A Great Life Made Simple And Possible For All
Skip to the Octagon of Life framework or the implementation guides.
Table of Contents
The Mission
I have two goals in life.
Selfishly I work toward being the best version of myself. I want to grow and learn something new every day.
Selflessly I want to be able to help anyone improve their life within 5 minutes. Be it with knowledge, skills, relationships or money. While I’m alive as well as 100, 200, 300 years after I’ve passed away.
Both are lifelong, never-ending pursuits.
I want to learn from greats, experiment with myself and share what works with others in condensed and easy-to-apply formats.
Practical wisdom to a great life, accessible to all.
The Story
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been reading and doing self-reflection. As an only child, I couldn’t turn to a brother or sister for advice. Difficulties with homework, unable to learn a technique with sports or getting stuck in a video game…I could discuss things with my parents, but most of the time I figured it out myself. Books, (early) internet, trial-and-error and reflection and introspection were my sources.
By the time I started working, self-reflection, coming up with ways to improve and finding resources (often books) to help me overcome obstacles came naturally.
I also started setting annual goals.
At first, these were mainly language and job-related, but over time they grew to encompass many areas of my life: career, finances, social, health, personality, skills, interests.
I did this for years thinking it was normal and something everyone did…until I realized at 27/28 years old that this wasn’t the case.
The Problem
Talking with others +/- 5 years my age, I realized that many felt something was missing in their life.
- Some were happy with their work, but unhappy with their life outside of work, or vice versa.
- Others had financial struggles, did a job that wasn’t aligned with their interests or didn’t know how to deal with difficulties at work or in their relationships.
- Many were emotionally weak, made poor decisions, were tired, stressed and procrastinated regularly – or at least felt that way.
Nearly everyone focused on external factors, instead of internal ones. Rather than being in control, they had let go of control.
The result: unhappiness.
The Obsession
I started asking myself:
- Why do I always feel that today is the best day of my life?
- Why do I know – and feel in my heart – that I was better today than yesterday, and that I will be even better tomorrow?
- Why do I feel – and have no doubt – that my life only gets better?
This made me more self-aware.
But it also raised 1 important question: why me and not them?
I became obsessed.
Why do some people think they’ve reached their peak, while in my eyes they’re not even close to it?
What holds one back from realizing his or her potential?
Why does one not pursue what gives him or her the most energy?
And I thought:
- How can I make them aware of this?
- How can I improve others’ lives regardless of their circumstances?
- How can I help others become better versions of themselves?
- How can I help others become self-sufficient?
- How can I enable change inside of them?
What came naturally to me…I wanted to make it come naturally to others too.
Like a man possessed, I started reading even more.
I studied greats and experts – dead and alive – in all kinds of fields, taking notes, implementing what I learnt in my own life, testing and refining everything on myself.
Whatever I had found to work in my life, I started sharing with friends. With their feedback, I made tweaks, always experimenting with myself first.
When I was confident something worked, I started coaching clients. There again, I received feedback, further refining the concepts, tools, methods and frameworks I had learnt.
After a few years of learning, testing and refining, it all started to come together into one framework.
A framework that I feel (hope) anyone can apply to improve themselves and their life.
A framework with which anyone can make consistent progress, become happier, more successful and have a (more) fulfilled life.
The Solution
I call it: the Octagon of Life.
Core
The starting point of everything is the Self.
Your why.
In short: knowing yourself and what your north star, your calling, your purpose is in life.
Growth
Knowing your Self allows you to work on your growth: your Self-Actualisation.
Becoming the best version of you.
To realize a great life, in my opinion, is to maximize your Self.
This is where the 8 areas of the Octagon come into play: each represents a specific part of the Self (and of one’s life) that can be improved by oneself.
Areas of Life
There are 5 internal areas – those that only involve oneself:
- Physical: one’s physical health and abilities.
- Intellectual: one’s ability to learn and retain knowledge, and acquire skills.
- Mental: one’s ability to make good decisions.
- Emotional: one’s ability to maintain positive emotions and deal with negative ones.
- Spiritual: one’s ability to be self-aware, present and understand “life”.
There are 3 external areas – those that involve interactions with others:
- Financial: one’s ability to financially provide for his and others’ needs. This is further divided into:
- Assets: one’s ability to acquire and use different assets to produce positive (financial) outcomes.
- Income: one’s ability to create value for others and receive compensation.
- Social: one’s ability to foster relationships and interact successfully with other people.
