Happy Thursday!

I turned 24 today. 

A few days ago, I wrote down 24 lessons I learned from 24 years of life.

It was a collection of things I’ve consistently told myself over the years, the advice I would have given my younger self, and wisdom I hope to follow for years to come.

I’m going to publish these lessons in a newsletter and on www.LongevityMinded.com, but I want to co-author this article with all of YOU.

Over the past year, I’ve slowly grown this newsletter to 340+ intelligent, driven, and generous people.

From conversations with many of you, I know each of you has insightful lessons to offer that can improve the lives of others.

Here are a few prompts to get started:

• What advice would you give your 24-year-old self?

• What lessons have you benefited from living by in your life?

• What advice would you give your younger, five years ago, self?

Share your life lessons with the world

Share your wisdom by clicking the button above and completing the Google Form.

I can’t wait to see what we can build together, and the positive impact it will have on how others in this community live their lives (including me!).

Now, let’s dive in.

A simple process for setting and achieving your top 12 goals in 2023

In a holiday edition newsletter, I shared the document I use to reflect on the past year and plan the year ahead.

Last week, I completed that package and finalized my approach to goal setting (cliché term, I know but bare with me) for 2023.

It’s called action-based goal setting.

Here’s the breakdown:

Five Buckets

• Daily Year Round

• Quarter 1 (Jan. 1 – Mar. 31)

• Quarter 2 (Apr. 1 – Jun. 30)

• Quarter 3 (Jul. 1 – Sept. 30)

• Quarter 4 (Oct. 1 – Dec. 31)

The Daily Year Round bucket is for non-negotiable everyday actions. For me: exercise, meditate, journal, read, walk 10k steps per day, and cold showers.

Then, for every quarter pick three goals (ONLY three!) you want to achieve and convert them into daily actions. 

So, my goal of 20 dead-hang pull-ups turns into 4 pull-ups every 45 minutes 4 days per week between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (a strategy called grease the groove). 

Important caveats:

• The action-based goal must be completely input-based and under your control.

• Once your goals are turned into actions, put those actions into systems. In other words, exactly when and how will you complete those actions each day?

• The goals you plan to achieve each quarter can change up to the first day of the period. But once the period commences, you’re locked in for three months.

• You must have a powerful “Why?” written down beside each goal. If you can’t strongly articulate your reasoning for pursuing the outcome, it’s not worth doing. Share your plan with someone who wants the best for you to test if your why is strong enough.

If this strategy works successfully, you will have achieved 12 goals and gotten a lot better at 12 things by the end of 2023.

That’s a lot!

Regular Reviews

For the past few years, I failed miserably at performing regular reviews.

Goal setting and planning at year-end are worthless if you don’t follow through on those actions and check in with yourself to see if you’re:

A) Staying the course, and 

B) On the right course to begin with.

Here’s the regular review process I'm following in 2023:

Daily

Post your three action-based goals for the quarter on the wall in a highly visible place. Take 30 seconds every morning to review them.

Track key habits at the end of each day.

Weekly

Journal for 10-20 minutes on the following prompts every Sunday:

1. Did I accomplish what I set out to this week?

2. What unexpected roadblocks arose this week?

3. Is there anything I need to remove/change/add?

4. Write down any wins, losses, ideas, insights, or strategies.

Monthly

On the last Sunday of every month, review your year ahead plan (this package), update your net worth tracker (assets minus liabilities), and journal for 20-30 minutes on the following questions:

1. What were my biggest wins?

2. What were my biggest realizations?

3. What areas am I most satisfied in? Least satisfied?

4. What am I going to do more of next month? Less of?

Quarterly

On the last Sunday of every quarter, finalize your three action-based goals for the next quarter, write down your “Why?” for each, and journal for 20-30 minutes on the following questions:

1. What went really well?

2. What was challenging?

3. What were my favourite memories?

4. Did I honour my values? How? What might have been lacking?

5. What were the biggest lessons I learned? And how will I embody them next quarter?

That’s it, folks.

I urge you to steal and share this process if you find it helpful. 

If you didn’t read the intro to this newsletter, please do!

I want to collect your life lessons, advice, and wisdom to help others live more fulfilling and joyful lives.

Much love to you and yours,

Jack