Jonathan’s Story
Choice Weight Analysis
Free Weekly Tips
Shut Up And Choose Book
Jonathan Ressler
Hey, welcome back to the Shut Up and Choose Podcast. The podcast that cuts through the noise, the nonsense, and all the bullshit coming from the internet, Instagram, and every guru telling you what you should be doing. Or even that woman from the country club taking GLP-1 drugs who can’t eat without running to the bathroom to throw up or deal with diarrhea.
Hopefully, we’re going to quiet all that noise for you today.
I figured I’d give you that image to kick off Christmas week. And I get it. It’s Christmas week. We’re not going to pretend otherwise. I know you’re listening, but nothing is really landing. This is peak excuse season. Christmas. New Year’s. Parties. Travel. Stress. Chaos.
You’re armed with every excuse on earth to delay responsibility.
And if you let yourself slide this far into December, you’re not flipping a switch now. You’re not waking up today thinking this is the moment. You’re thinking, I’ll get serious in January.
That’s you and pretty much everyone else.
And you know what kills me? I already know you’re not starting this week. You know it. I know it. We both know the performance. I could hand you the most airtight strategy on earth and you’d still say, not now. After the holidays. After the parties. After I reset.
It’s the same script every December.
People act like responsibility short-circuits when Christmas lights turn on. They pretend New Year’s has magical powers. It doesn’t.
And I’m not here to hammer you today. It’s Christmas week and I know exactly where your head is. This is usually the part where people expect me to yell. Not today.
Today is about calling out the truth you’re already living.
If you’ve let yourself drift this far, you’re not becoming a focused, disciplined, clean-eating machine between Christmas and New Year’s. That week is a black hole for discipline. It swallows every good intention.
People call it the in-between week. I call it the week where everyone gives up while pretending they’re planning a comeback.
So let’s acknowledge the obvious. You’re not starting today. You’re not starting tomorrow. You’re not starting until the calendar flips because, like millions of others, you’re hooked on the fake fresh start.
And as much as I want to shake you, I know the truth. Nothing I say overrides holiday brain. You already decided this week doesn’t count.
So instead of pushing, I’m doing something different. I’m giving you honesty with the right amount of snark to break through the season.
If you aren’t starting right now, fine. Then stop lying about it. Own it. Say it out loud. I’m not starting this week.
Good. Now we can deal with reality.
Because here’s what I won’t let you do. I won’t let you use this week as an excuse to wreck yourself.
You want to wait for January? Fine. But don’t turn the next seven days into an all-you-can-eat, all-you-can-ruin buffet.
You don’t need perfection. You don’t need willpower. You don’t need rules. You need a few smart choices so you don’t walk into January already crushed.
I know you’re not flipping the switch this week. But I also know you want next year to look different. And that starts with hearing the truth you never give yourself, even on Christmas week.
Let’s do a holiday honesty check.
Every December, people say the same thing. I’m going to be good this week.
Really? Out of nowhere? After weeks of sliding like it was a competitive sport, you’re pulling it together on Christmas week?
People talk about this stretch of days like it’s sacred and immune to logic. Christmas Eve. Christmas Day. The limbo days after. New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Day.
They act like the universe granted immunity. Like calories don’t count. Choices don’t count. Behavior doesn’t count.
Then they promise, I’ll be good.
It would be adorable if it wasn’t so predictable.
The holiday isn’t the problem. Your mindset is.
There’s nothing in the Christmas playbook that requires chaos. No rule says you have to lose control. No clause forces you to eat like you’re setting records.
The day does nothing. You do everything.
The moment December arrives, you start rehearsing the script. It’s the holidays. This is what we do.
No. This is what you choose.
You choose tradition over responsibility. Indulgence over intention. Avoidance over honesty.
And that is always self-inflicted.
Here’s the part people hate hearing. If someone is waiting for a date to give them permission, they’re not ready for change. They’re not starting a transformation. They’re starting another cycle.
People who want real change don’t worship the calendar. They make decisions in real life, inside real situations, because they’re ready.
This week exposes everything.
If someone says they’re going to be good, but their history says otherwise, the problem isn’t the holiday. It’s the lie they keep selling themselves.
They don’t need magic. They need ownership.
