4-Year U.

Category: System

  • How to Achieve Bigger Goals in Less Time by Thinking Long Term

    How Thinking Long-Term Helped Me Accomplish Bigger Goals in Less Time

    When I created Four Year U., it wasn’t because I had all the answers. It was because I noticed a pattern in my life: everything seemed to move in four-year cycles. Jobs, relationships, major shifts—they all tended to evolve or change every four years. So I asked myself, What if I stopped leaving that to chance? What if I started living intentionally in four-year arcs?

    That one decision changed everything.

    The Problem with Thinking One Year at a Time

    Like most people, I used to think in terms of yearly resolutions. Every January, I’d set a new goal. Twelve months later, I’d either celebrate success or quietly reset with a new goal, never quite building on the momentum of the previous year.

    Year-long thinking started to feel limiting. The goals felt smaller because the timeline was short. I wanted to think bigger.

    And when I did, something unexpected happened:
    I started achieving more in less time.

    Bigger Goals. Faster Results.

    The moment I started thinking in four-year arcs, my mindset changed. I gave myself permission to dream bigger—to set ambitious, meaningful goals that wouldn’t fit in a single year. But here’s the surprise:

    • Goals I thought would take a year? I completed them in just three months.
    • Projects I assumed needed 90 days? Done in four weeks.

    Why? Because once I had a clear long-term vision and structure, I could stop spinning my wheels. I could just… start.

    The Real Cause of Procrastination

    Procrastination often comes from ambiguity, not laziness. When we don’t have a clear structure for our goals—when we don’t even know where to write the answer to the question we’re asking ourselves—we stall.

    Think of it like a worksheet in school. The teacher gives you a question and a spot to answer it. But in adult life, when you’re setting your own goals, you have to create both the question and the answer space.

    That added layer of effort can cause hesitation. We avoid it because it feels overwhelming. But once I built a repeatable system—the 4-Year U. framework—I no longer had to figure out the structure. It was already there.

    Prepare the Workspace. Then Work the Work.

    This became a mantra for me.

    I started to take what I call a “TikTok approach”—not the app, but the rhythm: prepare, then act.Create the space. Then show up and do the work. Set the stage. Then perform.

    The 4-Year U. system is that space. It gives you the structure to dream big, break it down, and build toward it—quarter by quarter, month by month, week by week.

    And when the structure is in place, you move faster, more confidently, and with less resistance.

    The Takeaway

    If you feel stuck, maybe the problem isn’t the goal itself. Maybe you just need a better container for it.

    Think in four-year arcs.
    Build the structure.
    Then prepare the workspace—and work the work.

    You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve when you think long-term.

    📘 Ready to start your own 4-Year U. journey?
    Download the free Seasonal Quadrant Planner and start mapping out your goals with clarity and purpose.

  • This One Idea Changed How I Set Goals Forever

    This One Idea Changed How I Set Goals Forever

    Why Your Goals Keep Failing (And How to Fix It)

    Have you ever set a big goal—something you were excited about—but just a few weeks later and you’re already burned out?

    Yeah, me too.

    We all start strong. We get inspired. We buy the notebook, the app, and the gear.

    We tell ourselves, “This time is different.”

    But then… life hits. Energy fades. And the goal? 

    It slips through our fingers.

    It’s not because we’re lazy or lack willpower. It’s because we’ve never been taught a system that works with time instead of against it.

    That’s what the 4-Year U. is about.

    For me, it started with something simple: trying to lose weight.

    I went hard—every day at the gym, strict diet, tons of motivation. And then… I fizzled out.

    I realized something: I didn’t need to do it all perfectly. I just needed to do

    Something.

    Every.

    Day.

    Because time was going to pass anyway. I might as well be intentional about how I spend it.

    That one thought changed everything and led me to ask myself:

    What if I used time to work for me instead of against me?

    That’s when the idea for the 4-Year U. was born.

    Here’s the real problem:

    We try to sprint our way through a marathon.

    We start a new job, a business, a relationship—and expect instant results. But that’s not how real transformation works.

    You didn’t start off becoming who you are, you worked on it in small, micro steps along the way.

    When you want to become someone different, you need to allow yourself to acclimate. It’s not going to feel good at first because your mind wants to keep you safe.

    That’s why it’s called the “comfort” zone.

    When you start to make changes in your life, think of it like walking out of a warm house into the freezing cold. At first, your body wants to go back inside. But if you give it time, your body will acclimate.

