Estimated Reading Time: 6-10 minutes

“Success is not a product of motivation. It’s the relentless application of elimination, implementation, and execution. The future belongs to those who build systems focused on sustainable, repeatable & measurable progress.”

I’m going to keep this short.

Is 2025 & most people have no idea of what they are going to do differently this year.

They have goals & ambitions but no actual plan of how to achieve them.

On top of that…

• The goals are shallow.

• With no holistic understanding.

• Or knowledge of the changes required.

They have no idea what to change on a mindset, lifestyle design & execution level.

That brings me to the New Year Protocol — a system to improve the 4 core areas of your life, massively accelerate progress & squeeze the most out of 2025.

With this framework, you will be able to:

• Identify and eliminate the obstacles sabotaging your progress.

• Focus your energy on high-impact activities aligned with your goals.

• Build habits and systems that create sustainable, compounding growth.

• Execute consistently, even when motivation runs dry.

That being said, let's dive in:

Warning: This is a very long framework, I recommend sitting down, getting rid of all distractions, and fully focusing on understanding the following key principles.

I’m giving all of this information for free…

So you don't need to pay thousands of dollars for coaching, courses, or digital products.

The 4 Core Pillars.

Life is divided into 4 core pillars:

• Health (Fitness & Nutrition)

• Money (Business &/or Career)

• Relationships (Friends & Family)

• Mind (Knowledge, Mindset & Skills)

Here’s how they work:

Health > Everything

• Lift: Strength builds resilience. Physical discipline sharpens mental discipline.

• Stretch: Flexibility prevents stagnation, physically and mentally.

• Meditate: Build focus, reduce stress, and sharpen awareness.

• Sleep 8 hours: Recovery is a non-negotiable for sustained performance.

Entrepreneurs are athletes.

The better you care for your body and mind, the sharper your execution.

Money = Your Life’s Work.

Money is the byproduct of the value you create for society.

It’s not about chasing dollars; it’s about solving problems.

• The bigger the problems you solve, the more money you make.

• Treat money as a measuring stick for the impact you provide.

• Build systems to replicate results.

Relationships = Group of Influence.

Every connection you nurture adds or subtracts from your life.

Be relentless with who you spend time with.

Prioritize those who:

• Inspire growth.

• Share your vision.

• Challenge you to improve.

Mind = Knowledge Library.

Your mind is your ultimate leverage.

Build your library of knowledge.

In the past this only include:

• Books.

• Articles.

• Documents.

Nowadays — is that PLUS:

• YouTube Playlists.

• Notion Database.

• Audible Library.

• Tasks software.

• Thread Posts.

• PDF’s.

There will be a day when you can plug your library to an AI & create a TRUE second brain.

Now that we understand the areas that need to be optimized.

Here’s the action plan:

1. Mindset Shift.

2. Start with Elimination.

3. Execution is Everything.

4. Skill Acquisition.

5. Reality Acceleration.

6. Grow Through Systems.

Step 1: Mindset Shift.

Before we begin — we need to get on the right mindset.

Understand the following hard truths:

The world doesn’t care about your plans.

You either adapt, or you’re left behind.

Stop wasting time on external circumstances.

Is not:

• Your boss

• The economy

• Your partner.

• The government

Everything in your control is your fault.

Everything outside your control is irrelevant.

If you can affect the consequence, do not spend energy on the cause.

Everything that is worth perusing is hard.

And everything hard takes longer than you expect.

Eliminate the your desire for quick wins.

Your dream body, business, relationship will take 5-10 years to build.

True progress demands patience.

Do not rush greatness.

Legends aren’t built in 6 months.

Your skills and execution define your value.

You don’t deserve anything.

You do stuff & you get rewarded for it. Period.

Is there unfairness on the world?

Yeah sure. So what?

What are you going to do about it?

Are you going to complain that you don’t have what “you deserve”?

Or are you going to go out & force success into your life?

Everyone starts in a different place.

And everyone has different levels of “luck”

Is not about where you start or how “lucky” you are.

Is about paying YOUR price to get what you want.

Stop comparing your progress to other people.

Success Mindset:

Stop seeking shortcuts and convenience.

Failures are lessons, and discomfort is the signal for progress.

Success demands alignment with reality, not avoidance of it.

Adapt, endure, and execute. That’s it.

Your mind is both the battlefield and the weapon.

1. Identity is fluid: Replace "I am" statements with "I do" actions.

2. Evaluate beliefs: Test them against your goals. If they don’t serve you, discard them.

3. Seek discomfort: Life is progress through struggle — deal with it.

4. Pursue solitude: The top 1% is lonely. Rare people are rare for a reason.

5. Reframe obstacles: Every problem is a gap in skill or knowledge. Fill the gap, solve the problem. Nothing else, nothing more.

Step 2: Start with Elimination.

“Commitment is the elimination of alternatives”

Distraction is the enemy of execution.

