#62 A framework for changing your life in the next 12 months

Hi all,

Want to make a change in your life in 2024? Here’s a three-step framework for doing so. It requires a pen and paper and a solid amount of dedicated time.

Step 1: The dreamlining method. Define your dreams

In the next ten years:

1. What do you want to learn?

2. What do you want to have?

3. Who do you want to be?

4. What do you want to try?

5. What do you want to see?

6. What do you want to do?

7. Where do you want to go?

8. What do you want to create?

9. What do you want to contribute to?

10. What do you want to overcome?

This is a brainstorming exercise; write as much as possible without considering the practicalities or probabilities. Everything you may even mildly want should be noted down.

Step 2: The Odyssey plan. What will your life look like?

Now, let’s change the timeframe to the next five years and think about what your life will look like depending on the different paths you can take. Answer the following:

1. The current path: What would your life look like five years from now if you continued down your current path?

2. The alternative path: What would your life look like five years from now if you continued down an alternative path?

3. The radical path: What would your life look like five years from now if you went down a path where money, social obligations, and what people would think were completely irrelevant?

Visualise yourself living each of the plans, and go into as much detail as possible for each, envisioning your daily routines and how you would feel about your life in terms of overall well-being and fulfilment. Think about all the aspects of your life when answering.

Now, focus on the aspects of each path that most resonate with your long-term aspirations, as defined in step one.

Step 3: Goal-setting. Set three goals for the next twelve months.

Look back at what you want to achieve in the next ten years and how your life could look in the next five years based on the current or new paths you could take.

Taking the output of step two, identify three goals you would like to achieve in the next twelve months.

It’s essential to have balance across the three key pillars of life: Health, Wealth, and Relationships, so I would recommend choosing one goal for each category.

Breaking down goals into well-defined steps to maximise adherence to a plan improves the chances of success. To do that, respond to the following three questions for each goal.

1. Why: Why is it important to me?

2. How: What are the key actions I’ll take to improve the chances of achieving this goal?

3. When: When will I take each of the actions I’ve identified?

I’d love to know how you get on with the exercise; hit reply to contact me directly.

Best of luck,

Alex Joshi.

On my bedside table:

• Article: FT - Do mixed-race people really enjoy the ‘best of both worlds’? (link)

• Podcast: I met 20 of the world’s greatest writers. Here’s what I learned. How I write podcast (link)

• Non-fiction: The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham (link)

• YouTube: How to change your life in a year, Ali Abdaal (link)

Comments, questions, disagreements? Hit reply to reach out to me directly.

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