I recently listened to this podcast with Jesse Itzler, in which he shares his process for designing a year you’ll look back on fondly for the rest of your days.
What follows is a brief overview of the five steps.
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1.) Send thank you notes to people who’ve positively impacted you the previous year.
I’ve been doing this via my 30 days of gratitude experiment and have been blown away by how much this has added to my quality of life each day.
2.) Clear out physical and digital clutter from last year, so you can start fresh in January.
Itzler deletes all of his emails from the previous year, donates clothes he doesn’t wear regularly to charity, unsubscribes from newsletters he no longer reads, deletes apps, etc. Clearing external clutter creates internal spaciousness, so you can go into the new year light on your heels.
3.) Choose a “Misogi”
This is a Japanese practice of choosing one year defining goal to work towards.
Something right on the edge of what you believe might be possible for you.
It isn’t important whether you achieve your Misogi or not.
What matters is that you have a north star to build towards, a daily/weekly sense of progress, and a focus which makes it easier to say no to lesser temptations.
4.) Plan 6 x mini adventures (one at the end of every 2 months)
These don’t have to be life-changing or expensive, just something that will take you out of your routine for a day or 2, and give you something to look forward to every couple of months. It could be a camping trip, visiting a new city, or getting lessons in something you’re curious to try.
If you do this, it’ll mean that at the end of a ten year period, you’ll have created 60 meaningful memories you’ll never forget.
5.) Create 4 micro habits (one every quarter)
The aim here is to identify areas of life where you might be falling short and then develop one micro habit each quarter to strengthen this area.
For example,
— If you’re always late, you might develop the micro habit of always being 5 minutes early in January to March.
— If you’re too stationary, you might develop the habit of 10,000 steps each day from April to June.
— If you’re always overstretched because you say “yes” too much, you could strengthen your ability to say “no” from July to September.
And so on.
Over time, this compounds for a dramatically improved quality of life. 1 year = 4 new life-giving habits, 5 years = 20 new habits, and 10 years = 40.
