Zero to hundred in six months: Overcome yourself and achieve your dreams

By Janne Ohtonen

If you died tomorrow, what would you most regret not doing? Few would regret the things they achieved, but rather the things they didn't do. Are you the best version of yourself you can be today?

FROM ZERO TO HUNDRED IN SIX MONTHS goes straight to the heart of the matter: how to overcome yourself and make your dreams come

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bizlog Oy
• Release date: Feb 1, 2024
• ISBN: 9789526540115

Janne Ohtonen

The author JANNE OHTONEN is, among other things, a Doctor of Philosophy, C-level leader, Diving instructor, Lord of Manor, Husband, Father, Discjockey, Ultramarathon runner, Believer, Writer, Hot coals walker, Skydiver, Jaeger, Photographer, Investor, Coder, Blogger, Entrepreneur and Servant. With the help of the instructions of this book, he has realized many of his dreams and so can you!

Book preview

From zero to 100

in six months

Dr Janne Ohtonen

All rights reserved © 2024 Dr Janne Ohtonen

This book contains a wealth of practical exercises you can return to repeatedly.

The information in the book on investing, finance, and personal matters represents the author's opinions and thoughts. The author or other third parties provide this information. The author is not responsible for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided. The author is also not responsible for the accuracy of any information provided by third parties attached to or referred to in the book. In no event shall the author be liable for any loss or damage, or any loss of profit or revenue, incurred directly or indirectly by any person or third party because of its contents. The reader is advised to take a critical view of the material contained in the book and to understand that the author does not necessarily present their views objectively but based on their own opinions, values, and experiences. What may work for one person may not necessarily work for another.

Author: Dr Janne Ohtonen

Book cover by Dr Janne Ohtonen, Miika J. Norvanto Publisher: IngramSpark

Language inspector: Grammarly; translated from Finnish by DeepL

1st English edition in 2024

ISBN 978-952-65401-0-8 (Book)

ISBN 978-952-65401-1-5 (EPUB)

ISBN 978-952-68055-9-7 (PDF)

A practical guide for you and me

So that both you and I can realize the best possible version of ourselves.

Table of contents

Introduction .............................................................................................. i

Part 1. FROM ZERO ............................................................................... 1

Sleep well ............................................................................................. 3

Think fast ............................................................................................ 15

Move and eat your way to an energetic lifestyle. ......................... 26

Create the economic conditions you want ..................................... 41

Ever more advanced you ................................................................. 71

The reason for coping ....................................................................... 83

Recognize the facts ............................................................................ 97

Put things in order. ......................................................................... 112

Part 2. TO HUNDRED ....................................................................... 132

Plan your way to success. .............................................................. 134

Start where you are ......................................................................... 152

Do enough of the right things........................................................ 160

Assess progress and development ................................................ 184

Go back towards the goal and enjoy the journey ........................ 194

Reset and move on to new adventures ........................................ 205

Part 3. IN SIX MONTHS.................................................................... 212

Closing words ...................................................................................... 218

Reading recommendations and sources ...................................... 223

ANNEX: Example programs .............................................................. 225

Developing your behavior ............................................................. 225

Elite soldiers' fitness program adapted for us ............................. 239

Writing a book ................................................................................. 273

Dr Janne Ohtonen

INTRODUCTION

We Finns are called direct, so let's put it so: losers make excuses, while winners find ways to produce results regardless of their circumstances! Often, our excuses sound so good that we don't get on with the task at hand.

What are some things you know are

necessary or would like to promote but

haven't started? We all have them. How

"The first and

can you test whether your favorite

greatest victory is

things are natural obstacles to getting

to conquer

things done?

yourself."

Ask yourself: "Is there anyone else in

- Plato

this world who could have the same

reasons for not doing this thing but has

managed to do it anyway?"

If you are honest with yourself, you will almost certainly have to admit that thousands of others in the world have had it even worse but have still managed to do something great with their lives. For example, England has a dance club for people without functioning legs. It would be easy for me to say that I can never dance again because I'm in a wheelchair. However, these people have not let their disability stop them; they have developed their way of dancing together, all sitting in their wheelchairs. The hobby has proved to be so much fun that many people who can walk have joined them. In the same way that these people in this example have been able to turn a problematic obstacle into a strength, you can, too! This book will give you motivation and

practical exercises for achieving your goals - not just one day, but soon, maybe even within six months. This book aims to empower you to believe in your ability to achieve great things and give you a concrete i

action plan for achieving your goals. The book also contains many practical exercises to use as a workbook on your own or with others.

So why bother with the extra effort, as you have a lot on your plate? Of course, today's world, based on a demanding economy, puts pressure on us to do more and do it more efficiently:

♦ Inflation means that more and more money is needed to maintain the same standard of living. Many of us also want more and more than we already have.

