The fact is none of us are going to wake up tomorrow and drastically transform our life in 24 hours.

“Small changes eventually add up to huge results” – Unknown

This reality is okay though. We can start small and then build our way up. That’s how I’ve transformed my own life and you can do the same. This post is about a fourteen-day plan that you can use to get you well on the road to personal transformation.

The fourteen-day plan is easy, simple, clear and a bit of fun too.

The first few days will start off with small activities and then we’ll gradually build up to some bigger changes you can experiment with.

As a side note, I used the phrase growth hack in the title of this article for you cool techies who are obsessed with this phrase or even the startup life. Either way, the advice in this article will work for anyone who’s willing to execute on the plan.

Here’s the 14-day plan to transform your life:

Week 1

To start off with, this week is all about creating space and minimizing everything in your life.

Day 1:

Start with a clean slate. Everything you tried up until now is in the past. Throw away any failures you may have had and start the first day fresh.

Visualise how you want to feel at the end of the 14-days. I don’t want you to do anything else on day one. Empty space and time to think are so important.

Day 2:

Write two big goals you want to achieve in the next twelve months (no more!). Write down why they are crucial to your life and how you’ll feel at the end.

Connecting with positive feelings gives you a jolt of motivation. As humans, we’re driven by how things make us feel.

As an example, my two big goals right now are to nail five speeches and change careers. Nice and simple and both are major changes.

Day 3:

With your two goals floating around in your head, let them simmer for a bit. In the meantime, we need to create space in your life. This starts with one huge clean-up. Throw out everything that doesn’t bring you joy or makes you feel bad (feelings again are front and center).

When I did my own clean out, I threw away more than 50% of my possessions and donated lots to charity. Your stuff is taking up space in your life which will be needed to execute on your two big goals.

Day 4:

Continuing the theme of minimalism and making space, today is all about cleaning your work area. We all have one space that we use to sit down and do work. That work might be reading, browsing the internet, writing, doing business stuff and preparing presentations.

“Taking objects away from your work area will give your mind a feeling of freeness that is hard to describe”

I also want you to take objects away from your digital workspace as well. I recently deleted more than 500 GB of junk that I never access on my computer.

At the same time, I also threw away six hard drives that were storing more junk on them which I no longer needed. The biggest space to clean is the desktop of your computer. Put things in folders and get them off the desktop!

Day 5:

Today is all about analyzing your calendar. Where is all your time spent? After this exercise, I decided to wipe my calendar and only have the following: gym, writing, time with my girlfriend, public speaking and that’s all. Everything else was deleted.

There are many tasks we sign up to that stop us from going deep on our priorities.

“Until you look at your calendar with a fine-tooth comb, you’ll be blindsided by the time you waste”

Day 6:

It’s time to book your next holiday. As Tim Ferriss described on his popular podcast, scheduling holidays in advance gives you something to look forward to and it allows you to start getting the benefits long before you leave for your trip.

I recommend booking your next holiday six months in advance. Pick somewhere you want to go and then book it. There’s nothing like a financial commitment to keep you accountable. I never used to do this and then somehow, I always seemed to be too busy for a holiday.

Your mind needs space if you are really going to be able to get the benefits from this 14-day transformation. Holidays are a time to reflect and avoid distractions.

Day 7:

To finish the first week off I want you to adopt an “I don’t give an F attitude to life.”

This doesn’t mean you should take drugs, party hard and be reckless. The attitude I want you to adopt is the following:

– No longer getting upset by people’s opinions.
– Quitting the comparison game and living your own life.
– Be you both at work and at home. Remove the mask.
– Do stuff because you want to not because you have to.
– Stop overthinking and follow your gut.

Week 2

This week is focused on your health and adding new habits.

Day 8:

The first item for health week is to see your doctor or naturopath and have some blood tests. You can’t do much unless you know where your health is at today. I had this done recently and my naturopath found that I had both high amounts of mercury and arsenic in my blood from too much seafood. This problem was making me both tired and sick.

