Stop Playing Flappy Bird With Your New Year's Goals

Remember Flappy Bird?

Start the game, tap the screen, and the bird immediately crashes into a pipe.

Tap again, crash again, die again.

Within two minutes you've failed loads of times and you're ready to delete the app and maybe (just maybe) throw your phone out the window!

There's no tutorial, no warm-up, no learning curve.

Just a brutal difficulty from second one.

That experience was compelling enough to be a huge hit - for a while.

And this is exactly what you're doing wrong every January.

The new year hits and you're hyped. Everyone's talking about fresh starts, new beginnings, basking in that "New You" optimism.

So you decide to hit the gym five times a week, completely overhaul your diet, finally get in shape.

You're just playing Flappy Bird with your fitness goals.

You've jumped straight to high difficulty with no tutorial, no skill building and no wins to build on.

And just like Flappy Bird, you'll crash hard, and probably get fed up and quit the game for good (usually by February).

Be more Mario.

Super Mario Bros. Level 1-1 is genius.

A single Goomba walks slowly toward you.

You have time to see it coming, time to figure out the jump button, time to feel like a hero when you stomp it.

You're learning, winning, and building confidence.

By World 8, you're doing things that would have seemed impossible on Day 1, but you barely notice because the difficulty curve brought you there gradually and more importantly you had fun along the way.

So approach your goals and new years resolutions just like a Nintendo games designer would.

Make the initial work absurdly easy - like a tutorial level to learn the controls and get easy wins.

You want to be feeling good about playing the game as quickly as possible, so that you will keep playing.

And then slowly and consistently increase the difficulty, getting to a place where you are challenged but still enjoying the process.

This is the approach I took when I wanted to build a consistent gym routine. My first workouts were so easy, they felt like they weren't worth doing.

But I was building the habit of turning up and working out. I got comfortable with going to the gym, using the equipment, doing the exercises. I was racking up the wins and feeling good about training. Only then would I increase the difficulty and the challenge.

Key Principles

Start so easy it feels silly. Level 1 should be something so easy you can do it even on your worst day.

Build in immediate rewards. Mario games give you coins and power-ups constantly as you play. Your routine needs its own rewards system. It might be a post routine coffee, the satisfaction of checking off the workout, and the good feeling of movement. Don't wait for the scale to budge or the abs to appear - you want to feel like you are winning during and after every session.

Track something and progress gradually. You need to see that difficulty curve moving upward, even if each step feels small. Whether it's duration, intensity, or frequency - you should always feel like you're moving forward, not just treading water.

Resist the January/New Goal/"New You" energy. This is the hardest part. When you're most motivated is exactly when you need to hold back. That enthusiasm will fade - it always does. Your job is to build the skill and habit before the motivation disappears.

Your challenge: Before you start any goal, design your Level 1. Make it so easy you'd feel silly telling someone about it. That's your tutorial level. Master that, get your wins, then gradually turn up the difficulty.

Stop playing Flappy Bird with your life. Start playing Super Mario Bros.

Track Your Progress

The hardest part of the difficulty curve method? Actually tracking your progress and building that consistency.

That's why I built Progress Every Day - a simple progress journal app designed to help you track your habits, moods, and daily wins.

Just write quick journal entries (as easy as sending a text), use emoji to track habits 👨‍💻🏃‍♀️✅, and see your progress build over time.

Perfect for tracking your Level 1 workouts and watching your difficulty curve climb.

---

This is the first post in a series on tactics for building consistent habits. Next up: What to do when life interrupts your progress (aka: save points).