- Romantic: one’s ability to give and receive love.
As I described above, I used to think only about my financial and intellectual health. But as I grew older, I started thinking more holistically about my life and ways in which I could improve and live a fuller life.
The Octagon of Life is the result of that pursuit.
The Implementation
Now I reflect on my life every year using this framework.
It’s a two-step process for me:
- Reflect on the previous year.
- Which goals did I achieve?
- Which goals did I not achieve?
- Why?
- In which unexpected ways did I make progress?
- Using the above as a foundation, I plan for the upcoming year.
- I give every year a theme.
In 2022 this was “Simplification”: simplify every area in life – environment, relationships, work, thoughts – to focus on those things that matter and give me the greatest joy. - I then set 1~3 goals for each of the 8 areas of the Octagon.
If helpful, I break down seemingly impossible goals into smaller milestones to make them (feel) more feasible. - I go through a checklist of questions to ensure I’ll focus my effort on the biggest growth opportunities and give myself the biggest odds of success.
- I always end with the same reminder:
What you will have achieved by the end of your life is in your hands now. Work for it. Don’t forget about family and close friends.
- I give every year a theme.
On average I achieve about 70% of my annual goals and I always make progress in some ways that weren’t part of my goals.
What is important, however, is that I move in the right direction (growth) in every area of my life.
That’s why the Self-Actualisation part of the Octagon of Life illustrated above is an octagon too: I don’t want any one area to come at the expense of another.
This is often, unfortunately, not the reality. It’s much more likely that your life looks something like the image below.
You’ll likely excel in one or a few areas and be weaker in others. There might even be one – often Spiritual – that you’re unaware of or have neglected thus far.
This is completely normal, especially at first.
We all grow at our own pace and in our own ways.
I have found pursuing growth in the 8 areas of the Octagon of Life to make me happier, more fulfilled and more successful.
I have seen the same happen with others focused on this more holistic growth in life.
I hope the Octagon of Life does the same for you.
The Mission Revisited
Everything starts with awareness.
Awareness of what’s possible and awareness of your Self.
Then, using the Octagon of Life, you can identify the areas in life you’d like to improve in.
You can use the annual reflection method I outlined above to ensure you’re moving in the right direction.
I also reflect daily, weekly and monthly to ensure:
- I make progress toward my goals.
- I make more/faster progress than I did the day/week/month before.
I ask myself:
- What went well?
- What didn’t go well?
- Which improvements can I make to the (a) methods or (b) process?
I implement these improvements the next day/week/month. This way I create my own feedback loop by testing and reflecting regularly. Something you can now do as well.
But recall my life goals:
- Being the best version of myself.
- Being able to help anyone improve their life within 5 minutes.
I not only want to give you a framework to identify growth areas in life, I also want to provide you with practical ways to achieve that growth.
Learning and mastering the best of what others have already figured out, experimenting with myself, and sharing what works with you.
You still have to put in the work to make your personal growth happen, but you can do so 100x faster yet with 1% of the effort it took me.
Practical wisdom to a great life, accessible to all.
This brings me to…
The Roadmap
Below you’ll find my study roadmap related to the Octagon of Life: I’m continuously learning, experimenting with and improving in every area myself.
Whenever I feel I have enough knowledge and experience in an area, I create an in-depth, actionable guide to help you improve in your life.
These guides are meant to be timeless, serving as a great learning resource for beginners and a useful reminder for more experienced people.
I update them whenever I find something better or feel something no longer works. You’ll always have access to the latest and greatest practices in my life.
Everything I provide – guides, articles, seminars, coaching – is meant to help you achieve 2 things:
- Realize you can reach even greater heights. You can be even happier, stronger, more resilient, more successful and more fulfilled than you’re able to imagine now.
- Accelerate your growth. You can become your best Self faster, more easily and with (way) less effort because I’ve tested and refined everything – and made all the mistakes – for you.
Writing takes time so a guide may not be available yet. In due course, every topic mentioned below will have its actionable guide.