♦ Workplaces are constantly making things more efficient, which requires more to be done in the same amount of time.

But because of this efficiency, work demands more and more of our time.

♦ Children's education has increasingly become the responsibility of parents. This requires time and concentration from children and parents and takes away from shared leisure and fun.

♦ TV, Netflix, Disney+, and other entertainment industries demand our time to consume the content.

♦ Increasing illnesses, sleep problems, and other health problems are taking more and more of our time to exercise and take care of our health.

♦ In addition to time and attention, social media increasingly requires us to invest more in ourselves. We're constantly competing with other piggy banks, fancy dinners, and spectacular holidays, not to mention other appearance and dress standards.

Today's #demandeconomy has taken away the ability to just sit at home on the couch and watch The Voice all night. Suppose you don't keep up with the demand economy; you risk being left out because you don't seem successful enough at work, home, or in your free time. Ever-increasing demands are demanding more and more of us, and that's ii

why so many people end up in debt and burnout because the vicious circle of demand never stops! If you still take the time to use social media after reading this book, please share your experiences and insights on how the #demandeconomy has affected your life and the lives of those around you. In the past, we were content to make a living and care for our families. In the 1970s, family life was still seen as the most essential.

Still, in the 1980s, family-centeredness was replaced by a relentless pursuit of profit, both in the workplace and in our personal lives. This eventually led to the recession of the early 1990s, which destroyed the lives of thousands of people (including my father). Not much was learned from that either, as the 2000s saw the so-called IT bubble*, and the 2010s saw the housing bubble (thanks to the banks' greed!). Now, in the 2020s, we will probably pop the human bubble, as a large part of the population will no longer be able to meet the demands of a demand economy and unexpected things such as the coronavirus, famine, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions in Iceland, floods and other natural disasters will devastate the world - not to mention the war in Ukraine and elsewhere with their long-term effects.

But every life-changing and world-changing event has its potential. We need to keep a cool head, manage the risk, and ensure that we don't get caught up in any unnecessary nonsense and don't miss out on the opportunities created by change. Having lived overseas for a long time, one Finnish folk trait has become apparent to me: some people think that one man's success is another man's loss. However, in every situation, there is always a group of people who lose and another group who gain, and the success of one is not necessarily taken away from the other. So, we all inevitably have two choices, and we can choose which of the following groups we want to belong to:

* The IT bubble of the 21st century was triggered from the mid-1990s onwards by the rapid spread of the Internet and new communication technologies, and the unrealistic economic expectations of the new services they enabled.

iii

1. People who can adapt to change and cope in all situations find ways to deliver results. Circumstances turn into an opportunity for them, not a loss. They know how to change their thinking and work to best suit the circumstances.

2. People who cannot adapt to changing circumstances will be left behind and likely suffer. They will be victimized and lose their job, their spouse, or something else essential and not know what they can do. They also let other people's behavior (e.g., betrayal, property crime, vandalism) break them down internally and not just externally.

Some followers of Jesus have said that persecutors can break their bodies but not their spirits. This is a winning attitude because we cannot always prevent something or someone from breaking our bodies, possessions, circumstances, world, or image of the world around us.

Indeed, my mentor, Anthony Robbins, has excellent advice: we can't always choose what happens to us, but we can always choose how we deal with it. Suppose you want to read exciting books that prove this statement true, for example. In that case, Viktor E. Frankl has written about German concentration camps, and a Chinese pastor known as Brother Heavenly/Brother Yun has written about the persecution of Christians in China. Both authors put the challenges of our own lives on a new scale. For us, the currency crisis of the 2020s and the war in Ukraine have significantly impacted many people's lives across Europe, forcing us to rethink things and our values.

So why bother getting up off your sofa and making the extra effort? Of course, you don't always have to be there to overcome the difficulties because there can also be treasure at the rainbow's end. People who make an effort to add value, grow their skills, and develop themselves will also reap greater rewards than those who find the call of the sofa irresistible:

♦ The top 1% earn 13% of all wages, and the top 10% earn 40% of all wages. That leaves 47% of salaries to be shared between the remaining 89%!

iv

♦ Just under 10% of students receive the highest grade in each subject, the Laudatur (L).

♦ On average, around 10% of university applicants are accepted (in early 2020, in Finland, 13,821 university applicants were accepted, and 1,335 were admitted).

♦ Just over 10% of alcohol consumers drink around half of all alcohol consumed. It's not necessarily a statistic you want to be at the top of for your health.

♦ The top 10% of the rich own around 80% of all shares.

♦ Only 20% of women live to 100 and 95% of men to 95.