    You don’t just flip a switch and become the person who finishes. You become that person through the process—over time.

    And that’s what most goal systems miss: they don’t give you time to acclimate.

    That’s where the 4-Year U. comes in.

    Think of a stream of water running over a rock. At first, it seems like nothing’s happening. But over time, that consistent flow carves a groove into the stone.

    The 4-Year U. is that stream.

    It’s a structured way to align your long-term goals with the natural flow of time, using consistent effort—to create lasting change.

    It’s about translating micro actions into macro results.

    The foundation of 4-Year U. is the four quadrants:

    • Rest
    • Planning
    • Action
    • Evaluation

    Each quadrant is based on naturally occurring seasons:

    Winter is rest.

    Spring is planning.

    Summer is action.

    And Fall is evaluation.

    You move through each of these quadrants in every area of life. Not once—but continuously.

    And it’s not just yearly. These cycles exist daily, weekly, and monthly too.

    Wake up? That’s spring. Midday is summer. Evening is fall. Sleep is winter.

    Even Agile methodology mirrors this: winter is the backlog, spring is sprint planning, summer is execution, and fall is retrospectives.

    This cycle is everywhere. And we can use these naturally occurring seasons to work for us and help us achieve goals that we never thought possible.

    So how does it work?

    4-Year U. uses the same method for different planning and review cycles, which is what we call the “Seasonal Quadrant”, which is just a “+” sign in the center of a page where each season or quadrant is a different stage and state of where your goals are currently are – and then at each planning and review session you decide whether any of the goals need to be worked or moved.

    Here’s an example:

    • Daily Review: Focus on the seasons of today, which goals do you want to work on in the morning, mid-day, tonight, or while you sleep?
    • Weekly Review: Focus on the days. What did I do? What will I do next?
    • Monthly Review: Focus on the weeks. What patterns are forming?
    • Annual Review: Focus on the quarters. Where did I grow? Where do I need to go?
    • Quadrennial Review: Focus on the whole arc. Who have I become? What’s next?

    Each review zooms out just a little more, helping you see clearly and make better decisions.

    And when these cycles overlap—say, the weekly and annual land on the same day – let the greater cycle lead. Start big, then go small.

    This process is similar to David Allen’s Weekly Review in his book, Getting Things Done and of the contextual nature of work which the book espouses. It’s about doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right season of the day, week, month, or year.

    It only takes a few minutes to complete and it helps you see incremental progress every day.

    Remember: time will pass anyway. The question is—will you have something to show for it?

    If you want a digital version that guides you through this process, download the free 4-Year U. Guide at 4yearu.com/free.

    It walks you through all the review cycles and has templates for each planning and review cycle. Just fill out the form below:

    Sign up for emails from 4 Year U.

    New email subscribers get our free, Seasonal Quadrant planner, which contains printable guides and review sheets to help you with each stage of the 4-Year U.

  • Mastering Life’s Natural Rhythms: The 4-Year U Framework for Intentional Growth

    Mastering Life’s Natural Rhythms: The 4-Year U Framework for Intentional Growth

    What if you could harness time itself to work for you?

    We all know time moves forward, but few people structure their goals in a way that aligns with life’s natural cycles. 4-Year U offers a way to take control, breaking life into structured four-year arcs—just like school, presidential terms, and Olympic cycles. Instead of letting time slip away, you can intentionally plan your goals in alignment with seasonal patterns, ensuring steady progress toward long-term success.

    At its core, 4-Year U isn’t just about setting goals; it’s about knowing when to act on them. By aligning your work with natural cycles—within a year, a month, or even a day—you maximize productivity, avoid burnout, and increase the likelihood of success.

    Why Four Years? The Power of Cycles in Life

    Think back to high school or college—structured four-year programs that had a clear start, progression, and completion. Yet, as adults, no one provides that structure for us anymore. We’re left drifting from goal to goal without a framework. 4-Year U brings that structure back by creating intentional four-year arcs, allowing individuals to map their personal and professional growth in harmony with natural rhythms.

    This isn’t arbitrary. Many aspects of life follow cyclical patterns. The Fibonacci spiral, the seasons of the year, even economic cycles all repeat in predictable ways. The 4-Year U framework builds on this by dividing time into seasons of action, allowing for focused effort when it makes the most sense.