The tests you need to take will vary based on the individual. I’d recommend at least a heavy metals test, a cortisol test and a hormone test to get you started. When the results come back, you’ll have a good guide of what you need to change. Health equals energy to do your two big goals.

Day 9:

Sugar is messing with your health. You know it, your dog knows it and so does your neighbor. Let’s not try and go zero sugar from the start or you’ll relapse. In this 14-day transformation, I want you to delete only one sugar habit. This will give you the willpower and discipline to delete more sugar habits by yourself later on.

Sugar habits include the following: coffee with sugar, soft drink, bread, cow’s milk dairy, lollies, milk chocolate, etc. All of these items spike your blood sugar which gives you cravings and helps to make you a crack addict for sugar. Dr. Hyman talks more about these in his latest book if you’re interested.

Day 10:

Now we need exercise to help boost your mood and make you healthy. You’ll be requiring 30-minute sessions, with three doses a week – just what the doctor ordered!

Again, this is not brand-new news. Exercise is crucial to any transformation process because it puts you into momentum. Physically moving also helps your mind move forward and create momentum as well.

“I recommend locking in an exercise session right before you want to do one of your big goals”

Day 11:

Lock in twenty minutes of reading per day. It’s how you’ll gain the knowledge to crush your two big goals and it will feed your mind. Reading gives you ideas and reorganizes existing information that is stored in your brain.

Self-development books and biographies of people who have achieved their own big goals are where I’d start. These books can be read on your phone or in physical paper form (old school).

Part two of day eleven is to add one podcast to your phone to listen too on the way to work. The commute is a good time to pick up further ideas and learn new skills. The only requirement here is to pick podcasts that you actually enjoy otherwise you’ll ditch your habit faster than a broken-down car.

The two podcasts I recommended starting with are Tim Ferriss’s and The Tony Robbins Podcast.

Day 12:

Distractions are a dangerous hazard. Today is all about removing apps from your devices that mess with your attention and don’t contribute to your big goals. You’re allowed to keep two social media apps which we will use tomorrow.

I recently deleted Twitter, Instagram and about three dining apps. The first two were distracting me and they no longer serve my two big goals. I also had dozens of dining apps and realized I only use one. The rest were deleted and I’ve never looked back.

At the same time, I also recommend turning off all notifications except text messages. You don’t need them and they distract you. Try it and watch your stress levels reduce when using your devices.

Day 13:

Share one story, three times a week on social media. Sort of seems counter-intuitive given yesterday’s challenge. Sharing stories by documenting your life is how you’re going to do the following:

– Build an audience to be utilized together with your two big goals
– Watch yourself grow
– Create content

There are some boundaries: each story should be short and take around fifteen minutes to write, record or film. The second rule is you can only share your story on no more than two social platforms. I’ve chosen LinkedIn and Medium. Try a few and then see what comes naturally.

If a certain platform feels like hard work when you share your stories, then ditch it. You’ll quickly see whether it’s words, audio or video that are your strength.

Day 14:

Okay today is the final day of your transformation. We’re going to add one uncomfortable activity per week from now on to your to-do list or calendar. The uncomfortable activities I have to pick from in my life are public speaking, flying and business networking,

Yours could be eating vegetables, starting a side business or if you’re single, it could be going on dates. Whatever the uncomfortable activity is, doing it weekly is the final step to massive transformation.

Eventually, what is uncomfortable will become much easier. You’ll get better at crushing your fears and this will compound the results in your life further.

Final words.

I hope you enjoyed this 14-day transformation list and decide to implement it. From the outside, it looks kind of simple and straight-forward. It’s almost so simple that your mind could decide to opt out and utilize a mindset of “I’m superior and these dumb tasks are for amateurs – not me.”

The best advice is often the simplest and it’s the little things you don’t do that stop you from having the life transformation you’ve always wanted – and probably needed.

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net