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If you ask us, there’s way too much focus these days on ‘the perfect health plan’ — particularly leading into the fitness frenzy that is the new year.  Now, don’t get us wrong, good health is a great goal. But how you get there can be a bit more complicated than the marketing moguls would have you believe. 

And as you may know, we’re not really big fans of New Year’s resolutions around here. Not because we don’t want you to be your best self, but because New Year’s promises and proclamations usually fall flat by February, leaving us guilt-ridden and feeling gluttonous.

We thought: there’s got to be a better way to push ourselves to change. How can we side-step this annual angst, and set goals that stick?

Well, this season — instead of wringing our hands about the best New Year’s resolutions, or whether all the holiday ham haunches will set our diet back — let’s take a step back and talk about redemption. 

And thankfully, Dr. Neal is leading the charge toward a redemption-focused approach with his New Year’s vision strategy. Read on to learn the difference between resolution and redemption, how to create sustainable change, and how to craft a plan for actually accomplishing your goals in 2025.

In This Article:

New Year’s Resolutions vs. Redemption

A quick disclaimer: Of course, we’re not against people setting goals, pushing to new heights, or continuing to evolve. That stuff is great! The reality is, though, that our modern framework for creating change just doesn’t work as advertised. 

That’s why your gym is empty by Valentine’s Day and why your ideal beach body hasn’t magically arrived by June. Not only does the New Year’s resolution approach leave a lot to be desired, but it goes against human nature in ways that can actually be damaging. How? Well, keep reading to find out!

Learn More: Neal’s 5 Tips For Thriv-ival in 2025

3 Reasons Why New Year’s Resolutions Don’t Really Work

1. Because Humans Stink at Long-Term Change

Evolutionarily, the human brain just doesn’t prioritize big-picture or long-term thinking that well. Why? Well, early in our development as a species it was the quick, moment-to-moment decisions that kept us alive — and so our brains became really good at them. 

When a decision, change, or development is positioned far in the future and requires consistent effort without instant results, it’s much more challenging. It doesn’t work for our brains because our brains simply don’t work like that. So no, you’re not lazy or lacking ambition — it’s biological! That takes a bit of the pressure off, right?

2. Because It’s Just Not Natural

In the wellness industry, every season has a sales schtick: spring for allergies, summer for skincare, and fall for cough and cold treatments. And New Year’s sales and services aren’t immune to this — despite the fact that we could just as easily begin our lives anew today as we could on January 1st!

But that wouldn’t be very helpful for companies seeking a profit boost headed into Q1, would it?

This kind of fabricated urgency just doesn’t lend itself well to long-standing change. After your credit card has been swiped, the buzz dwindles — because external motivation like this is as short-lived as our own fickle whims.

3. Because The Marketing Machine Benefits from It

Modern marketing tactics use every psychological trick in the book to influence millions of people for one simple goal: profit.

Even intelligent and discerning people can fall for marketing schemes when they leverage the deeply entrenched patterns of our fallible and fragile human brains. Because even if you know, logically, that major goals take time to accomplish, the emotional part of the brain still says, “Yeah, but I want it right now.”

That’s why, every year, millions of dollars are made on weight loss pills, detox programs, supplements, fitness courses, et cetera — promising those instant results our lizard brains just can’t resist. 

Learn More: 4 Mental Health Myths Debunked: Understanding the American Mental Health Crisis

So What Does Redemption Mean in This Context?

Okay, so we’ve gone over all the reasons why resolutions don’t work — and while it may seem disheartening, just wait! There is another option: redemption. 

When we say redemption, we mean a lot of different things. We mean to show yourself patience when you don’t make progress as fast as you think you should. We mean to forgive yourself when you fall off the wagon, even if it happens again and again. And we mean that it’s never too late to start trying or to decide to keep trying. 

All that to say, it’s about patience and forgiveness — for yourself. It may seem like a subtle difference, but you’d be surprised at how much a simple attitude change can affect the way your life unfolds. 

So, with that in mind, let’s dive into some concrete steps you can take toward meaningful change — and don’t forget, it’s never too late! 

Setting a New Year’s Vision Instead: Getting Started

When we set our goals based on (oh so fleeting) external motivations, we’re setting ourselves up to fail. Then, as we struggle to stick to our new habits and hobbies, it’s easy to label ourselves as just that: failures. 

