Project Forty.365

I’m less than a month away from my 40th birthday. Apparently, I’m supposed to be having a midlife crisis now. Soon? If you exclude the spontaneous purchase of our retirement flat in Italy earlier this year – I’m gonna shrug and say “meh”? …Maybe it will hit me soon.

I think I’m supposed to be looking back, saying “where did the time go?” I’ve been wasting time. Why didn’t I do more? And looking ahead saying who am I? What should I do? But my future trajectory seems pretty clear to me – and I like where it’s going. And the things in my past have gotten me here (a place I like) and see to have prepared me well for where I want to go.

Instead of looking at 40 as some peak of the hill where things start to decline (although some research shows your 40s are your UNHAPPIEST years – Happiness is in fact U-shaped). I’m going to make 40 an inflection point of going UP. What the hell does that mean?

I’ve always had the theory on life that I plan to win by accumulating many base hits instead of swinging hard and hoping for a home run.

Starting on my fortieth birthday (October 11, 2024), I’m launching this project with the goal of driving massive improvements in a few key places of my life.

Meta Categories
- Physical Health
- Brain Health & Focus
- Writing & Communication
Growth Categories
- AI Proficiency
- Cooking
- Delegation / Management
- Renaissance Knowledge

FAQs

What does MASSIVE mean? Great question, I’m not entirely sure yet – but let’s say it’s something noticeably different.
What’s a Meta Category? These are the foundational categories that need to be in good shape to support this entire project. But additionally, an improvement in a meta category should show or at least enable additional improvements in all other categories.
How do you track “growth”:

Boundaries

Growth must come primarily from intensity, not duration gains: As part of this project I’d actually like to find myself MORE free time, not less. This will come from efficiency gains of outsourcing, using more AI but also from better focus and more concentration of activities. Huh?
- Ok. Take fitness, if I want to lift more total weight in a workout but want to be more time efficient – I’m going to achieve this by lifting more weight per rep or more reps per same time.
Can cobundle Physical & Mental activities only: I’ve got this habit of going for quick 10 minute walks to stretch my legs and refresh myself. I decide to cobundly body and brain but putting on an audio book. This is great! Two for one. But after a few minutes I find myself scrolling through facebook (yes with the book still playing). This is bad news – my brain can’t do two things at once. I also catch myself “listening” to a book, while also composing a work email.