their vision for a better society came true. All this political nonsense has become no different from women gossiping about celebrities’ lives or boring people talking about their favorite television shows as if any of it is real. So, if you want next year to be better for your life, either: take active part in making political change (online activism doesn’t count), or, don’t read anything and don’t say anything about politics and focus on yourself. Put more simply: Do something about it or stop reacting.

3. Practice Gratitude

No matter what you may accomplish in the future, no matter how much of what you think will make you happy you attain, your level of happiness in the future will likely stay the same. Most people don’t realize how great they already have it until they lose it. Instead of waiting for that eventuality, try to appreciate what you already have by practicing gratitude. I know it’s not easy if you’re ambitious like me, so here are four that you can start with.

4. System over Goals

Some of you may disagree, but I believe having vague goals with solid system is better than having solid goals with vague plans. Goals often change and evolve over time as you gain more life experience, but the path towards accomplishment is usually solid and requires your dedication. So, if you’re planning to create another new year’s resolution that looks more like a wish list of things you want, scrap it and look for ways to engineer your lifestyle by planning a system for development instead.

5. Cultivate Discipline

You’re a slave to circumstances and weakness until you have the necessary discipline to hold steady. My biggest regrets of this year happened because stress and emotional disturbance destroyed my productivity and mental frame. I lost countless hours that could have been put to work and embarrassed myself by being wavered by mere feelilngs. If you want to do anything better next year, learn to cultivate discipline first and foremost.

6. Argue Less

Arguing is a dumb waste of time that gets you riled up for no reason. If you value your time, don’t do it. And always remember: Action > Words.

7. Do something that will stay with you

I’ve noticed that all the guilt I have about having wasted my valuable time comes down to the fact that I gained no lasting value out of it. For example, I feel bad about all the time that I spent playing video games and watching films because I gained nothing worthwhile out of them, only momentary pleasure. On the other hand, I have no guilt associated with all the time I spent working out or learning something valuable—even when I failed and even if they were painful—because what I gained from them still stays with me. Aim long-term and learn to enjoy the process.

8. Try new things

It’s easy to get stuck in a loop in our modern world. If you feel bored or unmotivated, try something completely different to shock yourself alive.

9. Stop doing the same old

Sometimes, it’s more important to cut out the bad activities than to do something good. If you’re serious about making your life better, the time is now to stop the thing that’s holding you back. Shed the old you to renew yourself.

10. Get regular sleep

One of the worst things you can do in bed.

As someone who gets completely derailed if sleep is delayed by an hour or if I have to wake up earlier than usual, I don’t how so many others manage to function with irregular sleep patterns. Sleep is a vital aspect of your health and you should aim to prioritize it as much as exercise and diet. Read this article of hours to get you started.

11. Practice meditation

I’ve mentioned meditation before in my other articles, but I have yet to practice it myself on a regular basis. For the upcoming year, I plan to meditate daily to develop greater focus, inner peace, and mental fortitude and you should consider doing the same as well.

12. Be Content

By far the most important lesson I learned this year was that nothing matters if you’re not content. Sure, you could potentially devote yourself to a higher meaning or purpose to forget about how brief and insignificant your life is in the grand scheme of things, but why not do it in a position of contentment? Why live a life of perpetual frustration and longing where you constantly chase things that you think will satisfy you? Whatever you want in life, they will not go away just because you decide to be content with where you are now. In fact, contentment may even help you achieve your goals better as you won’t be as outcome-oriented, allowing you to focus more on the process instead. No amount of money, sex, and “success” is worth grinding your life away.

Closing Thoughts

I see a year as a microcosm of life. You make plans, you have expectations, but things unfold in ways you didn’t expect at all. At the end of it all, you get to look back and reflect on what has come to pass and realize just how fast time goes by. But unlike life, you get another year, another chance to do better. We shouldn’t take such an opportunity so lightly.

Read More: 3 Ways To Make Better New Year’s Resolutions

75 thoughts on “12 Ways To Do Better Next Year”

  2. Nice list.
    Specifically number 2 for us guys. Take time out. Then come back with a clear head. Don’t make the same mistakes the libtards do and get tunnel vision in the echo chamber.
    Theory follows practice!

  3. “I feel bad about all the time that I spent playing video games and watching films because I gained nothing worthwhile out of them, only momentary pleasure.”
    That one’s easy to accomplish, because there are so few decent movies and video games which are worth watching or playing anyways. Plus movies are just CGI-raped feminist remakes and rehashes now. (Star Whores, Girlbusters, etc)
    Even video games are getting the rehash treatment. So few quality video games are getting released that Final Fantasy 7 is getting resurrected to 2010’s standards.

    1. I miss the whimsical, bizarre games from the PS2 platform. PS3 had a few, but there are less and less off-the wall games. Too risky.

        1. The only thing I think you missed is the whole “Dark Souls” train. They’re not unlike the old-school platformers in difficulty – you need to be able to be “on” pretty much all the time, and your situational awareness and timing must be pretty precise.
          That, and maybe the new Doom. It’s basically classic Doom, but with 3D shooting and modern graphics.

        4. Doom 4 is the tits. I’ve played it through a couple times and will be trying Nightmare once I get some free time again.

    2. True, I also stopped playing video games like I used to be after I got to know RoK, my life has changed to the much better now. I’m glad I found the truth here.

    3. Thanks to PC cultural and Feminism bullshit in games and movies/TV shows now, it has stopped me from wasting my time! What a waste of life too much entertainment is!

