In another epic blog post, Leo Babuta explains how habits are more important than resolutions.

In that vein, below are the habits I’m going to focus on in 2012.

Every day:

• Write: I decided to finally write the book that’s been rattling around in my head. Writing a book seems like a daunting task, but by getting in the habit of writing a page a day seems utterly possible. If I write a page a day, after a year I’ll have 365 pages. If even half of those survive the final edit, I have a book. Progress begets progress, so writing more often here on my blog should help. Willie Jackson has been blogging great nuggets daily, so he’s been an inspiration for this habit.
• Lift: My friend AJ Leon spends most of his time traveling the world and helping others. He is just as likely to wake up in a tent in Africa as he is in his East Village apartment, so his fitness routine can’t involve fancy health clubs. Yet AJ stays in incredible shape through a simple series of bodyweight exercises (push-ups, dips, etc.) that can be done anywhere. I’m going to follow AJ’s lead and make simple, bodyweight resistance exercises a morning habit.
• Eat: Anyone who knows me knows that I love food. The habit here is simple: eat smaller portions of healthier, more natural (less processed) foods. This means eating more vegetables and lean protein and attempting to curb my current addiction to diet soda by drinking more water.

Every week:

• Read: Inspired by my friends Julien Smith and Andrew Hyde, I’m going to read even more than I do now and make a habit of finishing one book a week. First up, Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
• Connect: I’m extremely blessed to know so many super amazing people and I love to make introductions that help both parties. Currently, the opportunity to make these connections comes randomly, either via email, social networks or in-person. In 2012, I’m going to be more like my friend Nicole Johnson and make it a habit to proactively identify these opportunities to make one really meaningful introduction every week. If there is someone I can introduce you to, let me know.
• Learn: This habit is to try and learn a new skill every week. For example, I know very little about meditation but many of the smartest and most driven people I know meditate regularly, so I’m going to give it a try. This isn’t about deliberate practice or becoming an expert but rather expanding my mind and trying new things.

Every month:

• Speak: I actually really enjoy public speaking and I did more of it in 2011, but still not as much as I’d like. My goal in 2012 is to speak publicly every month. Like many on this list, this habit is just about being more proactive vs. reactive.
• Travel: I’m writing this from the balcony of a condo in Hawaii, where Julia and I are spending the first week of the New Year. We both love traveling and thanks to Airbnb, we can do more of it on short notice. The habit here is to be more spontaneous, whether that means flying somewhere new or just exploring new areas of New York City.

If I follow through on these habits, I’ll achieve the following in 2012:

• Written a book
• Get substantially more fit and healthy
• Read 52 books
• Make 52 meaningful connections for others
• Learn 52 new skills
• Speak at at least 12 events
• Travel and explore at least 12 new places

That’s a damn good year, and one I’d be happy to look back on with pride.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go do some pushups.

What habits are you going to focus on in 2012?

So what does the cure look like?

Years of nutritional education?

Mandatory Wii Fit summer camps?

Another complete overhaul of the food pyramid?

What if the answer is actually much simpler? What if it’s a colorful $20 rubber watch?

What S2H Replay Is

Imagine a Livestrong bracelet and a Polar heart rate monitor had a drunken tryst one night after the Ironman triathalon. The offspring would be the Switch To Health Replay Watch.

How It Works

After 60 minutes of physical activity (which doesn’t need to be consecutive), the S2H Replay watch displays a unique Reward Code. Users can go to S2H.com and enter their reward code to accumulate S2H Points, which can then be used to earn rewards such as movies, music and magazines.

Why It Will Work

Making It A Game
We’ve already seen the massive success Foursquare has had, turning going places into a game. S2H can do the same for working out.

Imagine the possibilities…

Parents challenging children and children challenging parents

Friends challenging friends (which we’ve already seen work with the Nike+ iPod model)

Teachers challenging students

Community & Tribes
On S2H.com, users can post challenges, view leaderboards and join teams.

Imagine the long-term health benefits if an entire school district adopted S2H and designed specific exercise and reward programs around it?

Simplicity
No cables. No software. Anyone can upload the simple code at S2H.com in any browser.

What Can You Do?

Please spread the word and check them out at S2H.com and on twitter and Facebook.

If you’re a parent, buy a few and challenge each other. Make it a family thing.

If you’re an educator, figure out how to make S2H part of your curriculum or school.

If you’re a company, partner with S2H (they also make branded Kintetic Fit Bands) to help your employees or customers get fit.

Switch To Health is changing the game and really has the potential to increase fitness and decrease obesity in America.

Thanks for listening.

[Full Disclosure: I met the S2H founders and they sent me an S2H watch to demo. It's my new favorite watch.]

From Kelly, a really cool post about Parkour, a really cool sport.

My favorite is Kelly’s quote to wrap the post:

Gives me chills. My entire girlhood, my entire life, might have been so different in so many ways if I’d had any of this when I needed self-confidence, when I needed to be living in and learning my body rather than being so wary of it. Oh, the possibilities.

And with some practice…walls become ladders and obstacles disappear….

The underlying metaphor of Parkour that obstacles aren’t always obstacles and anything is possible.

If you have a child, please teach them this. Parkour is one good way to do so.

The analytic (read: nerd) in me eats this stuff up. Whenever I do a workout program, I like to track everything, reps, weight, distance, # of stairs, heart rate in target zone, bodyfat %, before pictures, etc.

While tracking this data is important, occasionally the analysis and setup in doing so distracts me from what is most important, which is just doing the damn workouts. The only two things I should track is “workouts completed” and “drops of sweat”.

I thought back to the Cult of Done manifesto and happily decided that the before pictures aren’t important.

It’s the after pictures that matter.

It’s 2am and you’re flipping the channels between two infomercials.  One promises magic weight loss through an expensive, non-prescription pill.  The other offers a set of exercise DVDs and promises not just weight loss, but to help you completely transform your body.

The first one is snake oil, sold by scam artists and fake doctors.

The second one works,partly because it is real but in large part because it is a Tribe.

There is no magic pill that in any way helps you lose weight.  If such a pill existed, everyone would be slim, obesity would be a footnote in history books and the inventors would lend money to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.  I still can’t believe people fall for such obvious scams but they clearly do.  The infomercials keep running.

The other option I’m referring to is a detailed and prescriptive exercise program called P90X.  The program consists of 13 DVDs, an exercise guide and a nutrition guide.  Each DVD is led by an inspirational, extremely fit 50 year old named Tony Horton.

The program works because it contains the three critical elements of any successful fitness program:

1. Strength training
2. Cardio and
3. Nutrition

P90X isn’t easy and never claims to be.  Each workout is about an hour and you can expect to be sweating profusely during each one (even on yoga day).

But many similar fitness programs contain those three elements.  So why is P90X so successful?  Because people stick with the program long enough to realize their transformation.

Why do people stick with the program?  Because it is a Tribe.  It has an inspirational leader in Tony Horton.  Members use the P90X terminology.  Members connect and support each other, posting their before and after pictures on P90X message boards.  People who finish the program can’t wait to tell others about it and recruit.  Many first-timers then become ‘coaches’ for new members.  Many people post their transformational stories on YouTube.

If there was no Tribe, P90X would still work but the idea wouldn’t have spread.  People wouldn’t tell their friends and family or coach each other on the message boards.  As a result, Beachbody, the parent company, wouldn’t have sold nearly as many units.

Does your product or service have a Tribe?