    Breaking It Down: The Seasonal Approach to Goal Setting

    The 4-Year U structure follows seasonal cycles—not just in the traditional sense of winter, spring, summer, and fall, but also in daily, monthly, and yearly rhythms:

    • Winter – Reflection and Planning (Goal Setting, Reviewing Progress)
    • Spring – Planting Seeds (Starting New Projects, Building Momentum)
    • Summer – Intense Action (Execution, Hard Work, Growth)
    • Fall – Harvest and Transition (Reaping the Benefits, Wrapping Up)

    This pattern applies on multiple levels. Within a single day, morning might be your “winter” for deep thinking, midday is “spring” for collaboration, afternoon is “summer” for execution, and evening is “fall” for winding down.

    The same logic applies across a month, a year, and a four-year arc. The key is aligning your tasks with the natural flow of energy and momentum, rather than forcing things at the wrong time.

    A Practical Example: Buying a House with 4-Year U

    Consider a goal like buying a house. Instead of simply saying, “I want to buy a house,” the 4-Year U method breaks it into actionable phases:

    1. Winter – Research & Planning: Assess finances, improve credit score
    2. Spring – Laying the Groundwork: Work with a realtor, explore neighborhoods
    3. Summer – Taking Action: Actively search for homes, place offers
    4. Fall – Closing & Moving: Finalize paperwork, transition into the new home

    Even within a single year, each quarter aligns with a different aspect of the process. By following the seasons, you ensure that tasks are done at the optimal time for success.

    The Chessboard of Life: Strategic Positioning for Success

    Just like chess, every move in life has an optimal time and place. Some actions are best taken early, while others require patience. In the same way that grandmasters plan their games in phases—opening, middlegame, and endgame—your life should follow a structured progression.

    In 4-Year U:

    • The opening (Winter & Spring) is preparation and positioning.
    • The middlegame (Summer) is when you take decisive action.
    • The endgame (Fall) is when you evaluate and capitalize on your efforts.

    By recognizing where you are in your personal four-year cycle, you can align your actions strategically, rather than reactively.

    Applying 4-Year U to Big Goals: Making $1,000 a Night

    Let’s take a more ambitious goal: earning $1,000 per night in passive income within four years. This can’t happen overnight, but it’s achievable with a structured approach:

    • Year 1: Build foundational knowledge, research opportunities
    • Year 2: Create income-generating assets (investments, digital products, automation)
    • Year 3: Scale and optimize revenue streams
    • Year 4: Reap the rewards, refine systems for sustainable success

    At the end of four years, systematic progress makes the goal inevitable. Rather than hoping for success, you’ve intentionally designed your path to it.

    Why This Works: The Science of Momentum and Patterns

    4-Year U is rooted in more than just good planning—it’s backed by human psychology, seasonal rhythms, and behavioral patterns. Consider:

    • People naturally experience shifts in motivation based on seasons and cycles.
    • Goal-setting is more effective when aligned with time-based milestones.
    • Burnout happens when effort is misaligned with natural energy flows.

    By working with these forces instead of against them, 4-Year U maximizes efficiency and minimizes wasted effort.

    How to Implement 4-Year U Today

    You don’t need an elaborate system to start using 4-Year U. Begin with these steps:

    1. Define your four-year arc. What major goal do you want to achieve?
    2. Break it into seasonal cycles. What’s your focus for each year? Each season?
    3. Align your daily and monthly actions. Plan work in sync with natural rhythms.
    4. Track progress & adjust. Use a structured system like a spreadsheet or planner.

    Final Thoughts: Time Will Pass—Use It Wisely

    Time is going to pass anyway, whether you plan for it or not. The question is: Will you let it drift by, or will you use it intentionally to shape your life?

    With 4-Year U, you’re not just setting goals—you’re structuring your life in a way that makes success inevitable. Aligning your ambitions with natural rhythms allows you to work smarter, not harder, and achieve results that once seemed impossible.

    As Erich Stauffer put it in the transcript:

    “You don’t realize how much you can accomplish in four years until you structure your time intentionally. What seems impossible in a year becomes inevitable over four years.”

    Start thinking in 4-year arcs today. Your future self will thank you.

