The Only Project 2025 You’ll Ever Need

It’s a funny thing about humans. In our culture, we use the calendar to set certain dates as milestones to finally get our shit together and to make a stand about what we’ve said we want to change, what we want to do, or who we want to be, but just never quite got around to it (less than 9% of us do). And of course, the most famous anniversary we use to plant the flag for the revolution and the evolution of the “new and improved me” is New Years Day.

Speaking of years, who’d a thought we would have lived the pages of history that we did in the past five? Did you know that each year is given a “Word of the Year”? It’s true. According to Merriam-Webster, this year’s word of the year is “polarized” (shocker). In 2023 it was “authentic”, in 2022 it was “gaslighting”, in 2021 it was “vaccine” and in 2020 it was “pandemic”. The good old days of the covid. Like a bad signature in a high school yearbook.

But onto 2025, because it’s the only project you’ll ever need.

Words With Webster Just to make sure we’re all standing in line at the same word salad bar, let’s do a few quick definitions. Here’s an interesting one: project. According to Merriam-Webster, a “project” is defined as, “an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim.” Huh. An individual enterprise. Might that be…you? Yes actually, it would be you. An individual – with a careful plan – and a particular aim. Holy unintended consequence Batman, that sounds like a resolution. Now you have your homework for New Year’s Eve 2024 (and you didn’t have to pay some self-indulging celebrity to get it done). America is so awesome.

Before you get over your skis, what is a “resolution” anyway? Webster says it’s, “a firm decision to do or not to do something.” That sounds pretty good. Strong. Intended. Decisive. But for the rest of us commoners, a resolution is really just a goal with a deadline. A dream with an expiration date. It’s something about ourselves that we feel good about because we intend it and maybe whispered it to a friend. What do you want to be this year that you aren’t already? Richer? Skinnier? More clicked? What do you want that you don’t have? More money? A new person? A puppy? All of the above? Your list might be long, but Simon says you probably get it. But most of us have goaled those goals before, which means by definition they didn’t work out. Here we are…portly, broke, lonely, and puppyless.

How come?

The How Come Conundrum The righteous road to the new you begins with that question: “How come?” How come you aren’t sporting the bod that gets you the role as an underwear model? How come you’re still swiping left instead of right? How come you still worry that you won’t have enough money to make all your dreams come true? And perhaps most importantly, how come that puppy isn’t taking you for a walk right now? The answer to the “how come” question brings us to the title of this blog: “The Only Project 2025 You’ll Ever Need”. The cable newsman won’t tell you this, but this Project 2025 actually has less than nothing to do with a political conspiracy, which when you think about it, is kind of refreshing.

Project 2025 is actually you. It’s not about some boob yelling about eating another country, it’s not about your favorite carnival barker on cable tv telling you how the world is going to end in 10 minutes, it’s not even about the person in your life who you know that if they just ‘changed’, you would be living such a far superior life than you are now. You are the Project friend, and that’s not just true in 2025, but also 2026, 2027, 2028. Hell, if you’re lucky (or unlucky enough), maybe 2099 too.

Oh no… So here’s the deal like it or not: if you want 2025 to bring you more moolah, more likes, more shares, and maybe even more puppy love, you need to do something you haven’t done yet: you need to change. That’s right, change. And people don’t like to change. We don’t. The truth is most of us would rather just keep rolling along our merry way and keeping the status quo than modifying anything – especially our risk tolerance – to get what we say we want. And hey, if you want to live your life portly, broke, lonely, and God help you, puppyless, then just keep on truckin’. (Side note to millennials: “keep on trucking” is the title and refrain from a Grateful Dead song in 1970. It’s from the album American Beauty which was recognized in 1997 by Congress as a national treasure. Hell yes it is.)

The Good News Change sucks, and it’s hard, and difficult, and no one wants to do it, but the good news is that to get yourself back in those skinny jeans, richer than your dreams of greed and avarice, loved like your mommy never did, and sporting your sporty new pooch, you really just have to answer one question. That’s right, just one question. Answering this question is 91% of the battle, but because it contains so much of the seed of change, it’s also not easy. Think of this question as a new love interest. You’re going to have to court it. Reach out to it, come back to it, leave it alone, return to it, maybe even bring it flowers every once in a while. But most of all, you’re going to have to face it and answer it. Here’s the question:

“What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”

That was so important that here it is again: what would I do if I wasn’t afraid? Get pen, paper, iPad, phone, whatever and write it down: what would I do if I wasn’t afraid?

Let’s go back to Merriam-Webster. A “habit” is defined as, “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up”. The settled, regular and practiced tendency of some of you right now is to run away from this kind of thing (you’ve already been permission to leave by the way), but assuming you’re still here, will you please, for just once in your life actually do this little thing to help yourself? Change your habit and change it now! Write it down: what would I do if I wasn’t afraid? And then answer it.

Just do it.

(Side note to Gen-Xer’s: The cliché “just do it” is associated to the Nike brand but was originally inspired by death row inmate Gary Gilmore as his last request before being executed). Instead of a first date, maybe you should treat doing this work as if your life depended on it.

The Kind of Amazing Thing The kind of amazing thing about actually doing this little exercise is that when you do it, you quickly realize that what you’re afraid of isn’t the huge monster your emotions thought it was. It’s also not as complicated as you perceived either. But unless you do the work, you will never know.

Someone somewhere coined the cliché “you get what you pay for”. Not true today. This advice is huge, life altering, and it’s free. The real question for 2025 isn’t what you pay, it’s where you will make your investments. This is your life, and no one has a bigger investment in it than you, so do was you will, or don’t do it, it’s really up to you. No one will care as much as you, not even your mom because she has her own issues just like you. But that’s a blog for another Sunday.

Good luck and have a good year.

Joe Still 2024.12.29

Cite: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” – Albert Einstein