A while ago I made a painful discovery.

I was in the gym pressing a decent amount of weight off my chest, when something dawned on me… 

This was the same weight, the same amount of reps and the same intensity I’d done a year ago. After a full year of intense training and pushing my body to its limits…

I was exactly the same.

I wasn’t stronger, I hadn’t built that much more muscle and I looked more or less the same as I always had.

Accepting this was devastating. 

Because it meant admitting just how lost I was. How aimless my training and life had really been.

I had been pushing myself to the limit and beyond and simply hoping I was making progress.

I had refused to look reality in the face – but as a result, stayed in perpetual chaos and uncertainty.

Because I never acknowledged where I was — I didn’t get anywhere.

I realized that to see any sort of progress – I had to take a brutal look in the mirror.

That to get anywhere at all — I had to sort out where I was.

Leaving Your Life To Chance Is A Bad Idea

Most people live life in constant chaos.

They have no clear idea of where they are or where they’re going.

Somewhere along the line, it became too painful to acknowledge where they were in life. To see just how far away from their goals they really were. 

So instead they turn to comfort and distraction. 

They try to escape the pain of reality but only end up trading it for the pain of anxiety and uncertainty. Of complete and utter chaos.

And in an attempt to escape their lack of progress, they make the possibility of any sort of progress impossible in the process.

Because without knowing where you are, you can’t get to any place better.

They’re lost in the woods with their eyes closed. Afraid to look around because it would mean accepting just how lost they are.

But by not opening your eyes in the woods, you don’t just stay lost — you get even more lost.

By not looking at where you are in life – you surrender to the fundamental law of the Universe – chaos.

The law of entropy states that the Universe tends towards disorder. And so, by not doing anything with your life – you choose to make it worse.

“If you don’t choose your own life — the Universe will. And it almost always chooses chaos.”

By not clarifying where you are, you can’t get to any place better. And you get stuck in a lifelong rut.

You settle for the occasional glimpse of your dreams while you spend the rest of your days distracted and in quiet desperation.

You end up in a place with chronic anxiety and uncertainty about your life. A state where progress towards your goals becomes impossible.

After a while, that uncomfortable feeling you had about defining your life becomes a giant fire breathing dragon of pain and chaos.

You’ve become so lost that your mind would rather do anything than stare your situation in the face.

But it’s the only way that you’re ever going to escape that dreadful place.

Because being lost in the woods doesn’t mean that you have to stay lost…

But what it does mean is that you have to open your eyes.

Creating Clarity In Your Life

“And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?"

-- Genesis 3:9”

To get where you want to go, you need to know where you are.

When you bring clarity to your life, when you stare the dragon of chaos in the face and recognize exactly where you are – something magical happens.

The anxiety and uncertainty starts to fade.

Sure it’s painful for a second, but after having stared at your situation for long enough – that sweet breeze of clarity comes rushing in.

It doesn’t matter how lost you are in life, once you see your situation clearly – the fog of anxiety lifts.

And even though there are many things you can do to ease your anxiety (as we talked about in the letter on stress) – clarifying your life is one of the biggest things you can do.

Another important point is that you can actually begin to create a plan for your life.

You may have had a plan before, but if you didn’t know where you were – the plan was completely useless.

This was the case with my training. I had the goal of building muscle and strength, but I had no idea of how strong I was, how much I weighed or what my starting point was. 

As a result, I went to the gym just spinning my wheels. I got stuck in the perpetual cycle of staying the same.

Think about how you use a map.

The reason you can use a map at all is because you have a compass telling you where you are. Without it, the map and destination quickly become useless.

Because you won’t know if you’re headed towards heaven or hell. And you’re not able to correct the course. You end up surrendering to chaos and becoming even more lost than when you started.

Because you have to realize that your first plan for anything won’t work. 

By choosing one absolute plan for the entirety of your life – you start to live in tyranny of it. By not allowing yourself to change course – your plan quickly starts to dictate your every move. 

Even if it’s against your interests.

• You continue following your workout program even though you haven’t progressed for months.

• You continue following your diet even though it’s sapping away all your energy.

Think back to the example of the map.