And no matter how confident you may be, it’s hard to stay chipper when you’re mentally cycling through all the reasons you feel like a loser! 

That’s why Dr. Neal‘s psychology-backed plan for creating a New Year’s vision is such a relief. Rather than prioritizing outcomes or getting attached to expectations, a New Year’s vision allows us to work towards bettering ourselves slowly and sustainably. But it does require a mindset shift — because at least for most of us, it’s a bit contradictory to our current paradigm.

Keeping these 3 things in mind while you create your perfectly personalized New Year’s vision will help you focus on what gets results, and let go of what doesn’t:

1. Get to the Heart of the Matter

If you want to succeed, you need to find what really, truly, genuinely moves you. For example, if you want to drop some extra pounds in 2025, “because I want abs” probably isn’t quite powerful enough to get you through months of hard work with difficult-to-see results. 

“I want to live long enough to meet my grandchildren,” on the other hand, is exactly the sort of deep-rooted, galvanizing truth that can motivate real, lasting change. 

2. Adjust Your Expectations

What’s the hardest part of working towards goals or building new behaviors? At first, you’re going to have to give maximum effort for minimum return. And with no dopamine-boosting lights, sounds, or prizes to reward you for the small accomplishments, it’s all the more difficult. 

But here’s the good news: if you stick with it, you will eventually reach a point in the learning curve where you’re putting in less effort and seeing more results. And, if you go into this whole process expecting hard work, you won’t be as surprised when it gets challenging. 

3. Track Your Progress

Sometimes, too, our New Year’s resolutions get left by the wayside not because we’re unmotivated or complacent, but because we simply forgot about them!

In our hectic world, it can be incredibly difficult to keep track of everything — even the good stuff. And especially stuff like making small, incremental improvements! That’s a big part of why long-term change is so difficult — day to day, it often feels like we’re making no progress at all.

So, keep a journal, make a note on your phone, write long missives with rocks on the beach — anything! If you’re able to review your days, weeks, or months, and actually write down the positive steps you’ve taken, it’ll be much easier to see how far you’ve come. 

2 Steps to Creating a New Year’s Vision You Can Actually Accomplish

Okay, so it might not be plausible to sit down and say: “tomorrow I’ll be a completely different person.” But that doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish our goals. We just need to get into the nitty-gritty of creating a New Year’s vision that works for you, specifically!

Following Dr. Neal’s advice, we’re going to ask ourselves two simple questions to lay the foundation for all our hard work:

Yes, we know — we made it very clear that our brains don’t like establishing long-term goals. But by defining 5 specific actions we need to take daily, weekly, or monthly to reach our vision — we effectively reduce that long-term goal into 5 short-term ones.

And if we want to work with your brain instead of against it, these 5 actions should be both measurable and tangible. They should also be objective — or as objective as we can get — so you can say without a shred of doubt, “If I do these 5 things, I will have reached my vision.”

The best way to set yourself up for success with these objectives is, like we said above, getting to the heart of your goal, establishing realistic expectations, and tracking your progress. 

TL;DR: New Year’s Resolutions Are Out, Redemption Is In

Let’s put all of this information together into a concrete example, using one of the most frequently heard New Year’s Resolutions — losing weight.

Utilizing the psychology-backed framework for redemption above, that would look something like this:

And here’s one final pro tip that you might not have been aware of — you don’t have to do this alone! Our Counterside Consults, believe it or not, are always free — so you can give our team of holistic health experts a call anytime you need personalized advice for this journey.

Plus — have some patience! Not only for your progress, but for yourself. Making lasting change is hard, and it does take time, but it doesn’t have to be impossible. And it’s never too late to start!

In today’s fast-paced world where deadlines loom, to-do lists are endless, and every moment is consumed by productivity, it’s no surprise that our wellness often takes a back seat. Between work, family, and the chaos of modern life, finding time to prioritize health optimization can feel near impossible.

But here’s the good news: You don’t need hours to carve out time to research each and every supplement you take.

Actually, what you need is a science-backed, sustainable supplement strategy. With the right strategic approach, even the busiest professionals can get the health benefits they need without the headaches. Read on for Dr. Neal‘s 3 simple steps to creating a supplement strategy that works for you — without adding more work to your plate.

In This Article:

Wait, Why Do I Need a Supplement Strategy in the First Place?

If you’ve strolled down a supplement aisle in the last few years then we don’t need to tell how overwhelming that experience can be. 

