#49 New Year, Same OTF

Good morning and Happy New Year!

Over the next two editions, we are bringing you everything you need for 2024 to be your most productive, most growth-filled, and hopefully most lucrative year yet.

To achieve that sort of improvement, we believe it’s important to both learn from the past and plan for the future.

So that’s what ALL our content today (and next Tuesday) is about: looking back on 2023, and thinking about what’s in store for 2024.

Learn from the past, plan for the future, read OTF in the present.

The ultimate recipe for success.

Here’s How We’re Kicking Off the New Year 🥳

💰️ “Spend-Less-January” Challenge

🤖 2023: The Year of AI

🤝 A “2 DO” List For a Better 2024

➕ Much. More.

Making Cents 💰️ 

How a “Spend-Less-January” Challenge
Can Establish Solid Year-Long Financial Habits

Short and Sweet: We’re not suggesting you completely stop discretionary spending or deprive yourself of simple pleasures.

Think of this as a way to kick bad money habits to the curb for just one month. Simple concept, but it won’t be easy…

Why It Matters: The holiday spending season is behind us, so it’s the perfect time to evaluate our spending and be a bit more frugal in the pursuit of financial well-being.

Use the new calendar year as a fresh start for you and your finances right away.

💡4 ways to help you to kick off the new year for a Spend-Less-January.

• Ask Yourself If You Need All Those Subscriptions: This goes back to a previous edition re: why you should audit your monthly subscriptions. TL;DR…cancelling subscriptions you don’t need / hardly use is an easy way to spend less right off the bat.

• DIY-Dine-Out: Fairly straightforward, but in the aftermath of all that holiday spending, do your best to limit your going out and instead channel your inner chef and cook at home.

• No-Impulse Shopping: When you feel the itch to buy something online, try waiting 24 hours before making a non-essential purchase. Sleep on it to see if you actually need it.

• Coffee Challenge: If you buy coffee out 3+ times per week, challenge yourself to cut at least one from your routine. Make it at home or use the coffee machine at the office.

Hustle Hub 📈 

• YOUR SUCCESS: Here are 30 side-hustle ideas for 2024, courtesy of TIME.

• THEIR SUCCESS: An oldie but a goodie: this article - which we’ve shared with you before - features advice from a guy who reviews side-hustles on TikTok.
  

• YOUR SUCCESS: Thinking about starting a business this year? Let’s look back and learn from the biggest startup stories of 2023.

• THEIR SUCCESS: Young Entrepreneurs Forum has over 820K subs on YouTube. This video has their Top 10 tips for building a business in 2024.

Workin’ with AI 🦾 

OTF is committed to ensuring our readers always stay in the know regarding AI.

We understand that AI is the future. It’s so important to be aware of what’s going on and to learn best practices.

Here’s a month-by-month look back at the Year in AI, courtesy of our favorite tech newsletter Superhuman.

(If all of this can happen in one year, what will the world look like in five?)

Stay With Us - Half Way There…

Almost there…

What. A. Year. In. AI.

Conversation Starters 🙃 

• SELF-INTEREST: Talk about whether or not these 2023 reflections and lessons can make your 2024 that much better.

• HUMAN INTEREST: Talk about any of TIME’s most influential people of 2023.

• ARTIFICIAL INTEREST: Talk about how AI will change the world in 2024.

Food For Thought 💭 

New Year, New Perspective…

2 DO THIS WEEK 💡 

2024’s maiden 2 DO is focused on helping you get the absolute most out of the next twelve months. To do that, we need to look back and look ahead.

• Reflect On The Year That Was:

  • What did you learn about yourself this year?

  • What did you learn about other individuals and how they impact you - your mood, your productivity, etc?

  • What were your most important accomplishments?

  • What were your failures, and how can you improve so they don’t happen again?

  • These are just a few of the many questions you can ask yourself in order to make the past useful.

• Identify What You Want Most in 2024: Many of us simply make cliche resolutions - I’m gonna get in shape, I’m gonna stop smoking, I’m gonna get back into ______ - but because we are not specific or passionate about these things, we often let them go after only a short period of time. Put more thought into what you want this year. Identify a single specific thing, and go get it.
  
  If you need added inspiration or constant reminders, put it everywhere: post a note above your desk, write it in a notebook that you keep beside your bed, or make it your most commonly-used password. But again, be specific. If the path is foggy, it’s a lot harder to reach your destination.

You are now On The Fly and In The Know.