I was bullied and depressed as a kid.

Today, I’ve built a social media following of 170k+, achieved 5-figure months, and people say I’m pretty good at photography.

None of it happened by accident. Every win came from a clear plan and focus.

As we step into 2025, I’m sharing the exact blueprint I use to set goals and maximize success.

Read this letter, and you’ll be more likely to reach your dreams this year. Skip it, and you might regret doing so.

If you’re ready to make 2025 amazing, read on, my friend. :)

The Annual Routine

Every year I set specific goals with my unique formula.

And I reflect on the previous year to squeeze all the lessons I can from it.

Below, I'll share the methods I use to set my goals to achieve them and give you questions to get lessons from the past year.

Let's dive in, starting with...

2024 Review

Before you set goals for 2025, you want to learn as much as possible about 2024.

In 2024 you probably had some ups, and downs, like the rest of us.

I squeeze the lessons by making an in-depth review of my year.

And I mean in-depth.

Here's a photo of how I start this process:

(You can do this in any app, or paper, but I use Notion. It's free.)

I recap every month in detail.

And I write down the main things below each month.

How to remember what happened?

You could go through your gallery, or your calendar to pinpoint the best (and worst) memories.

Why do I do this?

There are 2 reasons:

1) To remember this year better.

Studies tell us the more we recap, the better we remember.

So, if you don't want 2024 to blend in with other years, recapping it will make your life feel longer.

2) To remind myself of all the good and bad

The good stuff is nice to remember.

But the "bad stuff" are things you can learn from... if you remember they happened.

It's uncomfortable to highlight the painful moments.

But it's needed if you want to learn and avoid doing them again.

Once I have these listed out, I write:

• What am I grateful for - people, experiences, accomplishments, things, (new) food, and game changers

• The challenges I faced - how I overcame them - and what I learned from them

• The progress I made in my career (or studies)

• Growth and development

• Unfulfilled aspirations - why were they not met and how do I feel about it?

• Relationships and connections - did they improve, or went worse - and with whom?

• Life lessons I learned (example from me: "Choose what pain to have in your life. That'll dictate it.)

• When have you felt proud of yourself in 2024? What were you doing?

• What did you feel guilty for in 2024?

• How did you have fun differently in 2024?

• How did you suffer differently in 2024?

• What did you rediscover pleasure in 2024?

Now we have a great recap of how things went last year.

Now we can plan how to make 2025 better than 2024.

But before setting the exact goals, there are 12 crucial things you must understand when chasing your dreams this year.

12 reasons you'll fail

Before diving in, you might realize you are not going to dream big for this year.

Why?

Because it is honestly insanely difficult to achieve incredible things.

All great accomplishments require some sacrifices.

And some are not willing to do them.

The question is... are you?

Below, I share what to do to maximize success in-depth I've not explained before.

If you do all below, you maximize your chances for success.

If you skip some, you might still see success... but it's more difficult that way.

The bigger your dream, the more sacrifices are needed to be made.

Let's dive in.

1) You lie

The first step is to not lie to yourself.

If you're not happy with how you're living your life, acknowledge it.

If you're not happy with how you spent 2024, acknowledge it.

If you're not happy with area X of your life, acknowledge it.

Only when you're honest with yourself can you see where to improve.

Be honest about what you don't want, and what you want.

And don't tell lie to yourself something isn't possible.

If you say something isn't possible... come back to this quote by Steve Jobs:

"The world around you was built by people no smarter than you."

Anything that has been accomplished is something you can do too.

Nothing is impossible unless it's literally against the laws of physics.

2) You don't make rules

Rules?? What??

Yes, you should set rules for yourself.

Let's define rules.

Rules are things you must never break. And I mean never.

When a rule is in place, there is no negotiating.

Ask yourself:

"What do I need to do, and not do, in order to be successful in 2025?"

Once you know those things, make them your rules.

Example rules of mine:

• Never open social media, or check email or messages in the first 30min of the day

• Never use social media on a walk, unless it truly helps me think about something

• Never drink alcohol, eat fast food, or drink coffee closer than 10 hours before bed

Those are examples of what I never negotiate on.

I'll do anything to avoid breaking those rules.

Now, those are my rules. You might find some of those useful to take for yourself too, but ultimately, think about what rules you need in place to succeed.

