How I'm planning an epic 2023

And the systems I'll use to make it happen

Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash

👋Hello, my friend. Hard to believe the year is almost over. I don’t know about you, but I am getting extremely fired up for 2023.

My goal: To live this upcoming year with more INTENTION than any of my previous 44.

I have this theory that if I create very intentional, very specific systems to help me achieve my goals, and then I actually follow them religiously every day, that I can achieve things that no reasonable person would deem possible as we sit here today.

Am I right? Or am I delusional? I have no idea. But I am going to find out.

Along those lines, I’ve got two things for you today:

1. My plan for making 2023 the best damn year of my life, including a framework that you can steal.

2. A couple of very powerful pieces of content on mental health and systems that I’d love for you to check out.

Let’s do this!

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Planning the best damn year of my life

That’s right. I’m planning the best year of my life. Is that an aggressive statement? Maybe. But here’s my thought: The best year of my life—the one that I will be most proud of when I look back at 90-years-old—is not just going to happen on its own. There needs to be some intention. Some foresight. Some planning. So that’s what I’m doing here.

My 6-part framework:

1. Who am I trying to be?

   It starts with identity. For me, I want to be:

   • a great dad

   • a great husband

   • an extremely fit man

   • a profitable, independent creator

   • and a skilled golfer.

   (I also want to be an effective executive but I’ve left my day-job goals/plan out of the public version of this out of respect for my employer).
   

2. What “proof” can I show for this identity?

   If I want this exercise to be legitimate, I need some objective / third-party proof that I’m actually succeeding at living up to each identity.

   • An extremely fit man - As an example, I am going to need to see improved body composition in 2023 (ie. lower body fat).

   • a skilled golfer - I’ll need to achieve a handicap index under 13.

   • creator - I’ll need to be earning money from sponsors and paid products.

   • great dad / great husband - These identities are harder to “prove” but I’m thinking about if something like a quarterly review with my family would make sense. A little worried that my 2-year-old might be a tough grader though.
     

3. What actions do I need to take daily/weekly/monthly to earn this proof?

   • Extremely fit man - I need to work out every day, run 1-mile per week, not drink alcohol, and eat a low-carb/high-protein diet among other things.

   • Creator - I need to write every day and create and stick to a content system.

   • Golfer - I need to hit one golf ball per week.

   • Dad/Husband - I need to hit regular goals for date nights & coaching teams among other things.

     (secret: you don’t usually run just one mile or hit just one golf ball… the point is to get out there every week)

4. What are the important things that I am going to MAKE HAPPEN?

   These may be things I’ve put off, haven’t prioritized, said “someday” to, or things that I know I’ll regret in the future if I don’t do.

   • Fit man - I want to get a DEXA scan (body fat measurement); I want to run at least one race; I want to do 20 pull-ups unassisted.

   • Husband - I want to go on two weekend trips sans kids; I want to learn how to play pickleball (with my wife!).

   • Dad - I want to take one individual trip with each of my older kids.

   • Golfer - I want to play in 4 tournaments.

   • Creator - I want to grow this newsletter to 10,000 subscribers, get a podcast/newsletter sponsor, and grow my YouTube presence among other things.

5. How can I gamify this or create some form of accountability?

   Making it fun or at least increasing the visibility of goals (ie. getting others involved) increases the chance of success massively.

   • Husband / Dad - Communicate goals to family, quarterly check-ins on progress; use Habits of Streaks app to track where appropriate.

   • Fit man - Find a friend to share one or more goals & commit to regular check-ins; find someone to run a race with me.

   • Creator - Publicly commit to goals (via newsletter, social media); regular updates on progress.

   • Golfer - Find a friend/friends to commit to four tournaments with me.

6. And finally, every Sunday, I’ll ask myself: What can I accomplish THIS WEEK?

   • 30 minutes, once a week.

   • Review the plan and block time in my own calendar throughout the upcoming week to make progress.

   • Every week, action needs to take place to move me closer to my goals, and if it’s not explicitly scheduled in my calendar, it won’t happen.

That’s it! Not rocket science, right? Simple, but not easy.

Back to my theory. If I am able to follow the process that I’ve described here, I really do believe that unreasonable levels of success are not only possible, they’re likely.

And that… is why I am so fired up about 2023.

All of this is probably much better visualized in a tabular form so click on the image below if you’d like to see the (very simple) Google Sheets template I’ve created to capture what I’m trying to do in 2023.

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Okay, before we get to content recommendations, I have 11 principles that I wanted to include here that guide how I’m thinking about this whole plan.

1. Serve others. (create value for others first, good things naturally happen after that)

2. Rely on systems, not willpower. (1 decision to remove 1000 decisions)

3. Prove your identities daily.

4. Do the things your desired future self would do, today.

5. Celebrate adherence to the process, not outcomes you can’t control.

6. Find someone to be accountable to.

7. Gamify when you can.

8. Revisit the plan often. (at least weekly)

9. To go from dream to reality: Put it in your calendar.

10. Don’t forget to give yourself some grace when you inevitably fail to live up to these expectations.

11. And remember: The universe is conspiring to help you.

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📚Content Diet

Could nutrition be the key to solving mental health disorders?
I wanted to share two podcast episodes that have really impacted me recently - both are interviews with Dr. Chris Palmer, a Harvard psychiatrist working at the intersection of metabolism and mental health. Dr. Palmer appeared on both the Tim Ferriss Show (link here) and the Huberman Lab podcast (link here).
He has recently published a book, Brain Energy, in which he makes the very compelling case that low-carb/keto diets can have dramatic positive effects on mental health. While many think of these as faddish weight-loss diets, Dr. Palmer discusses case study after case study of patients who have seen incredible reversals in disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to OCD and schizophrenia. I'm not claiming that this is a magic bullet but mental health is a cause that is near and dear to my heart given the struggles I've personally seen in family members and I have long suspected that nutrition plays a very important role. If you or someone you know struggles with mental health, I highly recommend giving either or both of these episodes a listen. ← This is the most important part of this entire newsletter by the way.

Finally… if you like SYSTEMS for managing everything from your health and fitness to your career, I highly encourage you to check out this conversation I had with Michael Girdley. He’s got hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers for a reason. He’s extremely accomplished, hilarious, and particularly skilled at organizing his life in such a way that he’s able to get UNREASONABLE amounts of things accomplished. Sound familiar? This is what I’m trying to do as well, which is why I love learning from the best.

That’s it for this week, my friends. And by the way, I’ve got some guests coming up on the Intentional Wisdom podcast that are going to knock your socks off. Make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, so you don’t miss ‘em.

See you in two weeks.

Greg