Now without further ado, my study roadmap and every guide related to the Octagon of Life:
Core
Self & your why
- Purpose / calling – your why & societal contribution
- Finding your why
- Finding yourself
- Knowing yourself
- Life goals & north star
- Fulfilment – what gives you energy / pursue curiosity
- Moral principles
Self-actualisation & growth
Internal
Physical
- Sleep
- Nutrition
- Fasting
- Food
- Liquid
- Exercise
- Stability and mobility
- Strength
- Endurance (zone 2/aerobic and zone 5/anaerobic)
- Flexibility
- Breathing
- Breathing methods
- Breathing technique
- Sensory health | improvement | misperceptions
- Eye (sight)
- Nose (smell)
- Ear (sound)
- Mouth (taste)
- Hand and Foot (touch)
- Grounding and forest therapy
- Muscular health (massage)
- Body
- Foot
- Hand
- Head
- Hormonal health
- Brain health
- Dreams & lucid dreaming
- Focus
- Flow state
- Frequencies and vibrations (music)
- Heat & cold exposure
- Alternative & traditional Chinese medicine
- Acupuncture
- Ayurveda
- Energy psychology
- Five elements
- Herbal medicine
- Hypnosis
- Meridian & chakra
- Centenarians and blue zones
Intellectual
- Creativity
- Effective note-taking
- Generalist vs specialist | multidisciplinary | polymathy | Renaissance men
- Masterminds and collaboration
- Mastery, expertise & craftsmanship
- Art of fundamentals & simplicity
- Memory
- Forgetting curve
- Muscle memory
- Short and long-term memory
- Working memory
- Neural plasticity
- Reading better – Mortimer Adler’s “How To Read A Book”
- Skill acquisition
Mental
- Cognitive biases
- Decision-making
- Frameworks
- Imagination
- Futuristic thinking
- Sci-Fi
- Logic
- Mental models
Emotional
- How to practically deal with emotions and self-limiting beliefs
- Anger and resentment
- Confidence (lack) and inferiority
- Fear and anxiety
- Frustration
- Stress
- NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming)
- Reframing
- Reprogramming (yourself)
Spiritual
- Mindfulness
- Meditation
- Tai Chi
- Yoga
- Philosophy and Morality
- Religion
- Ancient
- Modern
- Mythology
- New Age
External
Financial
- Assets
- Financial wealth
- Alternative investing
- Angel investing
- Commodities
- Crypto
- Investment principles
- Private equity
- Brick-and-mortar
- Digital
- Rationality and emotions
- Real estate
- Stocks
- Knowledge
- Relationships
- Skills
- Time
- Financial wealth
- Income
- Accelerator
- Business
- Business model
- Exponential growth
- Capital
- Kaizen & process improvement
- KPIs and Financials
- Marketing
- Referral strategies
- HR & culture
- Project management
- Strategy
- Entrepreneurship
- Freelancing
- Incubator
Social
- Communication
- Body language
- Facial expressions
- Magnetism / charisma
- Negotiating
- Persuasion
- Copywriting
- Sales
- Speaking
- Interviewing
- Rhetoric
- Socratic Questioning
- Storytelling
- Comedy
- Structure & narrative
- Visual
- Colours
- Graphs and charts
- Shapes
- Writing
- Cultural norms and values
- Language
- Nudging
Romantic / Love / Family
- Children
- Parents
- Soulmate or life partner
Uncategorized
- Kaizen & process improvement | feedback loops
- Minimalism
- Simplify and declutter one’s environment
- Digital space
- Physical space
- Relationships
- Thought experiments
The Support
Whenever you are ready, there are 3 ways I can support you:
1. Turning Your Passion Into Profits here. (80+ students)
2. X ways to double your business here. (30+ students)
3. Work 1:1 with me to improve yourself, your life, or your business. (100+ clients)
P.S.
Anything that doesn’t grow, decays. That’s one of the fundamental truths of nature.
The same applies to every area in the Octagon of Life: neglect an area and it’ll naturally worsen. The only way to combat this is to give each area the attention it deserves and develop yourself. It’s not easy, but it’s definitely doable.
You’ll find that the more you develop yourself in any area, you become exponentially more resilient in that specific area. The decay slows and you become more resistant to external pressure.
There might also be a time when you think you’ve reached the highest level in an area of your life. Let me tell you: there’s always a higher level. You’re simply not able to see it yet.
The medicine for this is simple: find better role models – dead or alive – and expose yourself to people further ahead in that area than you are. You’ll soon realize there are infinitely more possibilities than you had imagined.
The final thing I’ll say is: be wary of becoming “content”. This is perhaps the greatest danger of all for one simple reason: anything that doesn’t grow, decays. That’s how nature works.
May the Octagon of Life and every guide and resource on my website help you become the best version of yourself. You deserve it.
With love,
Jim