How to Plan an Epic 2025

Without setting goals

Author

Cara Gray
December 18, 2024

Dear Friends,

I am in major 2025 planning mode. For my life. For my business. And when I saw the topic for the latest episode of My First Million Podcast, I immediately fired up my Bluetooth speaker and had a listen. This episode features Jesse Itzler, An Emmy-award winning artist, New York Times bestselling author, part owner of the Atlanta Hawks, ultramarathon runner, and exceptional husband (to Sara Blakley - founder of Spanx), father, and businessman, who has mastered the art of success.

Jesse is 56 years old and talks about the concept of being “time rich,” which we all are or will be soon as we start planning our third act. The only thing we can’t get back is time, so this concept of being intentional about how we spend our time is one big concept I think about and discuss with my clients. Jesse is a great “framework guy,” and this interview reminds us that having a clear process for deciding how we spend our time can be a great way to plan. And to ensure we are not missing out on days, weeks, years! This methodology is applicable whether you are still working or are in your third act.

I outline Jesse’s process from this podcast but I also highly recommend watching or listening to this episode ⬇️ 📺👂🏽

❝

“As you get older, creating newness becomes really hard because you live in routine… The only way to really guarantee that you create newness is to plan it and or leave room to be spontaneous.”

- Jesse Itzler

Jesse Itzler’s process for planning a great year ahead

Close out the current year:

• Get “light” by cleaning out closets, desk, emails, etc.
• Write handwritten thank you notes to 20-30 people who impacted you
• Do a personal review and identify 2-3 areas to improve

“If everybody does the three things that we’re going to talk about in 2025 and does everything else the same that they did in 2024, at the end of the year, if they see me in an airport, they’re going to bear hug me because they’re going to be like, that was so easy. And I can’t believe how much better my life just got.”

- Jesse Itzler

Plan for the new year with 3 key elements:

1. Choose a “Misogi” - One big, year-defining challenge or adventure

Examples: Riding a bike across America, running an ultra-marathon, launching a book/company
• Should be something that excites you and pushes your limits
• Gives you something to work towards and look forward to
• It doesn’t need to be something physical, but it does need to be something that will make you feel proud and accomplished as you look back on 2025

Flexibility: The Misogi doesn’t have to be decided at the beginning of the year. Jesse says you might decide later to launch a podcast, quit smoking, or run your first marathon.

Impact: Jesse believes having a Misogi on your calendar changes how you show up at work and at home. It gives you:

• A reason to say no to things that don’t align with your big goal
• Something to look forward to and work towards
• A sense of anticipation and accomplishment

Challenge level: The Misogi should be something that pushes you out of your comfort zone. Jesse mentions that ideally, it should have about a 50% chance of failure.

Personalization: The Misogi doesn’t have to be fitness-related. It should be something that excites you personally and aligns with your interests.

2. Implement “Kevin’s Rule” - Do 6 mini-adventures per year

• Every other month, do something you normally wouldn’t for a day or weekend
- Jesse also mentions that is can be a good idea to plan this day or weekend with your spouse or significant other (if applicable) as a way to keep that relationship fresh.
• Doesn’t have to be expensive - could be local activities, hiking, etc.
• Breaks routine and adds newness to life

3. Add one new “winning habit” each quarter

• Examples: Drinking more water, daily meditation, stretching routine
• Builds positive habits over time
• Visit or revisit James Clear’s Atomic Habits

Put these elements into practice!

• Schedule these activities in advance - you can buy Jesse’s Big A## Calendar to help you from his website. Seeing your entire year laid out in front of you can be incredibly useful.
• Break big challenges into smaller, manageable steps
• Be intentional about making time for adventures and new habits
• Look at life in 5-year windows to see how much can change

 

“You don’t have to climb Mount Everest ⛰ to feel like you’ve accomplished something. You have to just get out there and do something that makes you proud of you.”

- Jesse Itzler

As always, I like to give you more resources to a related topic. This week, I offer a book 📚 recommendation (also from the podcast and on my holiday reading 📖 list!):

In many ways, we’re more comfortable than ever before. But could our sheltered, temperature-controlled, overfed, underchallenged lives actually be the leading cause of many our most urgent physical and mental health issues? In this gripping investigation, award-winning journalist Michael Easter seeks out off-the-grid visionaries, disruptive genius researchers, and mind-body conditioning trailblazers who are unlocking the life-enhancing secrets of a counterintuitive solution: discomfort.
 
Easter’s journey to understand our evolutionary need to be challenged takes him to meet the NBA’s top exercise scientist, who uses an ancient Japanese practice to build championship athletes; to the mystical country of Bhutan, where an Oxford economist and Buddhist leader are showing the world what death can teach us about happiness; to the outdoor lab of a young neuroscientist who’s found that nature tests our physical and mental endurance in ways that expand creativity while taming burnout and anxiety; to the remote Alaskan backcountry on a demanding thirty-three-day hunting expedition to experience the rewilding secrets of one of the last rugged places on Earth; and more.
 
Along the way, Easter uncovers a blueprint for leveraging the power of discomfort that will dramatically improve our health and happiness, and perhaps even help us understand what it means to be human. The Comfort Crisis is a bold call to break out of your comfort zone and explore the wild within yourself.

I will be taking a break from the newsletter next week. Wishing you and yours very happy holidays 🎄

Stay tuned for weekly content about travel, health, relationships, identity, spirituality, doing good and starting a new venture as it relates to your third act/the next chapter in your life ✨

Please subscribe and forward this newsletter to others who are thinking about planning their third act. Thanks for your support 🙏.

Warm regards,

Cara Gray
Third Act Consultant, CPRC, CEPA™️

P.S. If you want to start planning your third act, set up a time on my calendar for a chat: Schedule a Chat with Cara

P.S.S. If you are curious about my consulting work, there are two options to work with me: deep-dive, transformative 1:1 consulting or a 90-minute intensive, quickstart session. Details about both options can be found here.