An intentional approach to 2023
An intentional approach to 2023
Putting the systems in place for greatness
👋🥳Hello and Happy New Year, my friends. I’ve got three things to share with you to hopefully get your 2023 started on the right foot:
The latest episode of the Intentional Wisdom podcast, with prolific writer, Dickie Bush
How I’m INTENTIONALLY approaching 2023
A few additions to your content diet that will hopefully pay dividends this year
Let’s go!
Ep.14 - Dickie Bush - The Personal Systems of the Internet's Most Prolific Writer
Dickie Bush is a master of systems. He has used them to power extreme success in business and audience building. He's grown his Twitter following to >300k and quit a high-paying Wall Street job to start and run a business that has already taught 6000 people to write online.
That's all great. But I wanted to talk with Dickie about how he's taken this same systematic approach to his own health and fitness. Because he's kicking a$$ there, too. As a former offensive lineman at Princeton, Dickie once tipped the scales at 280. Now? 170. With ~10% body fat.
How'd he do it? A highly systematic approach to both exercise and nutrition.
In this episode, we go deep on Dickie's protocols for: Sleep, Nutrition, Exercise and more. If you're looking to take your own routines to the next level, I think you'll get a lot of of this conversation.
Check it out on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
An Intentional Approach to 2023
I told you last time how I am planning to have the best year of my life in 2023.
Those aren't empty words. I am literally planning that. The key word there? Planning.
I am 100% convinced that we can make unbelievably great things happen in our lives if we want to. The catch? They don't just happen randomly.
We already know what happens when we do things the way we're doing them now. We get the results we're getting now.
Maybe those results are good? If so, great. Keep doing what's working.
But if even a small part of you suspects that you could be doing more; maybe that you were even MEANT for something more... Well, that's good. That means there's a fire inside to actually make it happen.
Here's the good news. You don't need to a hero to achieve what someone from the outside would perceive as unbelievable/lucky/unattainable/holy sh$t levels of success in any part of your life: career, fitness, relationships, whatever.
You just need a plan.
My plan, which I shared in this Google spreadsheet last time, is based on the idea that I want to be:
A great husband
A great dad
An extremely fit man
A profitable, independent creator
An effective executive
A skilled golfer
Seems like kind of a lot. And it is. Especially when I break each of those down into:
How I'll judge the "proof" of whether or not I'm living up to each identity
The daily actions I need to take to actually get there
The big goals I want to achieve this year for each identity
How I will be accountable for each
Here's the trick for all of this:
Being ridiculously organized.
Let me be more specific. I believe that what gets measured gets done. If we're not measuring or tracking what we're trying to achieve, we're basically just floating through life hoping that we end up in a good place. That's not exactly a strategy.
Here's how I'm getting organized:
I have a plan. That's the Google spreadsheet. So I know what I'm trying to do.
I revisit the plan weekly. This is a MAJOR component. So every Sunday morning, I will revisit the plan and literally schedule out everything that needs to happen that week. That means putting in my calendar and blocking the time. This includes:
When I'll workout and what those workouts will be
When I'll meditate
When I will take walks
When I will plan dates with my wife
When I will hit golf balls
When I will source new podcast guests
When I will create content
What content I will consume
I track my progress daily. I use the "Habits app - Daily Tracker." I've got about 10 habits aligned with what's in that Google spreadsheet that I want to check up on daily. So every night at 9pm, I get a reminder to update my app and put checkmarks on what got done.
That's it. That's the plan and how it gets executed. Is that overkill? I don't really care. To me, it feels organized and orderly.
I am a strong believer in the concept of "make 1 decision to remove 1000 decisions."
In 2022, for example, I made one decision: No more alcohol. Now, I no longer have the stress of 1000 decisions on that topic. That decision has been made.
The same goes for our daily routines and schedules. My goal with this entire plan is to do the work upfront to figure out exactly where I want to go in 2023, and then construct a plan that is as "paint by numbers" as possible.
I don't want to decide next Tuesday morning what I'm doing. That's already been decided. I just need to get out of bed and make it happen.
So what's notable for me in 2023 in terms of big areas of focus? A couple of things stand out:
No alcohol - I already mentioned this one and have written about it recently but since I cut it out about 150 days ago, I have been experiencing: better sleep, better moods, better workouts, and more patience and energy. It's the best decision I made in 2022. I will go the full year 2023 with zero alcohol. Check out my conversation with Dickie, where we got into this topic. He just went all of 2022 and plans to go all of 2023 as well. And he's a 26-year-old single guy! I'm 44 and married. Probably a little easier for me! That said, it is absolutely amazing to me how many of the smartest, most productive people I know are doing this.
Writing 30 minutes every day - At this point, I've seen enough success stories. Anyone I know who has committed to doing this has seen incredible success - from growing audiences to getting new business opportunities to simply having clearer thinking. I write a decent amount but definitely not daily. I'm making this a non-negotiable. I have a sneaking suspicion that this may be a massive unlock for me in 2023. We'll find out.
Improved body composition & cardio health - I think I've been doing cardio all wrong. I am becoming obsessed with Zone 2 training - basically doing long cardio workouts while keeping your heart rate at a certain level. There are all sorts of benefits to this type of exercise. I'll write more on this soon (Dickie and I also discussed this a bit). But I'm planning to get much more intentional and organized in this area in 2023. I expect body composition improvements (lower body fat %) and improved resting heart rate and heart rate variability. Will this happen? We'll find out.
Alright, that's enough on my plan. I'm interested in yours. What are you planning to do differently in 2023? And how are you planning to do it? Hit me up in the comments to this post or on Twitter @gregorycampion to let me know.
Before you go...
Content Diet
Zone 2 podcasts...
I mentioned that I'm starting to go down a Zone 2 rabbit hole, so I've been listening to some podcasts with experts on the topics. Here are 3 that I've consumed this far:
(I'll warn you that both of these get pretty scientific & technical, so you have to really want to learn about the topic.)
(I am currently on the lookout for more excellent/understandable/practical Zone podcast episodes, so hit me up with your best recommendations).
Book recommendations
One more time in case you missed it... here are 15 non-fiction books that I absolutely loved.
My conversation with Dickie Bush (full video version)
If you get a chance to check this out, I'd love to hear what you think!
That's it for today. Happy New Year. And here's to a hell of a 2023!!
Greg