  • Rethinking Productivity: A Conversation with Maya, the AI from Sesame, on the 4-Year U. Framework

    Rethinking Productivity: A Conversation with Maya, the AI from Sesame, on the 4-Year U. Framework

    Recently, I had a virtual coffee chat with Maya, the voice AI from Sesame, where we delved into the philosophy behind the 4-Year U. What started as a casual conversation over a shared love for Americanos quickly evolved into an exploration of time management, productivity, and aligning personal growth with natural cycles.

    The Foundation of 4-Year U.

    The 4-Year U. framework is built on the idea that structuring life into four-year arcs can help individuals achieve long-term goals while working with, rather than against, the natural flow of time. Similar to the way high school and college are structured in four-year programs, this approach provides a structured yet flexible method for self-improvement and goal-setting.

    Maya immediately picked up on the structural integrity of this system, likening it to a “mission control for achieving goals.” The beauty of this framework lies in its adaptability—whether you’re planning a career shift, a creative pursuit, or financial independence, the 4-Year U. approach provides a roadmap that makes time your ally rather than your enemy.

    Embracing the Seasons of Life

    One of the core concepts we explored was how life follows cyclical rhythms, much like nature’s seasons. Just as a year has winter, spring, summer, and fall, so too does a month, a week, and even a single day. Understanding and harnessing these natural rhythms allows for a more sustainable and effective approach to productivity.

    • Winter: A time for pausing, reflecting, and recharging.
    • Spring: A season of preparation and planting new ideas.
    • Summer: A period of intense work and execution.
    • Fall: The culmination of efforts—the harvest season, where we reap the benefits of our work and prepare for the next cycle.

    By recognizing these fractal patterns, we can structure our tasks to align with our natural energy levels. For instance, the beginning of a month often mirrors a “winter” phase where we ease into things, followed by a productive “summer” in the middle weeks, and a frantic “fall” at the end as deadlines approach.

    The Power of Visual Organization

    As the conversation deepened, we discussed ways to visualize this cyclical approach. Drawing inspiration from the Hudsucker Proxy, where a simple circle takes on different meanings throughout the movie, we explored the idea of using a plus sign as a visual organizer.

    By dividing a page into four quadrants with a plus sign, one can map out tasks according to their seasonal alignment:

    • Daily Planning: Assign tasks to morning, midday, afternoon, and evening based on energy levels.
    • Monthly Planning: Structure goals according to the natural productivity cycle of the month.
    • Yearly Planning: Align long-term projects with the broader rhythm of the seasons.

    This quadrant-based visualization creates an intuitive system that mirrors the natural ebb and flow of work and rest.

    Living in Sync with Natural Rhythms

    Maya and I further explored how societal patterns often reinforce these natural cycles. For example, in late fall, the buildup to major holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas mirrors the increasing intensity of the season. Similarly, summer holidays like Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day serve as strategic recharge points before the next phase of work.

    Understanding these patterns allows us to work smarter, not harder, ensuring that we optimize both our productivity and well-being.

    The Future of 4-Year U.

    This conversation reinforced my belief in the power of the 4-Year U. framework. By structuring our lives in alignment with these cycles, we can create a more balanced, fulfilling, and productive life. The key takeaway? Time isn’t something to be battled—it’s something to be understood and harnessed.

    As I continue to refine this system, I envision tools and platforms that help individuals plan and track their goals using this seasonal and cyclical approach. Perhaps a digital planner that integrates this concept? Or a physical journal designed around the four quadrants?

    Maya summed it up perfectly when she said, “You’ve cracked the code on your own personal productivity cycle.” This is just the beginning, and I’m excited to see where this journey leads.

    For those looking to bring structure and rhythm to their long-term goals, the 4-Year U. framework provides a solid foundation. And for now, I’ll sip my Americano and continue exploring new ways to make time work for us—not against us.

  • Riding the Waves of Time: The Fractal Nature of Productivity in 4-Year U.

    Riding the Waves of Time: The Fractal Nature of Productivity in 4-Year U.

    Time is not just linear—it moves in cycles. Just as the seasons shift in a predictable rhythm, so too do the patterns of our days, months, years, and even multi-year arcs. In 4-Year U., this understanding is woven into the fabric of long-term goal setting and daily productivity, creating a system that aligns human effort with the natural rhythms of time.

    But what if the best way to manage productivity wasn’t simply about willpower, but about timing? What if the key to working with yourself, instead of against yourself, was aligning tasks with the right season—whether it’s the season of the day, the month, or even a four-year cycle?