What if you could focus on what moves you towards the life and results you want? What opportunities would that open for you? How would it affect your happiness? Write your thoughts in the box below (and continue on another piece of paper if necessary):

Many people think that a passive life, lying on the couch and taking it easy, will bring happiness, but it's usually the opposite. People are creatures of meaning and purpose; the more they see meaning in themselves and their lives, the happier they are. This, in turn, comes through purposeful and satisfying activity. Yet, it often seems complicated to get oneself moving. Yet it's worth it and not so hard after all, when you know what to focus on and the steps that will lead you to your goal sustainably. Forget instant diets, getting rich in a few months v

without a job, a young lover from Nigeria, abdominal muscles without moving, and other similar scam programs; none of them work or produce the results you want. Sustainable experiences and results bring both satisfaction along the way and sustainable development as a human being.

Of course, most of us want to get rich, lose weight, build up our abs, learn more things, and add value to others. Many of us even know what to do to achieve these things, or at least what we need to start doing to make progress. But when it comes to getting things done, the timeline is all too often that famous old someday that never comes. Thus, from time to time, most of us, myself included, are more effective in making excuses for doing something later than spending at least some of the same amount of time making progress on what we want to do! So, this book is for people who don't want to live their lives in that one-day timeline but are willing to take a step forward, however small. By following the advice in this book, you can achieve your long-term goals and dreams faster and more permanently. You don't necessarily have to work hard to achieve significant results but rather focus on the essentials.

I had always postponed sport on the pretext that I didn't have time for it because I was working, had a family, was busy, and was this and that.

So, decades went by, and although I've never been overweight, one day at a health check-up, I had a cholesterol reading of 12 (when it should be less than 5). So, I then started looking into what else to do to get it down besides medication. Losing weight was the most recommended option, but unless I wanted to amputate body parts, that wasn't an option for me. Exercise was recommended next, so I thought I'd do it then. I went on my first run, about 200 yards long, and my legs were aching for several weeks after that. But after months of thinking about it, my cholesterol wouldn't go down on its own... so now, five years later, it's just over 4, and I've done several marathons in under four hours.

This book is for people who want to achieve anything that will take them in the direction they want to go. Every great deed starts with a small vi

step, and this non-fiction book gives you practical advice on achieving your goals and dreams. Whether it takes a month, six months, or six years, at least the direction is correct, and progress will be tangible, not one day, but very soon! I have experienced this very concretely myself:

♦ Graduating first as a rescue diver and then as an official diving instructor in just six months. At the same time, I got rid of my intense fear of deep water following Anthony Robbins’ advice.

♦ A Ph.D. from business school (with top grades) in five years while working full-time. (Thanks to the Finnish Cultural Foundation for supporting my goal with a grant.)

♦ I overcame my fear of heights by parachuting from 15,000 feet in New Zealand, free climbing in America, and flying.

♦ I have designed and implemented customer feedback programs for six airlines and two major telecom operators in less than two years.

♦ After moving to England, I became a director in the world's largest integrated travel company in six years.

♦ At age 15, I started an international disc jockey career that lasted eight years and took me to play for up to 12,000

partygoers (in my first month, I played for an audience of 4,000).

♦ I have been coached and mentored by John C. Maxwell and Anthony Robbins have coached and mentored me for several years. Consequently, I have trained and coached over 20,000

people internationally in leadership and business.

♦ I ran a half marathon in under two hours, a marathon in under four hours, and an ultra-marathon within 1.5 years of starting the sport with no previous running experience.

♦ I have published six books with almost 50,000 readers and more than 200 blog posts with more than 200,000 readers in vii

seven years. (Thanks to the Finnish Non-Fiction Writers for supporting this and my previous non-fiction books.)

♦ I have walked barefoot 30 feet on hot coals twice.

♦ I have published three software programs and numerous guided running routes for Garmin sports watches.

♦ I started, failed, and learned from five international start-ups that never amounted directly to anything.

♦ And most importantly, I found Jesus as my personal Savior and Redeemer, and I want to share Him with you, too.

And there's nothing on this list you can't do faster, better, and easier than me if you want to! The above list is not intended to put me on a pedestal, but you my dear reader: If an IT geek from Finland can do these things, how much more can you! This book is a compilation of the best lessons learned by me and others along the way that can save you both time and effort.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part focuses on building the foundations. It goes through the important things that contribute to and enable planned success.

The first part includes these foundational topics:

♦ Sleep well

♦ Think fast

♦ Move and eat your way to an energetic lifestyle

♦ Create the economic conditions you want

♦ Ever more advanced you

♦ The reason for keeping on going

♦ Recognize the facts

♦ Put things in order

viii

In the book's first part, the order of the chapters does not matter, as these things will be helpful throughout the second part. You can return to these chapters again later, depending on the challenges you experience with your own goals. These chapters will also help you to think about and choose things to strive for (you may not know it yet, but you have enormous power to make things happen, and if you use it for the wrong things, you will not reach your optimal potential).