The quickest path to progress is clearing the clutter.

This protocol is designed to clear your environment for peak productivity.

The Elimination Step can be divided into 4 key areas:

1. Mental Space.

2. The Reference Group.

3. Environment Design.

4. Removing Your Old-Self.

Here’s how they work:

Mental Space.

“It's never been easier to be successful. It's also never been easier to be distracted.”

If you can't:

• Sit still.

• Ignore notifications.

• And focus for 8h straight.

Never expect to build something great.

Don’t get me wrong... Is not about working 8h on a computer.

It's about focusing, for 8h...

Building your 4 core pillars:

• Building your body (2h).

• Absorbing knowledge (2h).

• Building your business (5h).

• Building relationships (1h).

That’s how you build a meaningful life.

Here’s how to get started:

Simplify your digital life:

Convert all devices to grayscale to minimize visual stimulation.

Eliminate all apps that are unnecessary.

Embrace digital minimalism.

Silence the noise:

Disable notifications entirely.

They don’t manage your time; they steal it.

Download apps like “Opal” to block apps during work sessions.

Audit your consumption:

Replace mindless scrolling with intentional reading.

Focus on utility, not entertainment.

Change consumption with creation.

The Reference Group.

“If you want better friends, get used to seeing them less. Better friends are busy friends.”

Every relationship either elevates or diminishes you.

Be ruthless in this evaluation:

• Are they growth-oriented or stagnation-oriented?

• Do they inspire discipline or enable complacency?

• Do they share your vision?

Disclaimer:

The reference group is not the five people you spend the most time with or the five people you compare yourself to.

This is a common misconception.

Your reference group is the five people you want to impress.

This can be people you don’t know personally or people online.

Humans are tribal in nature.

Opinions of others affect our behaviors & decisions.

Don’t let this affect you indirectly.

Instead — use it intentionally.

When making decisions…

Look at your reference group and ask yourself:

“What would this person think?”

Most of the time you already know the answer.

Use your reference group as a filter for your decisions.

Not those closest to you who aren't where you aspire to be.

Rare people by definition don't do normal stuff.

Now — if we are thinking about elimination…

We are eliminating bad friend & abstractly the bad opinions & limiting beliefs from your life.

Environment Design.

"Your environment shapes your mindset; design it for clarity, and focus will follow.”

Your environments dictates the leverage in your progress.

The same way relationships & distractions influences your behavior…

It also happens with your environment.

When it is time to lock in…

Close the doors, put a set of headphones & get into flow.

Engineer your focus zones.

Create dedicated spaces in your home for work, learning, and creativity to optimize mental clarity and productivity:

• Desk: For managing tasks, writing, and achieving flow.

• Living Room: For reading and sparking inspiration.

• Gym: For hearing to podcast & motivation.

• Bed: For rest and recovery.

This simple approach trains your mind to associate each space with a specific type of cognitive work.

Removing Your Old Self.

"To change your outcomes, you must first change your identity—align your environment, habits, and actions with the person you aspire to become.”

• Connections.

• Money.

• Looks.

• Intelligence.

Those are all great.

But you can beat someone born with all the above with one trait:

An insatiable desire to improve.

No matter where they start…

Hard to beat someone who improves every second of every day without giving up.

The last thing of elimination is the removal of a limiting identity.

To keep it short — Identity is what we do, not what believe we are.

All humans have the same capacity to acquire any skills on a relative scales of effort.

(Unless you have a disease or condition of course)

Meaning. You are not bad at X.

You chose to be, based on the level of effort compared to someone else.

You got a disadvantage. Congratulations.

Now what?

Want to be good at math?

Do 1000 exercises without a calculator.

Want to be good at another language?

Change every communication, education & entertainment to that language.

Any skills can be learned with enough volume.

Some people may learn it faster, that means they have a better proficiency not that you are bad at it. Your opinion about yourself is YOU comparing yourself to other people.

Want to change your personal identity?

Change you beliefs.

Want to change the identity people have about you?

Change what you do.

People will always describe YOU by the ACTIONS you take.

The New Identity.

Write down a detailed description of the best version of yourself — and execute on it.

This can be present & future characteristics.

For example — here’s mine:

• Stoic, calm, and collected.

• Dangerous yet loving; commands respect but is generous with loved ones.

• Communicates consistently with family.

• Has a healthy, aligned relationship with his partner.

• Works on and keeps his car collection pristine.

• Financially secure, debt-free, with investments in crypto and stocks.

• Builds his personal brand through consistent work.

• Avoids reckless spending; dines on top-quality food at bargain prices.

• Curates a selective wardrobe and takes excellent care of it.

• Keeps a pristine, fortress-like home.

• Has close friends with shared goals and higher status.

• Wise, listens more than he speaks, with high emotional intelligence.

• Family hero, elevating them to prestige.

• Focuses on body and nutrition, working out daily.