Every vitamin, nutrient, and so-called miracle compound has multiple options. Garbage powders with multimillion-dollar branding campaigns sit on the same shelves as clinically-verified supplements. Wellness influencers have folks in a tizzy over this new herb or that electrolyte mix nearly every week. 

Paired with the lack of meaningful regulations around supplement safety, and you have a recipe for the perfect, money-wasting disaster. All because you wanted to optimize your health!

The wellness industry is projected to reach a whopping $9 trillion by 2028. It’s an incredibly profitable arena to be in these days because, well, a lot of people feel like crap. 

But just because you don’t feel your best (yet!), doesn’t mean you have to be swindled by the snake oil salesmen. Once equipped with a personalized supplement strategy, you’ll become immune to the marketing speak that confuses thousands of well-intended wellness seekers every year. 

3 Steps to Creating a Personalized Supplement Strategy

Before diving into supplements, remember that no amount of supplements can replace the fundamentals. The foundation of your wellness starts with the basics: diet, sleep, exercise, stress management, and lifestyle changes.

AKA, the Wellness Pyramid.

Because it’s true that supplements, when taken strategically, can help fill the inevitable gaps in our nutrition. And bolster our health against the stressors and toxins of our modern lives.

But, as we always say, you can’t out-supplement a nutritionally bankrupt diet or totally sedentary lifestyle! Once you’re working on these areas, you’re ready for these 3 steps to strategic supplementation.

1. Define Your Why

Without a clear picture of what you’re hoping to accomplish with a particular supplement, you’re more susceptible to the well-branded bunk that over-promises and under-delivers.

Or, as Dr. Neal so eloquently intones, it’s easy to become a “hope-ium addict.”

The reason why you take a supplement shouldn’t be just “general health,” either. Your why should be set in stone long before you choose which brand to purchase from or what dose to take. Whether you’re looking to address a common nutrient deficiency — à la the First5 — or overcome a specific health concern, the core goals of your supplementation need to be defined.

2. Figure Out Your What

What is it that will actually help you reach your health goals? As in, what has been proven to be effective according to the verified research and scientific data we have available.

Thankfully, when it comes to addressing nutrient deficiencies, the first what of this process has been simplified with the First5. After decades of research and clinical experience, Dr. Neal determined the 5 most common nutrient deficiencies that are impacting the health and wellness of Americans every day.

Omega-3. Probiotics. Protein. Bone Support. Multivitamins.

The next set of whats to ask yourself stems from these essential nutrients. What brand, what dose, what timeline, etc. Because, unfortunately, it’s not as simple as picking up any omega-3 supplement you see in the store if you want to see real, lasting results.

3. Determine Your When

Speaking of timelines… Did you know that most supplements work by offering a cumulative effect to your body?

Even when a supplement is backed by science or selling like hotcakes, it will still take time to have a palpable result. So, instead of giving up after a month or adding in new supplements for more tangible results: BE PATIENT.

Before adding any new vitamin or nutrient into your supplement strategy, set clear and realistic expectations on the timeline. Define your when and take your supplement consistently during that timeframe.

Our recommendation? Pick a date 3-6 months from now, and check in with yourself when that day comes up. If you’re still not seeing results after 3-6 months of steady use, then you can freak out.

A Supplement Strategy That Works for You, Not the Other Way Around

Need help establishing a realistic timeline for your supplement? Curious about why 95% of Americans are deficient in vitamin D? Want to know which dose of omega-3 will actually boost your brain health?

All your questions and more are answered on this humble, health-centered blog. So click around a little! Or, for more personalized advice, give one of our supplement experts a call. Our Counterside Consults are always open and always free.

Here’s the scene: Things are really weird right now, the temperature is really hot (literally and figuratively), and there are more people than ever telling you everything you should be doing, worrying about, and buying to “stay safe” from “them,” “it,” or “the end of everything.”

Life surely feels dire for so many. How in the heck could we talk about optimizing our wellness and thriving at a time like this? “Who do you think you are, Neal?” I don’t know. Still trying to figure that out…

Hence my new word: thriv-ival. It’s a new wellness descriptor, built for our times, that basically means a state of oscillating between thriving and surviving, hoping the law of averages works in your favor.

