About Blaine

Do you know what you want but find fatigue and frustration instead?

It’s already January 19th. How’s January treating you so far?


For today’s newsletter, I partially wrote a piece called “The best and worst of 2023” to highlight a few things I see going on in the wellness industry, but I decided it was stating the obvious and let those words go.

I’m sticking with the January theme though.

As a group fitness instructor in gyms and studios for over 20 years, I hated early January.

For the first two weeks of the year, I’d have to teach exercise classes to all the people who faithfully attended my workouts every single week, all year long, AND brand new people who were complete beginners – all at the same time.

It was impossible. I’d either exasperate my regulars with slow, easy workouts or frustrate the newbies.

However, I knew I could get through it because, by the third week of January, we would always be back to just me and my consistent following of people committed to their health.

I still watch it unfold every year, like clockwork.

In the first 19 days of this year, I’ve been busy with many of you reaching out to me (more than usual) about your health goals and how to push through what’s holding you back because, right now, you’re in the heat of feeling resistance to new routines.

Another way to say it is that your old habits are pulling you back.

The trend I see in these conversations is that everyone seems to know what they want to achieve but struggle with consistently taking the action needed to get there.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits wrote this:


You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Your goal is your desired outcome. Your system is the collection of daily habits that will get you there.

This year, spend less time focusing on outcomes and more time focusing on the habits that precede the results.


I think that says it all.

To achieve the goal, what systems do you need to create to get there?

An example of a system is moving your alarm clock across the room and on top of your workout clothes so you have to get up immediately to turn it off and you see your clothes right there.

Another is planning your breakfast in advance. Buy everything you need at the grocery store and have it ready to go so there is no thought or delay in your morning routine.

One more is having your gym bag or ear buds or water bottle or whatever you need to workout packed and ready to go the night before.

Once you’ve thought about the systems you can create, send me an email (you can reply to this) and let me know. Just that little, simple act of typing it out and hitting send is a giant step towards getting where you want to be.