They don’t need a clean slate. They need a decision.
The holiday isn’t holding you hostage. Your mindset is.
The holiday doesn’t break people. Your excuses do.
And honesty is the only place real change starts.
You already know how this week goes.
If you’ve let things slide this far into December, you’re not waking up on Christmas Eve filled with discipline, strategy, and self-control. That fantasy died weeks ago.
Yet you still cling to the same line every year. It’s only seven days. As if seven days of reckless choices have no impact. As if seven days are invisible to your body.
This is the thinking that keeps you stuck.
You call it a short window. You say you’ve earned it. You swear you’ll get serious in January.
You burn down a whole week because destroying seven days feels easier than being honest for five minutes.
The mental gymnastics are impressive.
You bend logic, twist reality, and rewrite biology to protect the belief that you can binge your way through the holidays and transform on January second.
You know that’s not happening.
You didn’t fail in January because your plan was bad. You failed because of what you did in the last weeks of December.
You create a problem so big that the new year feels overwhelming before it even starts.
You step into January exhausted, guilty, bloated, irritated, and already behind.
Then you restrict. You implode. You quit.
And next December you repeat the cycle while pretending it was fate instead of choices.
Here’s the part you don’t want to hear.
If you’ve coasted, avoided, or spiraled into this point, you’re not discovering discipline this week. That switch doesn’t flip because the calendar looks festive.
If you were ready, you would have already started.
Pretending otherwise only makes January harder.
You don’t have to fix everything this week. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to transform overnight.
You can’t.
You only need to hold the line. Not crash it. Not extend the spiral. Not build a mess you’ll spend the next month digging out of.
One or two small, smart choices a day. Tiny ones. Choices that keep you from detonating progress before the year ends.
You don’t need discipline. You need clarity. You need honesty.
And you need to stop pretending seven days don’t matter when seven days are exactly why you start the year defeated.
This week is not about perfection. It’s about control.
Stay steady through these days and you walk into January with momentum instead of regret.
And you know that’s the truth.
Now let’s talk about what you actually need for the new year.
I’m going to give you five strategies. Not suggestions. Requirements.
If you want next year to look different instead of repeating the same bullshit you’ve been rehearsing every December, these matter.
First. Don’t join the gym.
Every January you convince yourself this is the year. You picture yourself becoming a disciplined machine. Then by February, the membership becomes a donation.
Gyms count on you quitting.
A treadmill will not fix choices you refuse to own.
Second. Don’t overhaul your entire life on January second.
New year, new me collapses every time. Thirty rules. Twelve goals. A full personality reset.
It feels productive. It produces nothing.
Real change is boring. Simple. Repeated.
Third. Don’t go off the rails this week.
I know you’re not starting now. But don’t make things worse.
One normal breakfast. Some water. One decision not to binge.
That’s holding the line.
Fourth. Stop searching for the perfect plan.
There is no perfect plan.
You’re not stuck because you lack one. You’re stuck because you avoid responsibility and consistency.
Fifth. Stop waiting for motivation.
Motivation is unstable. Temporary. Emotional.
Action creates momentum. Avoidance kills it.
If you wait for motivation, you’ll be here next December saying the same thing.
These five strategies don’t require perfection. They don’t require a plan. They don’t require a miracle.
They require honesty. Responsibility. Choice.
Spend this week thinking about who you want to be on January second.
Not the version who joins a gym out of guilt. Not the version who tries to reinvent their life overnight. Not the version who pretends seven days don’t count.
Think about the version who takes responsibility for one choice at a time.
The new year is not a fresh start. It’s a continuation.
You’re walking into January one of two ways. With a little momentum or completely miserable.
There is no third option.
And the difference is embarrassingly small.
One breakfast. One night you don’t binge. One moment where you stop before it goes sideways.
That’s how direction changes.
You love dramatic restarts. Announcements. January first energy.
But that’s not action. It’s performance.
The real foundation is built now. In boring choices. In unglamorous moments. In the week you don’t feel motivated.
This is where January is decided.
You can have a miserable January or a manageable one.
The calendar won’t save you.
Your choices will.
So enjoy the holidays. Eat the food. Live your life.
Just stop pretending seven days don’t count.
They always do.
And don’t forget. Shut up and choose.