You pick a course and draw a straight line from where you are to where you’re going. But as you follow that line, you come across mountains and terrain you can’t cross. 

But because you aren’t updating your plan with your new information, the only way through is scaling the mountains and risking potential death. 

But if you add your new information of where you are to your plan, you’re able to correct the course. You notice that there’s a small valley you can walk through or a passage under the mountain.

My point is: your first plan won’t be perfect.

It is only by making hundreds of tiny adjustments along the way that will pave the road towards your goals. And the only way to do that is by continually updating your plan by understanding where you are.

Because that’s the only way you’re ever gonna find the only path that works – your own. 

(As we discussed in the letter “become a health polymath”)

So how do we get to this glorious clarity in life?

By writing things down.

The Power Of Writing

Writing is clear thinking.

It’s how you straighten out your mess of ideas and bring clarity to your life.

Using your mind as a warehouse is a bad idea, because it’s not what it’s meant for.

Your memories and sense of where you are is not reliable. Emotions alter your memories and stress blocks your objectivity.

To get an accurate picture of where you are (and create a plan for the future) – you need to get your life down on metaphorical paper.

This will:

• Clarify where you are and ease your anxiety

• Show you in which direction your heading

• Give you a goal and sense of purpose

• Make the obstacles in the way visible

Writing down your goals and direction is powerful.

It regulates your mental health so much that it improves your physical health.

It also activates the commitment principle in your brain.

It’s the evolutionary mechanism that makes you want to stay consistent with your past. By writing down your direction in life, your mind will try to justify it by acting in accordance. 

Writing things down takes a few minutes but will save you years if you do it right. If anything is a cheat code in life, this is it.

So without further we do, let’s go through how to clarify and create a plan for your life.

To make all this easy to understand (and go full circle) – let’s solve the problem I painted in the beginning:

Defeating training chaos.

1. Location

The 1st step is finding out where you are.

It’s opening your eyes in the metaphorical forest.

Pull out a notebook and write down everything you do on a daily basis. From the moment you wake up, to the second your head hits the pillow.

Why?

Most people think of the things you do on a daily basis as trivial. But there is arguably nothing more important than the things you do everyday.

It’s literally who you are.

And so to find out where and who you are (they’re the same thing) – you need to write down the things you do everyday.

The best way I’ve found to do this is by taking an assessment period.

Pick out a week where you don’t change anything at all. Go through life as you usually do but be overly observant. Don’t judge yourself or try to improve anything, just watch.

Depending on what you want to clarify and create a plan for:

• Training

• Nutrition

• Finances

• Relationships

You can get more or less specific with what you write down.

So let’s apply this to training.

Let’s say that on the days you get in the gym, you go through the same workout program as always and try to get close to failure on every set.

You realize that you don’t really know how much you can lift or what your limit truly is. You just choose a moderately challenging weight and go ham.

To bring some more clarity to your situation… 

You take an assessment week, where you workout until you think you have 4 reps left until failure on every exercise and write down the weights and reps.

Even if what you get out of your assessment week isn’t accurate, it will still clarify where you are. It gives you a starting point to try and progress from later on.

Note: If you haven’t looked honestly at where you are in life for a long time, your mind will fight against you. And this will be a little uncomfortable. But after pushing through the resistance, your life becomes clear.

But remember not to try and fix anything at this stage (that comes later). Just not down everything that comes to mind.

Now that you have a rough idea of where you are… 

It’s time to pick a destination.

2. Destination

When you’ve opened your eyes, it’s time to pick a destination.

This is  the most important step (second only to realizing where you are).

Because even if you’ve managed to open your eyes in the forest, without a direction to head in – you’re still very much lost.

After having clarified where you are in your training, it’s time to stop wandering around in circles.

This is how:

1. Choose a giant goal.

Pick one overwhelmingly large goal that you can align yourself to.

It should be something that inspires you with a good reason attached to it. Do some research on your curiosities and interests if you want more clarity. 

Example: Build muscle for the confidence, vitality and energy you get

2. Break it down into sub goals

The next step is to break your goal down into sub goals in smaller and smaller time frames. Repeat this until you arrive at the present moment. 

