#098 | I have read 100+ productivity books. Here's how I plan my 2024 and stick to it 🚀
A collection of the best hidden gems, mental models, and frameworks from the world’s top thinkers; to help you become 1% better and live a happier life ❤️
Hey curious minds,
First of all, happy new year :)
I hope you have had a smooth start to the first week of 2024.
Statistics show that around 80% of people fail to keep their New Year's resolutions by February.
People struggle to stick to their new habits.
Let’s change that 💥
🚀 If you are new here…
Hi, I’m Ryan 👋🏼 I am passionate about lifestyle gamification 🎮 and I am obsesssssssss with learning things that can help me live a happy and fulfilling life.And so, with The Limitless Playbook newsletter, I will share with you 1 actionable idea from the world's top thinkers every Sunday 🎯
So visit us weekly for highly actionable insights :)
❌ 2 blockers why you fail to stick to the plan
Identity — you don’t fully know your why and who
You want to read 100 books this year… Why?
You want to have abs and be shredded... Why?You want to stop drinking alcohol... Why?
Behind every goal is someone (an identity) you want to become. Figure out that identity and new goals will become clearer, more personal, and more fun 🔥
❌ You want to stop drinking because it’s healthy → generic
✅ You want to stop drinking because you want to live longer and keep up with your kids → You want to be a good husband and a fatherConsistency — you know your why and who but you struggle to get started / keep it up
There are many micro reasons why people struggle to stick to their goals but here are three macro reasons why people fail to stay consistent:
1. You are overwhelmed and uncomfortable
Setting new year goals can be overwhelming and challenging. New things can feel unnatural… uncomfortable… and uncertain, all of which pushes us to quit.
Here’s what I know → it’s hard to get started but once you have create momentum, it’s easy to keep going.
But sadly, most people never got pass the initial starting phase.
2. You are not setting goals properly
There are three types of goals: Outcome, output, and input.
Most people make two mistakes when setting goals: 1) they only set outcome / output goals and ignore the input goals, and 2) they set far away goals. For example, you might have the goal of reading 100 books in 2024.
Reading 100 books is an outcome / output goal and the goal’s end date is 31st December 2024. Most people stop here.Don’t get me wrong… it’s a good start but the problem is a) you don’t know what you need to do to read 100 books, which brings me to b) you don’t know if you are on track to hit the goal, and c) it’s hard to create momentum since you only win once you hit the goal by the end of the year.
In addition to outcome and output goals, you need to set checkpoints and input goals.
3. You don’t have a daily action and value systemOnce you have set up the different types of goals, systems are important to help us stick to the action plan and make better decisions in day-to-day moments.
Most of these systems can be learn through books, podcasts, newsletters, and others but the best system is through your own personal experience of testing and figure out what works best for you. I will share some action and value systems below that I have gathered over the years.
✅ 2 things you can do to make 2024 your best year
Identity — figure out the identity you want to become and its values
The best way I have found to do this is to find people that you admire or people that’s currently living the life you want to live and ask yourself what makes you attracted to them? What values do you admire of them?
Study them deeply and create a list of values that resonate with you. Through that list of values, you should be able to figure out the identity you want to become.Abstract identity → Concrete daily actions and values
Identities are usually abstract…
I want to be an adventurous person… Great.
I want to be a lifelong learner... Great.
I want to be a good partner… Great.
The question is what does the day-to-day concrete actions for these identities look like?
Here’s how I do it. FYI, I don’t set yearly goals, instead I focus on one quarter at a time; every quarter I will review everything and reset.
1. List out all the areas in life that matter to you
2. For each area in life, list out 1 - 3 OUTCOME / OUTPUT goals that align with your identity
3. For each outcome / output goal, set 2 things: a) checkpoints and b) input goals
4. Organise all your input goals into weekly, monthly, and quarterly.
5. Take out your calendar and map out all the daily and weekly input goals
6. Monitor your checkpoints at the end of each week to see if you are on track or not. If not, what changes should you make next week to get back on track.
7. Repeat 1 - 6
Here’s one of my goals for Q1 2024:
Area: Character Building
One of the outcome / output goals: Read 15 non-fiction books
Checkpoint(s): Read around 1 - 2 non-fiction books per week
Input goal(s): Read an hour per day
Calendar view: I read 5:30am - 6:30am everyday. If this doesn’t happen, I will shift the reading block to another time in the day
Weekly reflection: How many books have I read this week? Any changes for next week?
📚 This week, I finished reading…
Have interesting gems you want to share with me and others? Share it by replying to this email and I will include it in the next gift box :)
With love,
Ryan O. 🎮
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