Resolutions suck, do this instead

You might be thinking: oh wow another new year’s resolution post by someone I don’t know. Guess what? You’re right!

Did you know only 12% of people stick to their New Years resolution? Trust me on this one, I read it somewhere on the interwebs. Here’s why New Years resolutions suck: they are wishes and wishes only. They are vague. Think of the typical new year’s resolution: I want to lose weight this year. This is as vague as can be. Just a wish. This is why we tend to get all hyped up in January and go nowhere really fast. Instead, I’d like to share with you what I’ve been doing for the last 3 years. I’ve cobbled this together from books & mentors. Trust me, It works. I’m going to call it the 5x2 framework for the sake of making it sound fancy.

The 5x2 Framework

It is really simple: define 2 measurable goals that you’d like to accomplish in a year for each of the following areas of your life:

  • Live: where do you want to live, how does your perfect day and week look like?
  • What I do: where will you spend your time and energy?
  • Health: how are you going to take care of your body?
  • Spiritual: how will you take care of your mind and/or religion?
  • Financial: how much do you want to make? How will you spend or invest?

There, that’s it. Now add two measurable goals to each category, write it down on a piece of paper (or on Evernote if you are like me) and get to work. Make sure you refer back at least once a week to your framework and read it top to bottom. The effect is both conscious and unconscious, you will notice quickly that you start making decisions based on who you want to become. Once you get into the habit of reading your framework, your unconscious will also start working in the background.

An example

Here’s an example framework that I set for myself a few years back: Live

  • Live in Barranquilla, Colombia
  • Give more value to being a father and husband than work by splitting my time evenly

What I do

  • Work on prospecting & hiring to scale Ideaware by 150%
  • Build a SaaS product

Health

  • Reduce my Bodyfat % to 20%
  • Run 3 times a week

Spiritual

  • Meditate for 5 minutes every day
  • Be mindful

Financial

  • Double yearly income
  • Save 40% of my income

Your turn

Set goals, do the work. Stop wishing today!

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Andrés Max