January 5, 2025 | #21 | read on The Happier Studio | Free Version
Welcome to The Happier Newsletter, a weekly newsletter where I provide actionable ideas to help you build a happier, healthier, and more meaningful life.
What’s On Today
- The Goal-Setting Method You Need for 2025
- The 10-Year Dream Life
- 3 Things I’m Grateful For This Week
The Goal-Setting Method You Need for 2025
Happy New year, and greetings from the Netherlands, where I’ll be for the next month! As the new year begins, many of us are thinking about the months ahead. You might already have some goals in mind—or maybe you’re feeling overwhelmed by how to set goals that actually stick.
The truth is: most of us set goals, but few of us follow through. Why? Because we focus too much on the what (the goal) and not enough on the how (the system).
In this newsletter, I want to share a simple, effective way to set goals for 2025—one that I’m using myself. It’s inspired by Ali Abdaal’s method of The Yearly Themes and Quarterly Goals, but with a happier, healthier twist.
Step 1: Choose Your Yearly Theme
Instead of overwhelming yourself with dozens of goals, start by choosing a single theme for 2025. A theme gives your year direction without pressure.
Your theme could be:
- The Year of Health (focusing on exercise, sleep, and nutrition)
- The Year of Growth (building new skills, habits, and mindsets)
- The Year of Connection (nurturing relationships and finding community)
Think of your theme as the umbrella that all your smaller goals fall under.
What theme will define your 2025? Take a moment to reflect—what feels right for you?
Step 2: Break It Down into Quarterly Goals
Once you have your theme, divide the year into 4 quarters (Jan-March, April-June, etc.). Each quarter, set 2-3 specific, actionable goals that align with your theme.
For example:
- If your theme is The Year of Health, your Q1 goals could be:
- Exercise 3 times a week
- Sleep for 8 hours, 5 nights a week
- Plan meals for the week every Sunday
By breaking the year into quarters, your goals feel more manageable. Plus, you get to reflect, reset and refocus every 3 months.
Step 3: Create Weekly and Daily Systems
Here’s where the magic happens. Goals are just the outcome—systems are the habits that help you get there.
Ask yourself:
- What small habits can I build weekly or daily to support my quarterly goals?
- How can I make these habits easy, obvious, and enjoyable?
For example:
- A goal to exercise 3 times a week could turn into:
- Scheduling workouts into your calendar
- Packing gym clothes the night before
- Starting with just 10 minutes of movement
Remember: it’s not about being perfect. It’s about showing up consistently.
Step 4: Review and Reflect
At the end of each quarter, ask yourself:
- What went well?
- What didn’t work?
- What adjustments can I make for the next 3 months?
Reflection helps you learn from your experiences. You can use this data to then adjust your next quarterly goals, and keep your momentum going.
The 10-Year Dream Life
This year, I’m also trying something new to bring more clarity to my goals—and maybe it’ll work for you, too. It’s a method inspired by personal development legends Jim Rohn and Zig Ziglar, with a few tweaks.
Here’s how it works: Set a 10-minute timer and start writing down everything you might want to achieve, experience, or become over the next 10 years. Think of this as your dream list—nothing is too big, small, or far-fetched.
Here are the prompts I used to get started:
- What do I want to learn?
- What do I want to have?
- Who do I want to be?
- What do I want to do?
These prompts helped me think deeply about what matters most to me. Here’s a glimpse at what my list looks like:
At some point in the next 10 years, I want to…
- Become a full-time creator.
- Earn my PhD.
- Have a successful podcast.
- Help 1,000,000 people build a life they love.
- Go on a worldwide speaking tour.
- Publish my first book.
- Create an online course to help people live a happier, more meaningful lives.
- Interview well-known people like scientists on my podcast—asking them how they built a life they love, how they choose to do what matters daily, and what the structure of their days looks like.
- Live in two countries every year—splitting my time between the Netherlands and Australia.
- Sell physical products like a habit journal and planning cards to help people design their days and build a life they love.
- Build a community of happiness seekers through a clothing company that inspires and empowers.
- Start a running club to bring people together and promote movement for the mind and body.
- Create a social club to help beat loneliness and connect like-minded people.
Next, add a timeframe to each dream. I went through my list and assigned a number to each item—1, 3, 5, or 10 years. For example:
- Launch physical products like a habit journal (3 years)
- Start an online course (3 year)
- Build a thriving community through a clothing line (5 years)
Once your list is ready, pick 3-5 dreams to focus on for the next 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, and 10 years. I tried to balance my goals across health, work, and relationships. Here’s what I landed on:
1 Year
- Launch my podcast and YouTube channel with content that truly resonates and brings value.
- Start a social club to help beat loneliness and connect like-minded people.
- Create my first online course to help others live a happier, more meaningful life.
3 Years
- Publish my first book.
- Earn my PhD.
- Release physical products like a habit journal and planning cards.
- Start a running club to connect people through movement and shared goals.
5 Years
- Build a community of happiness seekers through a meaningful clothing company.
- Live in the Netherlands for part of the year and Australia for the other part.
- Grow The Happier Studio into a thriving platform that inspires 100,000+ people.
10 Years
- Help 1,000,000 people create lives full of happiness and meaning.
- Become a full-time creator with a successful podcast, product-based business, and online course.
The beauty of this method is that it’s not set in stone. Life changes, and so do dreams. But this exercise gave me clarity and a sense of direction—like setting the sail of my ship toward a life I truly love.
Now it’s your turn: What would your 10-year dream life look like? Start with the prompts above, write freely, and enjoy the process. You might surprise yourself with what comes up.
3 Things I’m Grateful For This Week
- That I got to spend Christmas with my mum, dad and brother
- That I got to celebrate New Year's with loved ones
- That I got to do this all with my wife and son
What are you grateful for this week?
