24 Nov 2025 · 3 min
John Jonas argues that January 1 doesn't create real motivation for change. Instead of resolutions, he pushes outsourcing non-core work, especially hiring in the Philippines, to focus on what matters. Gyms fill up every January and empty by February.
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing to the Philippines. This is episode 240, a little bit different today. Why I Don't Do New Year's Resolutions so it's mid January as I record this, and I know gyms across the world are super packed with people who have their New Year's resolutions to get in shape or lose weight or whatever it is. Everybody who's going to the gym talks about having to wait six weeks. You have to wait six weeks till mid February before the gyms are back to normal, because most people will stick through it for a couple weeks, you know, maybe six weeks at most. And then after that, gyms get back to like their normal level and they maintain that level through the entire year until January 1st again. And I don't go to the gym, but I do spend my days, almost every day skiing or running or riding or hiking or something outside. I don't do resolutions. I don't do New Year's resolutions. I just not part of my lifestyle. And in my opinion, here's why. Most New Year's resolutions don't work. If it's not strong enough for you to make this change on December 15th or October 3rd or whenever else, why is January 1st any different? It's not. And so that's why I feel like if you're not willing to make this change, whatever it is, on, you know, December 19th, right before the holidays, then January 1st really isn't going to make any difference to you. If the desire isn't strong enough today to have that change happen, well then you know, a date isn't going to change that for you. But for most people listening to this, that's not you. My guess is you probably make resolutions because that's what most people do. But for most of you, you stick with things. You are entrepreneurs. You push through hard things. You find solutions that work and you make them work. And rather than making resolutions, you make lifestyle changes and you make those things stick for you. Because that's what we do. We make things work. We push through. So let me talk about a lifestyle change from a customer of ours, Ryan Smith, who recently emailed me. Here's what he says. You don't have to be an expert in every area of your business. If you aren't an expert in a specific area, find someone who is and pay them to build it for you. You concentrate on the high dollar activities that will move the needle in your business, which I love this concept so many entrepreneurs think, oh, I'm the only one who can do this. And that's just not true. You're not the only one who can do this. Someone else who's providing a competing service can also do it. And someone in the Philippines can likely also do it for you. So my challenge today is to make a resolution to hire someone in the Philippines to do that thing for you. Whatever it is that you feel like, I could get this off of my plate, or I have this task or this set of tasks, change that part of your life. Don't make a resolution to do it. Do it, hire someone. And if you need my help, great1vaoa.com is where I will help you step by step through the process of hiring someone. And I guarantee you find someone. Great1vaoa.com.