3) You don't know what's success

Success differs from person to person.

You must know what you want to achieve to achieve it.

Someone might want to travel more, get more followers, more clients... you might want that too, but maybe you want to do something completely different.

Later in this Letter I'll help you figure out what to do in 2025.

4) You ignore biology

If you want to succeed but ignore your biology, you'll have a hard time.

All this is so connected.

I wish I wouldn't need to sleep or go to the gym, and I could eat anything, and still succeed...

But that's not reality.

That's why successful people take care of their biology.

Now, what does this mean exactly?

1) Sleep

If you don't sleep well, you'll be tired.

When you're tired, you'll make less progress daily.

When you're tired, you'll mistakes you could've avoided.

There are people who say "don't sleep and only work" and I believed that too...

But in reality, you need to focus on sleep to succeed.

How that looks for you will depend on your life... but don't think it's not important. It's crucial.

2) Exercise

I don't always want to exercise... far from it. But I know it's a must to have energy and focus to do what I want to do.

There are many other benefits too, but it's way beyond the scope of this letter.

But you must do some exercise.

There are many ways to do it, pick something that works for you.

On a normal week, I exercise 6 times a week.

3) Eating clean

If you eat unhealthy stuff, that'll affect your emotions and energy a lot.

Sadly, those who eat unhealthily, see the world in a more negative light according to studies.

And well, they also have less energy to focus on their goals.

If you have negative emotions, or feel tired, it can be because of the food you're eating.

Monitor how you feel after eating certain food, and if not good, then cut it from your diet. :)

So, eat clean. Of course, if you take an unhealthy thing here and there it won't ruin your success... but if you eat unhealthily daily, that might do it.

4) Cut addictions

Easier said than done, but it's required.

How are you supposed to succeed long-term if you can't control yourself?

5) Control Emotions

Whatever you feel, doesn't mean you must react.

Whatever comes to your mind, doesn't mean it's true.

Understand you and your thoughts are separate things... and many of our thoughts are not true.

There's a gap, a choice you make, between a trigger and an action.

You must be able to control yourself.

6) Nurture important relationships in your life

If you don't have any important relationships in your life, it'll affect your goals too.

Having relationships affects your lifespan (surprisingly a lot) but also your emotions.

So dedicate time to be with others too. It's important.

5) You don't blame yourself

This might sting some of you...

But you are the reason for where you are today, and what your life looks like.

I had a sh*t childhood and I wish many things were different... and I used to blame other people for this.

But where did that get me?

Nowhere.

Who's fault is it that I got bullied?

Well, mostly the bullies' fault.

But whose responsibility is it to do something about it?

Mine.

And well, I did that, and I got out of that hole.

Last year, I missed some ambitious goals I set for myself... like hitting my first €20,000 per month.

Who's fault?

Mine.

I was this close but I had some deals fall through.

Who's fault?

Mine.

Let's take an extreme example.

You're driving according to rules, and someone crashes into your car.

Who's fault?

Well, the other person's.

Who's problem is this now?

Yes. Yours.

So who must take responsibility?

Yes. You.

If you want to succeed, stop blaming others where you are now no matter how difficult your life has been.

Acknowledge it's your responsibility to change your life. Nobody will come save you.

Taking blame for mistakes, and for being where you are now is one of the most difficult steps.

I see people blame everyone else but themselves for the life they live.

But this is the fact: If you blame others, you lose control of the situation... and you don't find ways to improve.

Take the blame.

Feel good for being able to take responsibility.

This also applies to the good things.

When I hit 100k followers in early 2024, I didn't go thank the algorithm.

This might sound weird, but I thanked myself.

I put the work in.

I figured out what to do to get the reach.

I was responsible for the success.

Take extreme ownership of everything.

Credit yourself when you win...

And blame yourself when you lose.

That's when you realize where to improve.

6) You don't understand excuses are valid

This is what makes excuses difficult.

If you told me...

Hugo, I don't have much time to post on Instagram... so I have a hard time succeeding.

This is an excuse, but still valid.

If you have less time to work on content, it's more difficult to succeed.

But, are you going to make the time to make content anyway (and build systems for faster content creation) - or will you blame your lack of time and accept you won't succeed?

That's up to you.

Same thing with a gym.

I could say I didn't get good sleep so I should not do any exercise.