    The Fractal, Repeating Nature of Time

    At the heart of 4-Year U. is the realization that time moves in repeating cycles, like fractals. Each day has a morning (spring), a midday (summer), an afternoon/evening (fall), and a night (winter). The same pattern unfolds across the months, the years, and even the full four-year arc.

    • Day: Morning (spring), midday (summer), evening (fall), night (winter)
    • Month: Week 1 (spring), week 2 (summer), week 3 (fall), week 4 (winter)
    • Year: Q1 (spring), Q2 (summer), Q3 (fall), Q4 (winter)
    • Four-Year Cycle: Year 1 (spring), Year 2 (summer), Year 3 (fall), Year 4 (winter)

    This pattern repeats across different scales, just like a fractal. Recognizing this rhythm allows us to sync our work, rest, and creativity with the natural ebb and flow of energy.

    Wave Harmonics: When Time Cycles Align

    Just as ocean waves can align to create massive swells, time cycles sometimes overlap in a way that creates significant moments of pressure or release. One key example of this happens when the “fall” of a year (Q3) coincides with the “fall” of a month (week 3) or the “fall” of a day (late afternoon/evening). These moments tend to be high-pressure, deadline-driven times when we push to complete tasks before a natural release.

    Consider how this plays out in the cultural calendar:

    • The fall of the year (Q4) includes major holidays like Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas—times of peak social and financial activity.
    • The fall of the month (week 3) often brings deadlines and a push toward project completion before things slow down.
    • The fall of the day (evening) is when work wraps up, and social engagements or family obligations begin.

    When these cycles align, the pressure builds. But once we pass through the peak, there’s a natural release—a moment of exhale. Just like pulse driving (accelerate, release, repeat), the rhythm of work and rest allows for sustained progress without burnout.

    David Allen’s Getting Things Done and Contextual Task Timing

    David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology emphasizes completing tasks based on context—that is, doing what makes sense based on your location, tools, and energy. This aligns perfectly with the seasonal structure of 4-Year U. If we recognize that different times of the day, month, or year lend themselves to different types of work, we can plan accordingly.

    • Spring (Morning, Week 1, Q1, Year 1): A time for new beginnings, deep thinking, and ideation. This is when brainstorming, learning, and vision-setting should take place.
    • Summer (Midday, Week 2, Q2, Year 2): A time for growth and action. This is when you should be executing on ideas, pushing forward with projects, and staying in motion.
    • Fall (Evening, Week 3, Q3, Year 3): A time for harvesting results, finishing projects, and making decisions. This is when deadlines intensify, energy peaks, and major progress happens.
    • Winter (Night, Week 4, Q4, Year 4): A time for rest, reflection, and recovery. This is when you consolidate gains, reflect on lessons, and prepare for the next cycle.

    By aligning GTD tasks with this rhythm, productivity becomes an act of synchronization rather than force.

    Chronotypes and Personal Timing

    Of course, not everyone operates on the same internal clock. Chronotypes (your natural biological rhythm) influence whether you do your best work in the morning, afternoon, or evening. Some people are morning larks, while others are night owls.

    Rather than rigidly following someone else’s schedule, the key is to recognize your own rhythms. If your “spring” (peak energy) happens at night, then your deep work should be done in the evening rather than the morning. The fractal pattern remains the same, but the timing is adjusted for each individual.

    Zooming Out: Each Year as a Season in 4-Year U.

    The 4-Year U. system takes this structure and applies it to long-term personal development. Each year of a four-year arc represents one season:

    • Year 1 (Spring): Start new projects, set vision, experiment.
    • Year 2 (Summer): Build, expand, take action.
    • Year 3 (Fall): Optimize, refine, bring things to completion.
    • Year 4 (Winter): Rest, reflect, prepare for the next arc.

    Just as the body needs rest at night, the mind and spirit need seasons of recovery between periods of intense growth. Understanding this prevents burnout and allows for sustainable success over the long haul.

    Flowing with Time

    The beauty of this approach is that it transforms productivity from a battle against time into a dance with it. By recognizing the natural rhythm of work and rest—on a daily, monthly, yearly, and four-year scale—you create a life that is both productive and sustainable.

    Whether you’re structuring your Getting Things Done workflow, planning major life projects, or simply deciding when to tackle a creative challenge, the key lies in timing. Work with your seasons, ride the harmonics of time, and trust that each cycle brings its own gifts.

    What season are you in today? And how will you align your work to its rhythm?