Setting Goals

Before we start talking about practices to implement now, let's look forward to see the benefits, and consider how to set goals, as well as frame our own journey such that we can set ourselves up for success from the get-go.

What is the end game?

Let's list off some of the benefits of what a successful implementation of Leveling could look like for the average person.

• You look amazing. Literally. You have your dream body - or very close to it. You have what the average person would consider an extremely good looking, 9/10+ physique.
• You feel amazing! Exercise has proven benefits to mood and cognition. In fact, it has even been shown to be comparable or slightly greater than psychotherapy or medicines in reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety. (opens in a new tab)
• Your physical health is top-notch. You prevent and manage many otherwise troublesome health problems, and you lower the risk of death from all causes.
• Your self confidence and self esteem is in a really good spot. You don't feel insecure, and you have a deep-rooted confidence in yourself and who you are.
• You develop valuable habits such as consistency and discipline that blossom and enrich other areas of your life.

Now I'm not saying that you definitely will achieve all of these. And most certainly even if you do, it will take a very long time to get there. However, all of these benefits, even fractionally, are a marked improvement to anyone's life. And they are most definitely attainable regardless of who you are or where you start from.

What is not achievable?

While the list of things you can't achieve is much smaller than what you can (a convincing argument as to why you should start Leveling!), they are still important.

• You will not achieve meaningful results overnight - it will take a very long time to start feeling the benefits
• You likely won't ever be able to reach insane levels of mass (opens in a new tab) or conditioning and leanness (opens in a new tab) without 'external help' (won't go into that here)

Genetics, Social Media and Comparison

What is increasingly more disruptive in this age of social media is that it is so easy to constantly compare yourself to other, 'better' people, which can feel like an invalidation of your efforts and progress.

It simply, unfortunately, is a breeding ground for ungrounded comparisons and unrealistic standards. We are, every minute of every day, exposed to the top 0.001% with the swipe of a screen. We compare our bloated stomachs after a meal in bad lighting to people who have been starving and dehydrating themselves to look good in a professional photoshoot.

As if that weren't enough, a key factor in building muscle or gaining or losing fat is a person's genetics. Everyone's genetics are different, and some people will find themselves packing on muscle much easier than others.

It can be easy to feel disheartened, and like a failure, especially when you see other people enjoying successes which seem far greater than your own. However, it's incredibly important, and this is why I'm starting with this, to remember the following:

Comparison is the thief of joy.

'Leveling' is not a zero sum game. Someone doesn't have to fail for you to succeed. In fact, the entire process should naturally be an attempt to improve only one thing: yourself. This is a personal journey! And you should treat it as such.

Tailor You Goals to Habits, not Milestones

So how can we adopt a goal-setting approach that is both realistic and exciting? Well, my advice is, to try to form goals around habits and not milestones.

The Gradient Principle

Let's try to think about this mathematically, with something I'm coining the gradient principle.

Above is a graph of five individuals. They have different genetic makeups; one of them starts off with above average genetics (muscular development above 0), two with average genetics, and two with below average genetics. These starting points, our values on the y axis, our genetics - the values are out of our control. What we can control, however, is the gradient of our line. The rate at which we change.

You'll notice that the blue and yellow lines are parallel, with steep gradients. This means that they are changing rapidly over time; they are dialling in their nutrition, training, and other factors that mean they improve rapidly, despite their average (or below average) genetics*. Similarly, the red line - someone with above average genetics - who perhaps is not as dedicated to results as the others, is eventually eclipsed by those who are working harder. So what matters here is not where we start, but where we're going.

Another thing to note is that the order of who is 'most developed' rapidly changes over time. This brings about another point I'd like to stress - it's easy to compare yourself in the moment to someone who might be more developed (or further along) than you are. But not only does everyone end up at the same place eventually, everyone changes and grows at different rates.

So just focus on yourself!

*A side note - genetics still make up some part of how well you're able to actually gain muscle while training, but it's out of our control, and also still at least somewhat determined by factors you can control. So for all intents and purposes, we can consider the gradient a function of your discipline and