It's a special time of year in the world of American football. The NFL playoffs are underway and the collegiate football national championship is this evening.

As a Brown's fan, obviously I am thrilled about their strong regular season, playoff birth, and unbelievable playoff win last night. And as a former football player and sport psychologist at Ohio State (and 2002 member of the national championship team), I am pumped, though not completely surprised, by their opportunity to compete for a national championship.

Which got me thinking...

A couple years ago I would have just been happy if the Browns had a record above .500. The goal at that time was to have, and survive, a decent regular season. That was enough to bring satisfaction.

Fast forward a couple years, and now, based on some strong regular seasons, there is an expectation and desire for the Browns to do more. Rather than simply having a good season, the focus now is to make it to the playoffs.

The Buckeyes on the...

Well it's only January 4th and already our desired New Year progress got derailed!

I'm right there with you!

Consistent social media posting, a weekly blog, daily exercise, and a cleaner, healthier diet all got F'd up while bringing in the New Year.

Now don't get me wrong, I had a great time overindulging a bit with my buddies down in South Florida. However, sometimes overindulging leads to underproducing. And underproducing leads to, you guessed it, F-ing up your goals.

So what is one to do?

Call it a year?

"Welp, I guess 2021 isn't going to be a good one either?"

Hell, no! You gotta right the ship! You gotta get the train back on the tracks!

Listen, 2021 has 365 days to get better and maybe you're off to a slow start. But that doesn't mean the next 360 have to be a wash.

Below are four tips to right a ship, that you feel is already sinking.

1. Pause

When things are off to a rough start it's very easy to get back into old habits and negative mindsets. We can actually spiral...

Well it's the moment that many of us have been waiting for...the final week of 2020. For all of us that has been reciting phrases such as "This has been the worst year ever" or "2021 has to be better than what 2020 was" now is the chance to right the ship.

But how?

First, we need a little reality check:

Covid Is Still Here.

By now we would have thought that Covid was long gone, but instead it's still here. Now of course we are hopeful about the arriving vaccines and such, but the reality is that there is still a virus floating around that is impacting people. Regardless of whether you think it's a big deal or it's a hoax, “something” is still around and it's impacting your life.

Mitigation Will Linger.

Even as we get the virus under control, the mitigation strategies we've grown annoyingly accustomed to will also likely stick around. Proof of negative covid tests, mask wearing, socially distant gatherings, plastic barriers, and yes, ZOOM, will likely be the norm...