The Five Pillars of Driving Meaningful Change
How to ensure that your "2025 fitness journey" lasts longer than three weeks.
It’s January. The weather is cold, most people are still somewhat hungover from New Year’s, and … the gyms are packed.
The “2025 fitness journey” has begun. And for most people, it’ll last exactly three weeks – until they burn out, fall back into their old habits, and table the topic of fitness for another year.
But you, dear reader, you’re different. Because you understand that to drive meaningful change, you can't just hit the gas without preparation.
At least you will when you’re done reading this newsletter.
Let’s dive in. ⬇️
Let’s assume the change you want to drive for 2025 is to build a habit of living more healthily by doing more sports, eating better, and sleeping better. (But this framework really applies to any habit you’d want to change.)
Instead of diving in head-first, it pays off to tackle a year-long journey with a bit more preparation.
These are the five pillars of driving meaningful change:
[1] Start Small
Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
At the beginning of the year, your motivation is sky-high. “New year, new me” is running through your veins, and there’s no way of stopping you.
Or so you think.
Because once that motivation dies down – which it will –, everything goes back to normal.
Unless you have built a habit.
To build a habit, start small.
If you haven’t been to the gym in months, going once a week for 45 minutes is quite an achievement! Much better than not doing anything.
Same for diet: if you only eat unhealthy meals, just eating a healthy breakfast daily will make the world of a difference already.
Once you manage to hit these small goals sustainably, you can dial up the intensity – until you eventually arrive at your ideal state.
Good things take time. So take it one step at a time.
A Level 1 player won’t have fun at Level 100 of a game, and will quit instantly. But at Level 1, they'll have fun and progress, albeit slowly.
Ask yourself: what’s the appropriate level I should be playing on right now, not what I aspire to play on eventually?
[2] Remove Friction
Next, make it as easy as possible for yourself to execute your new habits.
How hard would it be to do a workout under the following circumstances?
- You don’t know which gym to go to
- You have to pack a bag and pick out clothes to wear
- Once you get there, you don’t have a plan
Compare this to:
- You have a membership at a gym that’s nearby
- Your gym bag + clothes are already packed
- Your workout is already written, including specific sets, weights, rest times, and warmup sequences
This is easy. Literally the only thing you need to do is show up.
Same goes for diet: make a meal plan, shop groceries for the entire week, ensure that you have everything that you need to cook properly.
Ask yourself: what can I do to remove as much friction as possible from the habit I want to adopt?
[3] Implement Systems
Willpower is a finite resource. We can use it for a while to push through, but then we need a break. If we want to build something more sustainably, then we need systems.
These could be:
- A checklist for your gym bag to ensure you don’t forget anything
- A standardized shopping list to facilitate grocery shopping
- A clear sequence for warmups, depending on the workout
- A recurring appointment in your calendar to plan meals for the next week
Here’s how I approach system building:
- Do a workflow
- If the workflow happens more than twice, document all the steps needed for it
- Based on that documentation, create a checklist or process document
- Optional: identify whether you delegate, automate, or eliminate any of the steps (eg. Automate meal plan creation using AI, or delegate workout planning to a personal trainer)
Ask yourself: which things am I (or will I) be doing again and again? Where can I implement processes for these things?
[4] Add Accountability
Sometimes, you’ll have a bad day. It’s easy to skip a workout or a meal when you don’t feel like it.
It’s much harder to skip if other people are counting on you.
That’s why I believe team sports are the ultimate form of accountability: not just will you look badly if you don’t show up, the entire team will suffer as practice quality goes down with less players.
But if you can’t play a team sport, that’s okay – find workout partners, get into a WhatsApp group where you share your progress, or commit to posting about your journey on social media.
Bonus: you work harder when training with others compared to training alone (see: The Köhler Effect).
I have a business coach that I speak to every 2 weeks. As solo entrepreneur, I sometimes fall into these holes of demotivation – but I know that in a few days, I’m gonna have to present my progress to Coach Bob.
And shit, that motivates me.
Ask yourself: how can I add accountability to my projects?
[5] Adopt an Identity
The behavioral shift is only complete once you make your new behavior part of your identity.
This leverages a psychological phenomenon called congruence: when individuals strongly identify with a role or characteristic (eg. “I’m an athlete”), they are more likely to engage in behaviors that align wth that identity.
This also helps as an easy decision making razor: when faced with a decision, ask yourself: “what would an athlete do?”
From there, the answer is usually pretty simple. (Even though you might not like it in the beginning.)
Ask yourself: what’s the type of identity you would want to adopt?
“If you do what you say you’re gonna do 70% of the time, you’re gonna be average. If you do what you say you’re gonna do 80% of the time, you’re gonna be good. If you do what you say you’re gonna do 90% of the time, you’re gonna be great.” – Eric Thomas
Make 2025 a year where you do what you said you were going to do.
I hope these 5 pillars were helpful for that.
LFG.
Whenever you're ready, there are four ways I can help you:
[1] Reclaim up to 4 hours per day and find time to do the things you've always wanted to do by enrolling into Personal Productivity OS.
[2] Hire your next Founder's Associate or other business generalist position with my startup, Generalyst Recruiting.
[3] You could also find your next startup job in Europe by simply applying as a candidate.
[4] Learn how you can build your career as a generalist by subscribing to this newsletter. ⬇️
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