• An innate writer, skilled coach, and consultant.

• Zen-minded, unbothered by opinions, focused on self-improvement.

That finishes step 2: elimination.

Don’t worry, that’s the longest step of the system.

Everything is very straightforward from here.

Now let’s focus on execution.

Step 3: Execution is Everything.

"Execution turns ideas into reality—it's not what you plan but what you consistently act on that defines success.”

Plans are meaningless without execution.

This framework turns goals into an actionable blueprint.

Start here:

Time Compression:

• Quantify goals in work hours: What does this goal require in raw time? Break it down.

• Eliminate padding: Deadlines are arbitrary unless tied to real-world constraints. Aggressively question timelines. Be realistic & always try to compress them with more efficient methods.

• Batch tasks: Stack complementary activities back-to-back to maintain focus and momentum. Management tasks with management tasks. Content creation with content creation. Avoid changing gears at work.

• Cut steps: Simplicity scales better than complexity. This is not taking shortcuts. Is looking at the simplest & fastest way to achieve a specific goal.

Schedule Development:

• Start with 996: Work 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week. Yes 12h. This includes all areas of your life like education & health tasks. From 9 to 9 you’re locked in on yourself.

• Evolve to three-shift days: Divide your day into 4-hour focus blocks. 9am to 1pm (money), 1 to 5 (money + health), 5 to 9 (relationships + mind). Test them in different ways to see what works best for you.

• Prioritize sustainability: Burnout is a choice. Build in recovery cycles. This is what your 7th day is for. The entire day is for leisure, sleep & recovery. Cut your work entirely.

Step 4: Skill Acquisition.

"Skill acquisition is the ultimate investment—businesses can fail, assets can vanish, but the knowledge and expertise you gain are yours forever."

Skills are leverage.

The more you know — the greater your capacity for value creation.

Embrace education over entertainment.

Your skills are untouchable by external forces—no one can take them from you.

Follow this strategy:

1. Commit 20 hours to any skill before judging its value.

2. Master the basics before advancing. Fundamentals scale universally.

3. Create immediate feedback loops to validate progress.

4. Practice until the skill feels automatic.

5. Trade the results from learned skills to acquire new ones.

Step 5: Reality Acceleration.

"What you do today shapes how quickly you reach the future you want—every action, habit, and decision brings you closer to your vision”

Acceleration is not speed; it’s alignment.

Choose your daily non negotiables (follow the 100 rule).

For example:

• 100 outreaches.

• 100 mins of writing.

• $100 daily on advertisment.

Step 6: Grow Through Systems.

“Document your processes & results. Tracking progress reveals what works, refines your path, and ensures consistent improvement.”

Do not leave success to chance.

Build system to get repeatable & predictable results.

Success is never a single act…

It’s the byproduct of a system executed consistently over time.

Eliminate what doesn’t matter, optimize what does, and execute without hesitation.

Ultimate Action List:

If you forget everything in this article, remember this checklist:

Adopt a growth mindset:

• The world doesn't care about your plans - adapt or be left behind.

• Everything worthwhile takes longer than expected - embrace patience.

• Your skills and execution define your value, not just your talent.

• Stop seeking shortcuts - success demands alignment with reality.

• Replace "I am" with "I do" actions.

• Test your beliefs against your goals and discard limiting ones.

• Seek discomfort, as life is progress through struggle.

• Pursue solitude, as rare people are rare for a reason.

• Reframe obstacles as gaps in skill or knowledge to fill.

Eliminate distractions:

• Simplify your digital life with minimalism.

• Silence notifications and block distractions.

• Audit your consumption, shifting from passive to active.

• Curate your reference group to inspire growth.

• Design focused environments for work, learning, and rest.

• Discard your limiting identity and define your best self.

Execute relentlessly:

• Quantify goals in work hours and aggressively compress timelines.

• Batch complementary tasks to maintain momentum.

• Adopt a 996 schedule (9am-9pm, 6 days) and evolve to 3 shifts.

• Build in recovery cycles to prevent burnout.

Acquire valuable skills:

• Commit 20 hours before judging a new skill's value.

• Master fundamentals before advancing.

• Create feedback loops to validate progress.

• Practice until skills feel automatic.

• Trade results from learned skills to acquire new ones.

Accelerate towards reality:

• Choose daily non-negotiables (e.g. 100 outreaches, $100 ads).

• Execute your non-negotiables consistently.

Build sustainable systems:

• Document processes and results to refine your path.

• Construct systems for repeatable, predictable success.

There you have it.

I hope you found these helpful.

Take some time this Monday to begin implementing what I've shared here today, and then hit me up on LinkedIn in a few weeks with an update.

Next newsletter we continue with the Skill Mastery Series.

The next skill is “Distribution”.

Stay tuned for that.

Sebastian Morino

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

1: Build your clarity, systems, and growth with 1:1 consultations here.

2: Follow me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Threads for more operating systems.

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