If you can’t tell, this is a Neal-in-2025-esque approach to a conventional listicle about healthy habits. If we haven’t spoken directly in a while, I’m a brand new girl. I’m hopped up on DGAF, but still have a twinkle of my idealism escaping the event horizon of resigned acceptance.

Who has time for pomp and circumstance anymore, really? It’s almost the 30’s for goodness sake!

So, here’s 5 reasonable, valuable tips on how to actually be healthy in this whacked out world. Delivered in the way you all know and love.

In This Article:

How to Actually Be Healthy in 2026: Dr. Neal’s Top 5 Tips

Tip 1: Throw Away Your Devices.

Right in the garbage. All of them.

…or at least lock them down.

Personally, I’ve found the old ways I’ve engaged with the world won’t serve me moving forward. By old, I mean the things I did like 3 weeks ago.

You may be familiar: doom scrolling, reading articles made just for me to invoke the highest level of emotional response and engagement, and constantly refreshing to see the newest sound-byte, meme, or zinger that’d make me surge with dopamine for 12 seconds.

It won’t serve me moving forward. It didn’t serve me then.

“The media stinks!” we cry as we keep feeding the beast. Yeah yeah, but let’s be honest… we LOVE us some stinky media. We’re addicted to the editorialization, the drama, and the rhetoric.

We’re roaming through the proverbial poison ivy and cow-itch backyard wondering why we spend all our time swollen and itchy.

Pair some honest introspection with some action:

(Weird how that advice applies to everything health and wellness like food, supplements, medicines, exercise…)

The last point is important. I want you to find BETTER things to read, play, click on, or engage with. I’m not anti-distraction; distraction is FINE and rest is needed.

I am, however, anti-brain-rot-inducing, behavior-modifying, anger-intensifying distractions.

Read a book. Ignore all that media nonsense. What has it really done for you anyway?

Tip 2: Give.

Alternatively, serve. Or not alternatively.

Tip 3: Make Your World Smaller.

Back in my day, you used to hear some health-related conjecture and then ask an actual official smarty-pants in that department WHO YOU KNEW, who was IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, and then, by-golly, you’d go and ACTUALLY RESPECT THEIR ANSWER.

Who are your trusted experts?

What have they done to earn that trust?

Here’s an important indicator of whether or not your trusted expert is an ideal trusted expert: how physically close are they?

Can you throw old tomatoes at them if they’re actually wrong and misleading you, or do they live in a McMansion or secret bunker somewhere across the country, bought with all your clicks and likes?

I find that the neighborhood approach to confidants nearly ALWAYS wins.

Tip 4: Meditate.

Like, actually do this. Time to start practicing healthier brain habits.

The alternative is to keep on going as we are, adding more moments and years to the big pile of moments and years we’ve spent training our brain to behave in a way that’s pretty bad for it (and us).

Time to slow the brain down. Disconnect the sensory cues from our emotional reactions. Get some distance between them, at least.

Five minutes a day. That’s all I ask.

Look to an expert to get you started. I know a guy…

Tip 5: Get Strategic About Your Supplements. And Medicine. And Diet.

Ten points for you if you can say “YES” to each of these points:

Now do that for your foods and medicines and you are on your way!

I am the self-proclaimed “Supplement Strategist.” I believe a good plan, based on good science and reason, is the best approach to conquer the chaos of supplement misinformation (and frankly, wellness consumerism).

On Tips 1-4, I can just nudge, encourage, or guilt-trip you into considering them.

On this one, I can really help. It’s been my long-standing offer. LET MY TEAM HELP!

Let’s Connect!

How to Succeed in Wellness While Trying Really Hard

Figuring out how to actually be healthy in 2026 can be incredibly complicated.

So here’s what I’m saying, simply:

I know this is contrary to the kind of advice that gets attention in 2025, seeing as it’s pretty boring, wholesome, and everyone can equally win if it’s done correctly.

Stuff’s weird. I think the weirdness of our times has made us take the boring, wholesome, local, service-minded, bond-strengthening, and soul-nourishing advice for granted. “Yeah yeah, I know all that healthy habit stuff, but what can I take?”

You know what you can take? You can take it from me: we have the power to build the lives we want.

It’s time to be more strategic in how we spend our time, what we pay attention to, what we value, and what we allow into our bubbles. Thriv-ival may be what we need in 2026 to help us eventually get back to our old selves. Standing tall, smiling, and focused on getting every drop we can get out of this life.

How can I help you get there?