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How many days do you have left?

One billion

Line up an elephant, a hummingbird, your favourite pet … and you.

What do you have in common? (Apart from the good looks, of course.)

The answer I’ve got is that you’re all born with about a billion heartbeats to spare. It’s why big animals live longer than small ones – their hearts beat slower. It’s a powerful metaphor of course, and it begs the question: What do you plan to do with your billion beats? But you can get much more specific than that…

12,486

That, according to my calculations, is how many days I’ve got left to live this life. Or to put it another way, the actuary tables are predicting my demise on September 15, 2043. (It will be the 35th anniversary of Lehmann Brothers going bankrupt.  Terrific.)

What does that number do to you? For me, it does two things.

It sends me into a bit of hand-flapping panic. “Aaagh!  So much to do!  So little time!  Work harder!  Focus more!  Freak out a little bit!”

And at the same time, it quiets me down. You’ve probably read stories of people who’ve come close to death and afterward found absolute clarity about what they want to spend their time on. Here’s a recent example.

That, although undoubtedly to a lesser extent, is what happened to me.  It absolutely makes me stop and take a breath or two and ask myself: What am I up to?  And is this the best it can be?  Is this really my Great Work?

And even more important for me, it makes me think about what I should stop doing.  I know I go on and on about this – it’s probably because I’m trying to remind myself to say No so I can say Yes.  Someone recently described me as being a ball-juggling, plate-tossing, chair-balancing maniac.  And funny as the image is, it’s not exactly the way I’m trying to show up in the world…

You can calculate what your own number is by following the instructions in this article by Kevin Kelly.

5.75 Questions

Not sure where to begin?  Why not carve out 10 minutes and ask yourself the 5.75 Questions?

1. What’s going well? (No, really. What can you celebrate?)
2. What are you trying to ignore? (That irritating stuff that you’re tolerating.  Or that call to Great Work that’s making your palms sweat)
3. What’s boring you? (”Comfort is boredom with good PR.”)
4. How do you want to be remembered? (What’s the ending you want to write for your life?)
5. Who do you love? (And why aren’t you spending more time with these people?)

You can see it in all its glorious animation here, and find out just what is the 0.75 final question.

6 strategies

I hope I’ve stirred you up a bit, pushed you a little, and got you thinking. But what will you do?
Here’s a few options you have – feel free to pick more than one.

1. Pick a project. Just one.  The one project you’re going to really focus on for the next 90 days. Make it a project that counts. Make it Great Work.
2. Pick a big project for the next five years.In the Kevin Kelly article he quotes Stewart Brand (founder of The Long Now Foundation) who says a good project takes five years from go to whoa. Start a company. Write a book. Begin a new career. Change the World. Pick something that will inspire you, hold you, thrill you.  (At the very least, write a shortlist.)
3. Write out your “Not To Do List.” Put down at least 10 things you’re likely to get suckered into doing that – big picture and all – are a waste of your time. This is the stuff you’ve been keen to say No to for some time now – and I’m giving you permission to do just that!
4. Write out your “To Be List.” Don’t get fooled into thinking that it’s all about what you do. How do you want to show up for the next little while? Will you be … loving? Courageous? Focused? Happy? Unpredictable? Curious?
5. Get inspired. Go check out the Great Work Interviews. In recent weeks we’ve posted podcasts with Steven Rothstein (Head of the Perkins School for the Blind), Dixon Thayer (senior exec and turn-around guru), Sally Bonneywell (Head of OD for GlaxoSmithKline) and Chris Guillebeau (world traveller, writer of the Art of Non-Conformity.) Don’t tell me there isn’t SOMETHING there for you!
6. Get tactical. Think about the next 90 days. I wrote about the power of planning in 90 day “chunks” a little while ago, and you can read some specific tactics to do just that here.

If you enjoyed this post, you'll also like:

1. 48 hours left to win that Kindle
2. How did your first 90 days go?
3. The days are long. The years are short
4. The Next 90 Days: Q1 is Dead, Long Live Q2
5. “There are as many worlds as there are kinds of days, and…” (Great Work quote)