It's a valid reason to take a day off... but an excuse to not have to go to the gym and at least do something.

If you accept your excuses, you won't achieve what you want to achieve.

Decide you'll win despite the excuse being valid.

7) You don't acknowledge you suck

Why do most people quit?

Because they fail, and they start to say it's not for them.

That's why it's important to build your self-esteem and identity, around being able to learn.

If you tell me I'm wrong, my ego won't get shattered.

I can be wrong... and sometimes I am.

And I'm more than happy to accept that, as I've built my identity around being a learner.

When I accept my mistakes, and that I'm wrong -> I feel good about myself.

This way you're not as likely to quit, because then it's not a bad thing when you're wrong or you fail. :)

When I started doing my first talking-head videos on Instagram, I knew they'd be terrible.

But I was fine with it.

I knew I'd learn along the way.

I didn't care how I looked to the 17.6k followers of mine at that time.

When I started going to the gym, I knew I might do something wrong there and someone might correct me...

Which happened... but I learned... and felt good as a result.

I want SO BADLY to know what I suck at because that's how I can improve.

For example, if you're a pro-writer and you see mistakes in this letter, feel free to reply and tell what mistakes I made here.

I want to know where I'm bad at.

That is how I can gain the skills to succeed.

When you can sustain mistakes, failure, and embarrassment... and value yourself on making an effort to win vs winning... nothing will stop you.

8) You don't have hunger

If your goals excite you, and you can't wait to achieve them...

That's great!

You need to actually want to succeed.

I've built a lot of hunger for myself to succeed in Q1 of 2025.

That much hunger that I'm willing to endure all the mistakes I'll be making.

That's the magic of building hunger.

Honestly, I lacked some hunger in December... so I knew I had to be more excited on where I'm headed.

Some might say my goals for Q1 are absolutely ridiculous... but they are goals that I want to hit so badly.

And because of that, I'm more likely to achieve them.

Set goals that excite you.

Build hunger.

Otherwise, you won't put in the work needed.

9) You get distracted

You must stay focused on what you want to achieve.

Don't get distracted by other shiny opportunities - often they are nothing more than distractions.

And don't let your phone control you.

These can help you avoid getting distracted by your phone:

• Use Grayscale to turn your phone B&W (avoids you getting as much dopamine from your phone)

• Turn off ALL notifications

• Turn off your phone, or put it into flight mode when focusing on work. (If there's an emergency, others should call the emergency number anyway.)

These help me too.

Stay focused.

10) You don't understand it comes down to skills

Whether you succeed or not will mostly come down to this.

Sure, there's always a small part that is down to luck...

But if you were the world's best football player... would you really not be signed by a top club?

If you were the best content creator... would you really not be getting lots of reach?

If you were the best comedian... would you really not get any audience?

It comes down to skills.

And skills are something you can develop through effort.

When you can take the responsibility to get better and keep learning and trying... you'll get better.

11) You don't embrace suffering

Don't suffer for no reason or if you can avoid it. That's stupid.

But if you suffer for something you want, and you need to endure it... it's good you keep going despite it.

I wrote this the other week - choose your pain, what you're willing to suffer for.

That'll direct where you'll be headed.

​Read the full letter on this here.​

12) You're staying still

Sure, it's OK to take some time to reflect and adjust your direction, like I do this time of year.

But, don't stay still when it comes to your goals.

Don't postpone decisions too long.

Keep moving.

The thing with decisions is that you don't know was the decision good or bad before you've done it.

So, keep moving forward.

Make decisions when you're 51% sure you want to do it... like many great leaders have done.

Then later you'll find out was it a good or bad thing to do.

If you stay still, you won't learn or move forward.

If you take action, in the worst case, you'll learn what to not do next time.

Best case, you've succeeded.

If you wait until you're 100% sure...

1) You'll never reach that point

2) Then the opportunity is probably gone.

Why many achieve a lot every year is because they're ready to move fast...

So move fast too. :)

Next up, set the goals

Great job if you're still here with me - that's a sign you're serious about making this year a superb year.

Next up, we must have goals.

A study done by Domenican University of California tell us when we write down goals, we're 42% more likely to achieve them.

So, we want to of course write them down.

But, we must keep our goals to 3-5... the less the better.

