Over the holiday, my brother-in-law brought a guitar over. Immediately, I had the thought:

“I wonder how good I’d be at guitar if I had stuck with it when I started back in 2017?”

This isn’t the first time I’ve had that thought—and it’s not just with guitar. I’ve had the same feeling with my diet, jiu-jitsu, investing, and other areas of my life.

Maybe you’ve had those thoughts too:

“I wonder what things would look like if I had just stuck with it… or if I had started earlier.”

Here’s the answer I gave myself:

Start now.

You can’t do anything about the time that’s passed. There’s no need to feel guilt for what you didn’t follow through on or didn’t start. Learn from it, apply what you learned, and start now.

Just imagine—this time next year—reading an email like this and recognizing the amount of progress you’ve made in the area you decide to focus on today.

Tips to Start Now

1. Start small.
Build your consistency muscle before you increase the workload. If you want to start working out, begin with 1x per week instead of jumping straight to 4x per week.

2. Habit stack.
Take something you already do every day and attach your new habit to it. For example, if you want to invest or save more money, identify a daily action—maybe it’s scrolling social media in the bathroom or watching football on the weekend. Instead of mindlessly scrolling, use that moment to open your budgeting app and make your financial check-in.

3. Make a clear, specific plan.
If you want to eat healthier and budget better, plan exactly what you’ll eat for the week, when you’ll make it, and where it fits financially. The clearer the plan, the greater the follow-through.

When I go to work out without a plan, I spend 5–10 minutes wandering around in limbo—or I skip the workout altogether. But in college, when I had a detailed workout laid out for me, my follow-through and decisiveness were through the roof.

4. Create an accountability group.
There are great apps—like HabitShare—that let you set the habits you want to stick with and share your progress with others. Having a group that sees your actions (or lack of them) builds accountability and dramatically increases your follow-through.

Start now.

Your future self will thank you. You can’t change the past, but you can learn from it, apply it, and begin today.

It’s not too late.

Start now.

Easy Easy,

-Luke Falk

See you next Monday!