I am thinking of being a five per center during the 777 Days experiment. If you think about 1% of the day being only 14 minutes and 24 seconds, it’s a fairly small amount of time to invest in growing each day. As I mention here, I like to round this up to a nice even 15 minutes just for the simplicity.
For the purpose of the 777 Days experiment I’m running starting on July 19, my current thought is to invest 1% of the day into 5 separate disciplines.
1% for my Miracle Morning discipline – I like Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning and I have just subscribed again to the premium version of the app. The basic idea is to launch the day with six simple practices. When done consistently, the Miracle Morning feeds the mind and heart with nourishing thoughts and set the stage for huge growth over time. This is one I feel I must do all by itself for the maximum benefit.
1% for my Heroic app discipline – I have enjoyed Brian Johnson’s Heroic app since before it was even available and I was just a beta tester. This includes setting daily targets in the areas of Energy, Work, and Love to show up as my best self for me and for the benefit of others, too. This also includes enjoying a daily “+1” and a daily dose of Philosopher’s Notes. The “+1” videos are just a minute or two of concentrated wisdom content. And Philosopher’s Notes are 20-minute-ish videos in which Brian condenses the big ideas from a crucial book and connects them to other big ideas from other books. Since I tend to listen to these at 1.25x speed, this is a total no-brainer…fill my brain with new ideas and new doses of wisdom in just a few minutes every morning…yes, please!
1% for my reading discipline – if I set aside 15 minutes each day for reading, I can spot-check every so often to make sure I’m still on track to read 60 books during the 777 Days experiment. It averages to about 13 days per book, which is easy to self-check every couple of weeks. And since I am making classic literature a mandatory part of this experiment, this is definitely within reach because I tend to read fiction more quickly. This is one I feel I must do all by itself for the maximum benefit.
1% for my audiobook discipline – if I set aside 15 minutes each day specifically for one of my audiobooks, I am confident I can stay on track to listen to 60 books during this experiment. As before, it averages to about 13 days per book and will be easy to spot-check progress. The “dirty little secret” on this one is that I tend to listen to podcasts and other audios all through the day when not in meetings at work, so I am confident that I will ultimately go WAY beyond 15 minutes of audiobooks during weekdays.
1% for my exercise discipline – if I set aside 15 minutes each day for intentional and purposeful exercise, I can continually improve my health and wellness, my strength, my flexibility, and several other factors that older men should pay more attention to. Some of this time will be invested in walking our dog. Some of this time will be invested in doing pushups and other bodyweight exercises. And some will be invested in doing things like climbing a long flight of stairs we have at work that equates to climbing two full flights. In some of these cases, I will also be listening to audios of one form or other, which might include additional audiobook time.
The intent for all of these is to schedule some to ensure they receive the due focus and diligence. And for some, the intent is to take advantage of times in the day that I am currently not using for maximum effectiveness. I have chosen to call them disciplines because they take intention to be effective and they will take mindful effort to practice each day.