The more things you'll try to achieve, the less likely you'll hit any of them.

So, let's set 3-5 goals and 3-5 action steps for each.

This way of setting goals is also known as OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).

This is what huge companies, like Intel, have used to set goals, and it's super effective.

But, I've sprinkled in other things to write down to succeed.

Before we set the exact goals, let me give you some thought exercises to brainstorm your future, and then let's set specific goals.

5 Questions to ask yourself to define your direction

• What does my ideal Tuesday in 5 years time look like?

• What would I like to do if I knew I couldn’t fail?

• What would I like to do even if I knew I’d fail at it?

• What do I want my obituary to be like? (Great mum, great dad, great storyteller...)

• At the end of next year, if you drastically exceeded your expectations, what would you be doing?

Journaling on these can help you gain lots of clarity.

And you need clarity to succeed.

Now, let's set the exact goals:

1) Define objectives

Select 3-5 broad goals that excite you.

These don't need to be super realistic, but something that excites you.

Once you have them, attach a timeframe for it - when do you want to have it achieved by?

I'd recommend setting goals for Q1, so until the end of March, and not necessarily longer.

This is because when you work hard, you'll learn many things before Q2.

And this will change your goals for the rest of the year.

Of course, you can write down annual goals and wishes too...

But focus on Q1 as it's ahead of us.

Example goal:

Double my Instagram following by the end of March.

That's a specific goal, and it has a deadline.

Cool.

Next up, we want to write Key Results.

2) Write down key results

Key Results are designed to help you hit the main objective.

So in theory, if you have hit your Key Results, you should have hit the main objective.

If you haven't, your Key Results weren't correct in the first place.

We want to have 3-5 Key Results - no more - as then our focus will spread too thin.

And we want them to have deadlines too.

Let's take the Instagram following example from above, so Key Results for it:

1) Post every day until the end of March

2) Analyze what works once a week and adjust

3) Analyze what's working for others once a week, and adjust

4) Apply to Hugo's Social Media Accelerator in January (haha joke but of course, it helps ;) )

Cool, now you have objectives and key results.

This is where most leave it... but we can take it some steps further.

3) Why does this matter

Write down why this goal matters to you.

How does it make you feel?

How will your life be different after achieving it?

When you know why you're doing something, you have an easier time going through the challenges.

4) Write the top reasons for failing

When you write what could be the top 3 reasons for failing, you can avoid failing more easily.

For social media it could be:

1) I don't post daily

2) I give up when I don't see results immediately

3) I don't analyze what content works

Then you know these can be your shortcomings, and avoid them. :)

5) Who can help

I write down who can help me achieve my goals.

It might be a friend, an author of a book or a mentor.

People often overlook this part.

There's also a great book on this called Who Not How.

Don't focus on how to do something... but rather focus on who can help you get there.

Wrapping goals

Now you should have:

• Objectives

• Key Results for Objectives

• The "Why" behind the goals

• Main reasons why you could fail

• Who can help you

These combined, will help you move forward... but there are 2 last things.

1) Monitor your progress

I have scheduled a meeting with myself every Sunday to check how am I progressing towards my goals.

I suggest you do the same.

This way you can adjust if you see if something isn't working... or if simply you're not following the plan.

2) Remind yourself of your goals daily

This is a habit I'll be developing myself in January - to fast recap what were my goals and priorities for this week.

This is how I can stay on track and make it more likely to achieve my goals.

Wrapping up everything

This was the longest letter to date, but hope you found it useful.

Having a successful year isn't easy, but it can be done.

You just must endure the difficult moments, as we went through, and have a correct mindset in place... and specific goals with an action plan.

You can achieve anything, don't let others tell you otherwise. :)

So, action-taker, if you want to succeed on social media, build a personal brand and get clients through it... I might be able to help you personally.

But I do have limited spots in my program, and I don't allow everyone in.

So when you're ready to learn how we could work together to transform your results, DM me on Instagram (@hugoraphy) with “COACH”, and we'll take it from there.

Talk soon,

Hugo

P.S. If you're still to take my free Social Media Success quiz...​ take it here.​

You'll learn how ready are you to succeed now, and where to improve.

You can use that as the first step to succeeding on social media in 2025. :)

P.S.S. If you’re new here and don’t want to miss future letters, subscribe ​here​. :)