What can you do this week, this day, this second?

Example: 

Build muscle turns into:

• Year - Gain 5 kg of muscle

• Months - Complete 4 mesocycles

• Month - Add 30 kg to your SBD 

• Week - Workout with 4 RIR to assess where you are

• Day - Perform your workout

• Present moment - Get to the gym

If these terms seem confusing, don’t worry – it’s just an example.

But if you want to understand and master them, check out the letter from a few weeks ago, “How to build more muscle (and find meaning in life)”

(I highly recommend you read that one if you want to understand the bigger picture)

Once you know where you are and have a direction to move in…

You can see the obstacles in the way.

3. Obstacles

When you’ve sorted out where you are and where you’re going – you’ll notice something…

They are not the same place.

The thing in between are your obstacles.

• Work that has to be done

• Habits that have to be sacrificed

• Mental beliefs that have to be scrapped

This will require some education and for you to use your brain.

Ask yourself:

“What stupid things am I doing on a daily basis to absolutely screw up my goals?”

Let’s continue with the training example.

The obstacles in the way are:

• Your unplanned workouts

• Your ignorance to your abilities (strength)

• Your lack of planning in other domains (diet, sleep, cardio)

(I’m talking to myself here)

Solve them with research and relentless action.

You can search the net for youtube videos, training programs or even go through scientific studies.

But if you’re lazy, I’ve got you covered:

• How to build more muscle (periodization, the 3 factors for growth)

• How to optimize your diet (fat loss, energy)

With a sense of where you are, where you're going and the obstacles in the way…

You now have a path for cheating chaos.

All that’s left is to walk it.

4. Path

Let’s recap where we are:

• You know where you are

• You know where you’re going

• You can see the obstacles in the way

The final step is actually moving toward the destination and overcoming the obstacles.

The way you do this is by continuously checking your compass.

To keep your plan from becoming tyrannical and furthermore useless – you need to update it with your current location.

In other words, you need to track your progress.

It is a little tedious, which is why so few people do it. But there is arguably nothing more important.

Because if you don’t know what direction you're moving in, you can’t course correct. 

You won’t know if you’re heading towards hell or paradise.

And as we’ve gone through, the Universe will most likely set you headed towards chaos and hell.

You need to track your progress — whatever it is.

Depending on what it is you’re trying to progress, this part is either easy or insanely difficult.

How do you measure your progress in art for example?

But most pursuits in life can be boiled down to a few measurable metrics.

This is the big picture for tracking your progress;

• Break down your pursuit to measurable metrics

• Take note of your performance every session

• Keep a list of your top performances

Let’s continue with the training example.

In building muscle, the metrics are:

• The weight you lift

• How many reps you can do

• How much muscle relative to fat you have

To make sure you’re making progress — you need to track all these metrics from your workouts. Only then can you realize if you’re moving forward or spreading yourself chaotically.

As I mentioned, this is tedious.

My brain tries to avoid doing this as much as it can. Firing all sorts of excuses at me;

• You’re not at 100% today, it’s not worth writing down

• You’re making progress anyway, tracking it doesn’t make a difference

But if you want to escape the perpetual cycle of staying the same…

If you want to get out of training chaos and just spinning your wheels…

If you want to escape this dark forest…

YOU NEED TO TRACK YOUR PROGRESS!

After every workout, write down:

• The exercises you did

• How many sets and reps you performed

• Your RPE (how many reps you think you had left in the tank)

• How you felt during each exercise and the workout as a whole (1-10)

You should also keep a list of your personal records. The best you have ever performed on a given exercise.

This will keep you motivated, on track and make progress much easier.

Remember that this will work for anything you pursue in life.

When you have an idea of:

• Where you are

• Where you’re going

• The obstacles in the way

• How to track your progress

You have a way to clarify and improve your situation.

You let go of the anxiety, chaos and feelings of resistance.

And you finally escape the miserable state of being lost in the woods with your eyes closed.

That’s it for this week.

If you want future insights on improving your health and life as fast as humanly possible…

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Enjoy the rest of your week!

-Simon