The Third Week in January

Refresh is in the air. Set your sails.

This is 3Bits & Change, an email about building a service and retail business. This one was written to the noise in a coffee shop. The two humans to my right are more powerful than my Airpods. :) I moved to a different table. They took my old one.

---

It’s January time. You know that. I know that. We all know that.

Now what?

Our gym is at capacity - there is a waitlist - so I’ve not seen the typical increase in new humans in the mornings from previous years. However, I have been doubling down on a few behaviors and ideas to capture the top of mind fresh start of January time.

Here are three.

//no.1 - Sleep Early. Wake early.

We just returned from skiing in the Alps over holiday (an amazing time with family - let’s go back ASAP) and the 7 hour time difference is working to make my desired reset to early morning writing before the gym easier than if we’d flown West. I win the day before it starts on the days I write first thing. You?

I continue to find the Morning Pages process to deliver far more positive results in my life than the effort it requires. That is, provided I get up for it and don’t scroll other stuff and get distracted before writing. If you’ve not tried writing anything and everything on your mind as soon as you wake and being surprised by the compounding results in your life over the following days and weeks you have a few days left in January to give it a go.

Do it.

//no.2 - “How might I” vs. “I will”

Resolutions. Yum.

If only saying “I resolve to X in 2025” and then said thing would happen in your life. Right?

It could be that easy. It’s not very frequently.

I don’t remember where I heard this but the notion was to NOT make resolutions. Rather you could ask yourself a question about the thing you wanted in your life.

It’d go something like “How might I get more X in my life in 2025.” And then, you have the opportunity to continue to ideate and iterate about that question and pick how you’d like to advance your efforts over time based on results.

The power of this reframe has been subtle yet impactful. I think it’s because it tends toward my commitment to curiosity.

“Hum, I wonder… how might ski more often this season before the snow melts?”

What are you wondering about more or less of in 2025?

//no.3 - A Breakthrough

“Yeah, it’s nice what you’re doing but how does it scale.”

This question from a dear friend about a business I’ve been working on has been a spark for ideation and iteration for a few years now.

Failures littered the design and development path until late last summer when we pushed through in a vexing software hurdle. A design hurdle was cleared soon after. And we had momentum going into holiday - the busiest time of year for the target client (read, the worst time of year to sell them a new product).

I decided to simply press into the top of the funnel with awareness efforts expecting I’d not see results until the turn of the year. So, we cranked up 7 weeks of effort with little response from the prospects.

Last week we had our first wholesale customer purchase of said new product. I had a rush of emotion for about 45 seconds before I re-directed efforts to now doing the essential things for the product to succeed in it’s new context.

Here’s to new things! Breakthroughs are real.

Sum

Consider waking early to write. Shift to asking yourself “How might I…” questions in 2025. And, there is truth in the statement, “Stick with it long enough and you’ll find a way.”

Change

• I’m seeking new clean protein sources - sans corn syrup - and am sampling through the David bars now. I’m only two bars in at the moment. What are your favorite clean protein sources?

• I’ve hesitated to buy from this company because I did not want to cook with the product. However, they have snack sticks now. My first order is on the way.

• In approx. a million flight miles I’ve never had a plane pillow. You? I have one of these on order. I’ll let you know how it goes if it’s good. What do you use to hack your long haul flights?

On Your Way

There is sun in the window on this bluebird negative degree day in Minnesota. I’ve got a higher insolation jacket on. Life is good!

Follow Vivront.com on TikTok, Instagram and Facebook.
Follow @josephrueter on Instagram or Linkedin.

Order kitchen knives sharpened or give the gift of sharp at Vivront.com.