Unlocking Unbelievable Success: My Astonishing Journey with the Game-Changing 20/20/20 Formula!

Three years ago, during a challenging phase in my life, I sought guidance from someone I deeply admire — a mentor who has consistently inspired me. This individual aided me in crafting a five-year plan on paper and suggested that I keep it with me, glancing at it each morning upon waking. Their kindness was evident, yet regrettably, this approach didn’t prove effective for me. Soon after, I lost track of the plan’s contents and struggled to prioritize my various goals.

Perhaps this experience resembled the common pattern of New Year’s resolutions — often well-intentioned but frequently unrealistic in nature. More recently, my perspective evolved after reading the book “The 5 AM Club,” wherein I encountered the 20/20/20 formula. This article centers on the 20/20/20 formula and its connection to the key aspects of a successful and fulfilling life.

In our bustling world, we invest significant effort into cultivating our mental faculties. We attend educational institutions, read books on self-improvement, and engage in continuous learning. While this focus on mindset is valuable, it represents just one of four essential elements for achieving a happier lifestyle.

To attain true success, productivity, and happiness, we must nurture four core aspects: the “mindset,” the “health-set,” the “heart-set,” and the “soul-set.” These components collectively enable us to acquire knowledge, maintain well-being, achieve success, and experience joy. Let’s explore each of these dimensions below. Ultimately, we will integrate these elements into a five-year plan that I initially mentioned through the 20/20/20 formula.

The Mindset

Fostering a resilient mindset is a nuanced endeavor. While positive influences like the books we read, the people we encounter, and the experiences we have, contribute to our mindset’s development, we must remain vigilant against absorbing negativity from sources like social media or pessimistic individuals — whether intentionally or inadvertently. Our living environment, workplaces, social circles, and reading material all play roles in shaping our mental outlook.

The Health-set

Maintaining good health not only reduces stress but also enhances productivity. Recognizing this, prominent corporations encourage employees to engage in physical activity, even if limited to a home workout routine. If gym visits are impractical, dedicating just seven minutes to a morning exercise session can invigorate your energy, alleviate stress, and amplify your sense of joy.

The Heart-set

Our actions and decisions are often steered by our emotions. Neglecting this aspect could undermine the other three facets of success. One effective approach to tending to the heart-set involves keeping a personal journal, confiding in a trusted individual or even better, in God, engaging in prayer or meditation, or pursuing any method that allows emotional expression. As very well said by Sigmund Freud “Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and they will come forth later in uglier ways.”.

The Soul-set

There are people that are smart in worldly matters but ugly on the inside. You immediately realize that their arrogance is above their knowledge. And believe me, it gives them stress as well — they just don’t know how to get out of this evil trap. It is very important for human beings to work on their souls on a daily basis. You contribute to having a perfect soul-set by making donations, helping others, praying to God, showing gratitude and doing meditation. Meditation does not mean just doing Yoga, it can be something as simple as thinking about the nature of the world. If you think that’s a lot of work to do, the 20/20/20 formula will help you work on all of the four elements in one hour on a daily basis.

What is the 20/20/20 rule?

For those daunted by the task of cultivating all four elements, the 20/20/20 formula offers a practical solution. This method involves allocating one hour each morning and dividing it as follows:

dedicate 20 minutes to move, 20 minutes to reflect, and 20 minutes to grow.

Now, it’s up to you how much you give to each one of the four elements, but I’ll share my approach:

• I invest the first 20 minutes in addressing the health-set and heart-set components through a seven-minute workout session and expressing my emotions in writing in my personal journal.
• I devote the subsequent 20 minutes to reflection and nurturing the soul-set via meditation, reading/reciting the Quran, and praying five times a day — beginning with the morning prayer.
• I designate the final 20 minutes for personal growth, encompassing reading educational materials, planning the workday ahead, and potentially composing articles.

Feel free to adopt a similar framework or customize it according to your needs.

In conclusion, my morning routine transformation was driven by the 20/20/20 formula and the five-year plan my mentor once built for me, which harmonized these essential life facets. This approach offers a structured means of fostering growth, well-being, and success. I invite you to experiment with this strategy and share this article with others who might benefit from its insights.

This article was initially composed in August 2019 and subsequently reorganized in August 2023.

📝 Read this story later in Journal.

🗞 Wake up every Sunday morning to the week’s most noteworthy Tech stories, opinions, and news waiting in your inbox: Get the noteworthy newsletter >