Welcome to 2025 - Practical Tools for Growth in 2025
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This year, let’s move beyond fleeting resolutions and build habits that last, using proven strategies from modern psychology and timeless philosophy. Today is January 1, 2025—the first day of a brand-new year. There’s always a sense of hope and possibility at the start of the year. I want to take a moment to reflect on what this year means to me and encourage you to take a risk and step into a challenge.
Instead of aiming for resolutions that fizzle out by February, let’s focus on creating systems that support lasting change. I’d like to share tools that provide a framework to help you reach your goals while transforming into the person you’ve always wanted to be.
The ideas in this post are inspired by the following books:
These works provide practical tools and timeless wisdom to help you achieve your goals and create meaningful transformation.
Transformation Begins with Change
To achieve something new—whether that’s getting fit, becoming debt-free, or building confidence—we must transform into a new version of ourselves. As Thomas Jefferson wisely said, "To do what we have never done, we must transform into someone we have never been."
In our culture, failure is often attributed to a lack of willpower or discipline. But I challenge you to ask yourself: What did I do to set myself up for success? Building sustainable habits isn’t about white-knuckling your way through; it’s about creating systems that work.
The following principles can help you build effective habits and meaningful change in your life.
Applying the Four Elements to Fitness
1. Make it Obvious
To make fitness a habit, start by creating clear and visible triggers:
Lay out your workout clothes, shoes, and gear the night before.
Set a recurring calendar appointment for your workouts, including travel, warm-up, and cool-down time.
Choose a workout plan in advance. If you’re new to exercise, pick something simple and manageable.
Focus on what you can control. You can’t control external circumstances, but you can control your preparation and commitment to showing up.
2. Make it Attractive
Pair your workouts with something enjoyable to make the experience more appealing:
Choose activities you genuinely enjoy, such as swimming, dancing, or walking.
Bring your favorite music, podcast, or audiobook to enhance the experience.
Start with workouts that build confidence. Select exercises you feel capable of completing successfully.
Marcus Aurelius said, "You have power over your mind—not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength." When you associate positive emotions with your habits, you build momentum that makes the process enjoyable.
3. Make it Easy
Keep things simple, especially if you’re new to fitness or returning after a long break:
Start small. A beginner workout might include three exercises for three sets, lasting just 20–25 minutes.
Avoid advanced routines designed for bodybuilders or fitness influencers—it’s a recipe for burnout.
Reduce friction by having your gym membership, playlist, and plan ready to go.
Focus on starting habits before chasing perfection. Fitness, like character, is built slowly and steadily, not overnight. Remember, it’s not the first workout that transforms you—it’s the 100th, built one drop at a time.
4. Make it Satisfying
Finally, celebrate your progress and ensure your workouts leave you feeling good:
Begin with the end in mind: Ask yourself, How do I want to feel when I leave the gym?
Finish your workout in a way that leaves you energized and proud, not exhausted or defeated. Stop before you overdo it—you want to leave thinking, I can’t wait to do this again.
Stoic Philosopher Epictetus said, "He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has." Celebrate small wins and find joy in the process instead of fixating on distant results. This mindset ensures you’ll come back to the gym, ready to build on your progress.
Philosophy for the Long Game
Fitness, like any habit, isn’t a tidal wave that washes away everything at once. It’s a single drop of water, repeated over time, that carves canyons. This Stoic mindset—Amor Fati, or the love of fate—teaches us to embrace every step of the journey, even the setbacks, as part of our growth.
By combining these tools, you can create habits that transform your life—not just for 2025, but for the long term.
Your Next Steps
On this first day of 2025, take one small action to set yourself up for success. Spend five minutes reflecting on a habit you’d like to build this year and ask yourself:
How can I make this habit obvious?
How can I make it attractive?
How can I make it easy?
How can I make it satisfying?
Transformation begins with a single step. Focus on what you can control, embrace incremental progress, and remember that small, consistent actions lead to big results. Here’s to a year of growth, resilience, and transformation. Let’s make 2025 the year we become the people we’ve always wanted to be.
Credits
This post draws on principles from:
Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
Stoic Philosophy, inspired by works of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Ryan Holiday.
TL;DR
To make 2025 the year of lasting change, focus on building habits with practical tools from Atomic Habits, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, and Stoic philosophy.
Transformation Requires Change: To achieve something new, we must become a new version of ourselves.
4 Elements of Habits:
Make it Obvious: Create clear triggers (e.g., lay out workout clothes, schedule workouts).
Make it Attractive: Pair habits with enjoyable activities (e.g., music or podcasts).
Make it Easy: Start small and reduce friction (e.g., 20-minute workouts).
Make it Satisfying: Celebrate small wins to reinforce progress.
Adopt a Long-Term Mindset: Progress is built incrementally, like drops of water carving a canyon.
Leverage timeless wisdom and proven strategies to create sustainable habits and transform into the person you aspire to be. Start small and take one actionable step today!