The book's second part focuses on a six-step process for achieving your chosen goals. In this part, the order of the chapters is essential, as one step leads to another.

The second part includes these process steps:

♦ Plan your way to success

♦ Start where you are

♦ Do enough of the right things

♦ Assess progress and development

♦ Go back towards the goal and enjoy the journey

♦ Reset and move on to new adventures

The third part of this book focuses on the timing of objectives. The timeframe chosen is six months because too short a timescale may not allow you to achieve anything significant, and too long a timeframe runs the risk of getting lost along the way and not getting there at all. Of course, you don't have to make your plan on a six-month timeline, but you can use a timeline that fits your plan and your life situation.

The book contains many exercises you can do alone or with friends.

ix

Let's start with the book's first

part, which focuses on building

"Put this book aside and

the foundations for success.

you can carry on as

Don't take the pressure of

before. Read on and

reading this book, but remember

that your future is at stake �

you'll find out what your

life could be all about."

-Neo, in The Matrix

(very loosely

paraphrased)

x

Part 1. FROM ZERO

he chapters in this section are important foundations for getting to the process in the second part, just as they are for T building a house. Without a strong enough foundation, you can burn yourself out trying to progress in an unsustainable manner.

The advice in this part aims not to add to anyone's burden to achieve the best possible version of themselves but quite the opposite. The aim is to free you from all the vanity, noise, and time-wasting, and thus focus all your resources laser-sharply on what is truly important to you. The book also doesn't assume that you're starting from scratch (although the title might suggest that), but you'll certainly already have many important skills in your storage of life. Now, it's just a matter of taking an inventory and then restocking it before you start using it to pursue your dreams. However, there's a flaw in the previous metaphor: our stockpiles fill up on their own when we do the right things for the right reasons. Ask anyone happy with what they are doing. They hardly moan about expending energy doing such things. Of course, our energy stores are depleted quickly if we do things and are with people who consume or stress us. Just think of people who get married or divorced.

Both processes take considerable time, energy, money, and effort. But one brings happiness to its participants, and the other unhappiness, even though the energy consumption is the same magnitude.

That's why the book's first part, ZERO, focuses on building your foundations. The foundations are built on eight important pillars that help you stay on track and work effectively:

♦ Sleep efficiently: many people underestimate the need for sleep for the human body. However, we are created so that 1

Dr Janne Ohtonen

sleep is a basic need for each of us. Our brains process information, and our bodies repair themselves when we sleep.

You will recall that the Bible says that God created man in the image of Himself, and God rested on the seventh day. So, sleep is not laziness but necessary to increase efficiency.

♦ Think quickly: you may have heard the saying do things more wisely rather than more. Many things can be resolved quickly and easily by first considering how necessary it is to do them and then planning and evaluating the best solution for each situation.

♦ Move and eat to energize yourself: our bodies use a lot of energy, so we need to get it back correctly. In this chapter, we look at the impact of exercise and nutrition on our efficiency and how we can ensure we always have a full tank of working fuel.

♦ Create the financial conditions you want: the unfortunate fact about the world is that you can't do without money. So, in this chapter, we'll look at ways to build wealth without spending all your time on it (i.e., earning passive income). This is not a get-rich-quick scam, however, but a sustainable personal finance policy based on the wealth you have at your disposal.

♦ An ever more evolved you: the challenge and the salt of our lives is that we are never finished. There are always things where we can learn and become better. Even Olympic champions rarely win their sport multiple times because others have already advanced. This chapter will look at self-development, willpower, and self-discipline; these will help you achieve your goals.

♦ Reason for perseverance: all things worth striving for will be challenged. And you can only overcome difficulties if you have the motivation to keep going. Giving up is always the easier option available, but one we don't want to take. So, in this 2

Dr Janne Ohtonen

chapter, we'll look at your reasons for persevering and the practices that will help you on your chosen path.

♦ Recognize the facts: self-assessment is an essential part of development. In this chapter, we inventory your current physical, mental, and spiritual resources. We also consider what Donald Trump and Mother Teresa have in common.

♦ Put things in order: time is the world's greatest equalizer. The world's greatest time consumer is the greatest consumer of time. This chapter considers which things are worth your time and which you should say no to. This world is full of temptations to waste time, so we must remain vigilant not to waste our lives on vanities and unsatisfactory things and people.

I hope you haven't fallen asleep with this book yet so we can move on to the next chapter on the importance of sleep for our effectiveness.

Sleep well

This book chapter may sound contradictory; how can someone sleep their way to efficiency? But, humans are designed to