  4. Spend less time on politics- this one 100%. If you havent come to the conclusion politics is a spectator sport(especially at the national level) at this point, I dont know what to tell ya.

    1. “If you havent come to the conclusion politics is a spectator sport”
      The fact that Jerry Springer was a politician once upon a time drives this point home quite nicely.
      That being said, I look forward to the next 4 years of exploding heads over ‘President Trump’.

  5. I already do some of these things, however I will print this and put it on wall behind my monitors, together with motivational job offers and my general plan.

  6. Spend less time on politics
    If you don’t have a seat at the table, you’re probably on the menu
    ————–
    Who choose the pictures for the articles on this site, recently they’ve been getting quite gay – like the top one today.

    1. Agreed, it is too much unnecessary stress. I vote, and may help out near election time. But dwelling on what Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity has to say day after day is not worth the time or energy.

  7. 0. Cut out the rats. Remove all the people in your life that are persistently negative. They will always hold you back.

    1. So why do drill instructors shout insults at new recruits when they are being trained in the military?

      2. Because if you can’t handle being yelled at then you probably aren’t going to do too well when bullets are flying by your head.

      3. A drill instructors goal is to break down the old you, so they can build you up to be a valuable member of the Military.
        Negative people you keep in you life want to break you down to prevent your progress. Mainly so they are comfortable with their own mediocrity and inadequacy.

  8. Happy New Year, Corey.
    I thought this was gonna be a fluff article– but I stand to benefit from all 12 lessons here.

  9. I really want to take the time to get more decent friends in my life. I moved the family to a new place about 2 years ago. While I enjoy my time with the wife and kids, there are some things only other men understand.

    1. Very important and not always easy to do. Most men get sucked into being full time dads and do not cultivate male friendships. This is bad. Golf and martial arts are good male bonding activities to try. Basically any activity that girls dont generally like are good opportunities to make friends with other dudes.

  10. Number 2 on the list really resonates with me. I wasted lots of time doing that stupid shit. Not particularly proud of that.
    Well, I just got banned from Breitbart, so that will help!

  11. “People either go on the Internet to complain and whine about what’s happening around the world that they don’t like”
    Like when guys comment on articles at ROK. I’m guilty.

    1. Well, to be fair, I have learned quite a lot from reading the comments section. Folks here give good insights.

      1. Agreed – I was kinda half joking because ROK and similar sites do offer excellent info and dialog. But it is possible to spend too much time at these sites and lately I realized that I need to reduce the amount of time I spend.

  12. ” but the path towards accomplishment is usually solid and requires your dedication. So, if you’re planning to create another”
    This might have some kind of connection to the idea “It’s not the destination that counts, but rather the journey”.

    2. Just got back from a week long business trip. When I got back to the wife, she reminded me of that kid on the movie UHF that found the marble in the oatmeal and got a drink from the fire hose.

      2. Let’s see wha’s in da box….. Nothing! Absolutely nothing!!! Stupid! You so stupid!!!!!

  16. I have recently began to prioritize sleep over late night entertainment. I am glad.

    1. I did this earlier in the year. I go to bed a little earlier than I used to and can honestly say I feel a lot better throughout the day. Sometimes it gets frustrating when I’m doing something enjoyable and realize I need to get to bed.

  18. Don’t forget to practice chop-socky moves this year. Some chick might try to lift your wallet after you bang her. “When in doubt, knock her out.”

    1. I have a triple dragon belt in Ho Mai Kwong Dang Fu myself and if they so much as look at me funny afterwards or try to make off with my stuff I nail them on the way out with a jumping, spinning, quadruple flaming corkscrew crescent enzuigiri.

        3. Kratom pulses through my veins and gives me massive virility and stopping power.

  19. Taking some of your profits and selecting a worthy charity should be on this list. Bolster a worthy cause in your community.

  20. Damn good article Corey! Contentment, process over goals, and cultivating discipline are probably the big ones for myself going into the new year but overall, this list is gold. I do see the next few months as a hard sell on stepping away from politics since there are a few expectations on the abilities of our current president. Even with that said, life still takes precedence over the political arena.

  21. 12 “Be Content” ties into that podcast Roosh had a while back about too much focus on goals that often leaves us faling to see the “forest for the tree” as we move onto the next goal in a never ending cycle of restlessness that can take over one’s life..
    4. “Systems more than goals” helps me in this regard..
    Take time to enjoy life is what I get from it..

  22. no politics, no arguments
    tried this weekend to save a young man…
    never again…
    is too stressful – and the repercussions are potentially “deadly”
    they can’t be saved from now on: me, me, me

  23. Good advice, though I disagree with avoiding politics. There’s so much bullshit slung about by leftists these days (and by leftists, I mean democrats and republicans) that to ignore it is to continue to allow them to control the narrative, the culture, and the educational system.
    Trump won largely because of the internet, the manosphere, etc, so I would say that we need to engage in more discussion, not less.

  24. What helped me with sleeping more is not having any electronics in my bedroom
    Expect the alarm clock but I block that bright light out.

    1. Reading a regular old book instead of the Kindle keeps my knowledge intact while at the same time reducing the stimuli that electronics bring to my brain. Reading yourself to sleep has been my go to way, just saying.

  26. Great Article! Always More Sleep… it’s absolutely vital. You can accomplish almost anything with enough rest!

  28. Feeling guilty about watching films is neurotic behavior. We are not machines on some assembly line, and the experience of art is a crucial aspect of our humanity.

  29. A good list of points made here. I have a question for anyone willing to answer here. Is 17 days enough time to get a good feel of the ladies of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Slovakia, Poland)?

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