Adding Zeros for a Better Life

Last week we discussed the Big 3 limiters of Freed Will and how to get rolling with a Time/Money/Health debt snowball to begin opening that funnel to enhance our lives and the lives of our employee team members and coaching clients (you can access previous insights here). Now it’s our opportunity to turn from general concepts to specific, measurable steps forward. To do so, we’ll engage the 50/500/5000-day targets strategy.  

50-day target – This is the secret sauce to garnering momentum in “balancing the books” related to our personal thrive-limiting debt. Start by determining which of the Big 3 (time/money/health) categories is your most significant debt now. Which of these three – if I made gradual yet consistent change over time would have the most notable impact on my life? Then pick one achievable and meaningful habit to implement each day for the next 50 days. Wait – why 50 days? Doesn’t it take 21 days to establish a new habit? Nope – sorry. Like (unfortunately) so many things in the world of health & wellness, that’s oft-repeated but inaccurate information. It originated back in 1960 when a plastic surgeon, Dr. Maxwell Maltz noticed it took his patients 21 days to adapt to their new look. He then discovered it took him a minimum of 21 days to change his own habits and then published his “21-day minimum” guideline in a book called Psycho-Cybernetics. The book exploded in popularity, selling over 30 million copies. This eventually resulted in everyone from Tony Robbins to wellness company web designers to quote the 21-day “rule” while dropping “minimum” from the wording. A comprehensive study by Phillippa Lally on the subject revealed the reality is a range of 18-254 days depending on the person and the complexity of the habit change, with an overall average of 66 days required to solidify the habit.  

With that history, you can see why 50 days provides a solid jumping-off point for your time/money/ health book balancing journey. Let’s say you decide health (overall energy level) is currently your most significant Big 3 Debt. We all have plenty of options to balance the books in this area but maybe you decide an extra 20 minutes of sleep is the perfect place to start.  You look at your schedule, how your evenings are spent, what aspects are affecting total time in bed, and decide upon a plan involving your phone and TV. Dial it in and start the countdown from 50.  

500-day target – 50 days moves the dial. 500 days changes your life. We discussed the 500 day plan and the integration of the Marble Strategy in this previous episode of the Catalyst 360 podcast if you’d like to really dig in. For now, simply take note that the 50-day approach allows you the time to gradually, yet effectively, make 10 (ten!) significant habit changes, leading to altogether a different life in 1 year, 4 months and 15 days. The focus of the 500-day target is to identify not simply a habit change but a life change. Maybe it’s a career shift, a new home, enhanced biometric results during your annual physical, your first half marathon or something else entirely. The point is, 500 days is long enough to visualize and then live out the steps to that new aspect of life. But at the same time, it’s close enough to see it coming, especially when integrating the marble strategy. 

5,000-day target  – Who knows what will be happening 13 years, 8 months and 11 days from now? I’ll be turning 71. Based on all that’s changed in just the past decade, it’s anyone’s guess what the world will be like at that point. Setting specific 5,000-day goals doesn’t make much sense, but considering what steps will provide options (margin to thrive) for that timeline can be extremely valuable. Very few people ever consider 5,000-day targets. Those who do will be obvious to all when we arrive there.