A study conducted by the Harvard MBA Program followed one graduate class for 10 years. In the class, only 3% of the students had clear goals and a plan to achieve them. About 13% had goals but had not written them down. And a full 84% had no goals at all.

Ten years later, the results were astonishing and über-clear:

The 13 percent of the class who had goals, but did not write them down, earned twice the amount of the 84 percent who had no goals. The 3 percent who had written goals were earning, on average, 10 times as much as the other 97 percent of the class combined.

Literally and metaphorically, it pays to write things down, to create a plan, and to make that contract with yourself — over and over, even after those times when you fail, even when things don’t work out the way you thought they would, even when you feel vulnerable and scared of getting hurt.

I would ask you honestly this year: What, really, are you getting out of cynicism? We know it’s not better outcomes. It’s not better health or happiness. It’s not better relationships.

If cynicism is not serving you, why not give it up? Before you tackle letting go of sugar or smoking or whatever — why not let the very first thing you give up be the cynical (and limiting) underlying belief that there’s no point in trying?

If you fell off the wagon with your resolutions, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from hopping back on again right now. Every single day is the beginning of a new 365-day cycle. And this Planner is un-dated so you can start using it as soon as it arrives, and you can always pick up wherever you leave off without wasting any pages.

You may not get your planner before The End Overwhelm Challenge begins, and that’s just fine! You’ll be doing your challenge with a blank notebook and then using your Planner to continue to stay out of overwhelm after the challenge ends.