What’s Your Next 30?

A reflection on habits, courage, and momentum

by Greg Mutch | February 2026

It’s February. Quite likely the month most known for Valentine’s day and canceled gym memberships. It’s starting to feel like people are more and more hesitant to make New Year’s resolutions because they are more known for being broken than for transforming our lives. Habits are, quite simply, fudging hard (but I didn’t say fudge). Good habits, that is. There’s a reason no one has written a blog or sold you a 30-day program to develop bad habits. We are already experts!

One of our core values at AGC is Transformation – with the subtext of “not for wimps.” Growth, change, and evolving into our best selves – these are the reasons we even consider New Year’s resolutions. Regardless of the time of year, we are periodically drawn to reshape ourselves and to become more of our authentic and better selves. There are a variety of pathways and journeys to this, but one of them is in the realm of habits. In this blog, I’m going to shout out a few people who have provided deep wisdom, insight, support, and inspiration for my own journey. In this telling, I hope it provides you with a gentle puff on the embers burning in your own life for “what’s next.”

Start small. Let it snowball.

Proud dad moment. No – inspired dad moment. Our 16 year old, Gabe, is pretty motivated to work and earn money. He’s got 2 part-time jobs and has earned raises and praise from his employers. While I am proud, it’s actually more than that. He’s doing something I never did. His mind was blown when he learned about the compounding impact of small contributions he makes now. When he found out $50 per month starting now until he hits retirement age could yield millions in savings, he met with our financial advisor and set up both a high-yield savings account and a ROTH IRA account. If I could go back and convince my teenage self to do the same, I would! Start small. Let it build.

The same is true for transformation and creating new habits. We often fall into a set of cognitive biases that can be summarized like this: To do something big or meaningful or profound, we have to start with a big move, big investment, or big commitment. And it paralyzes us. To go big, we don’t have to start big. It’s the opposite. Just like compounding interest and reinvestment, if we start small and let it snowball, we can see real benefits and change add up over time.

It happened to me recently. Next shout out goes to my brothers Phil, Justin and Nate. Not my siblings, my brothers. We’ve been friends in a variety of contexts for a variety of years, but in the last year, we’ve been meeting more consistently and have organically become a men’s group of sorts. In October, we met to sit by a fire, then sweat in Phil’s sauna. Phil and Nate shared that they recently decided to do a 30-day meditation practice, working through a book. Justin and I both jumped onboard. While we were at it, 50 pushups per day was added to the mix. With organic and almost daily check-ins, we made our way through those 30 days. It was the best mix of challenge and encouragement and healthy accountability. We are past 90 days in and still going!

Start small. Let it snowball. Row together.

Rowing together with friends has been a game changer. That’s not surprising to me. What is surprising is the amount of confidence it has sourced in me. The confidence to take on other commitments, challenges, and habits. Not only do good habits have the power to shape our identity and transform us in real ways, but they can develop the belief and confidence in ourselves to both keep going…and take on more. 

My final shout out is, well, me and my next 30. I’m writing this the first week of January and I’m stepping into about a 45 day run of being alcohol free. It’s part recalibration and part experiment and part preparation for a retreat I’m going on at the end of February. It’s been time for a while now and with the recent success and confidence in developing new habits, I’m taking a run at this one. I don’t have a big plan or expectations for what it will be like or what I will do after those 45 days. I’m just getting started.

From Motion to Action

If you want to take a deeper dive into the science and psychology of change and transformation, grab a copy of James Clear’s Atomic Habits (and his brand new workbook). It’s fascinating and much of what I’ve tried to capture here in my story and reflection is informed by what he has written. I’d like to close with an inspiring and convicting excerpt from his book:

“It is easy to get bogged down trying to find the optimal plan for change: the fastest way to lose weight, the best program to build muscle, the perfect idea for a side hustle. We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action. As Voltaire once wrote, “the best is the enemy of the good.”

I refer to this as the difference between motion and action. Motion is planning, learning, and strategizing — all good things — but they don’t produce results. Action does.

Writing a list of article ideas is motion. Writing the article is action. Researching & reading about healthy eating is motion. Eating a healthy meal is action.

Motion can feel productive. It can even feel responsible. But when preparation becomes a form of procrastination, something has to shift. You don’t want to be merely planning. You want to be practicing. If you want to master a habit, start with repetition, not perfection. You don’t need a flawless plan. You just need to begin.

Practice over perfection. Just get the reps in. Let’s not complicate it too much.
What’s your NEXT 30?

Start Small. Let it snowball. Row together.

Coffee or Cocktails on us! 

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