This Time is Different & other lies

We always say this time is different, but this time, it really is different - Emad Mostaque

As the first week of the New Year comes to a close, I’m sure you’re on track with any resolutions & plans you wanted to implement this year. It could be getting more active, working on your longer term goals or being more present. I’ve seen this before. Take the example of living a healthy lifestyle, something a lot of us want to do. We set an arbitrary date (could be the 1st of January, the 1st of a month, the coming Monday, tomorrow) and decide that from then on, it’s game, set, match. We throw out the junk in the kitchen, buy healthy food and wipe the dust off our running shoes.

“This time is different. This time I really will follow through.”

And we do. For a few weeks. Or months. And then life catches up. It starts with one outing with your friends, one birthday cake & before you know it, you’re back to your old self. But is that really a bad thing?

Where would humanity be if we didn’t believe that this time would be different? You probably wouldn’t be reading this on your phone since Steve Jobs wouldn’t have gone back to Apple thinking “they ousted me once, they’re going to do it again”. Red Bull wouldn't have won the ‘21 & ‘22 F1 Championships because “Mercedes AMG have been winning for 8 years, whats the point of even trying?”

The point is, it’s easy to be pessimistic, especially when you have past data to prove it. Your last stint of being healthy only lasted 4 weeks. Your last attempt at building something didn’t go as planned. Your last try at keeping a reading habit failed after a book and a half. Does that mean it’ll fail again? It might, or it might not. The only way to find out is to believe that this time is different.