24 Comments

That is amazing! I have some mixed feelings about seeing over half my life gone already on this, but also see the motivational intention of it too. I'll definitely be sharing this in my next months theme on Seek To Make!

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Hi Esta, thanks! I know what you mean, I'm over the half way point as well, and sometimes that can be depressing but mostly I want to make the second half of life less time-wasteful than the first half, so overall it is kicking me in the butt in a good way :)

Let me know if you need any photos, etc for your Seek to Make newsletter, I subscribed, I'll be watching for it, thanks!

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I know what you mean. I’m trying to look at what I’ve done so far in my life more positively than I usually do, I’m trying to see it as a series of experiments and experiences rather than failing at settling on a single thing :)

And thanks, I’ll grab some pics off your kickstarter if thats ok and link to it when I post.

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sounds great, thanks!

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Whoa this is so great. I've seen a "4000 weeks" version of this, but never with day-to-day resolution. The fire of memento mori is probably the most powerful thing there is, and you've depicted it perfectly.

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Thanks Zan, yeah I've seen other posters down to month or week level, but not daily. I wanted something for daily habit tracking or to mark particular days of my life, not just memento mori, which is achievable many other lower resolution and less complicated ways e.g Ryan Holiday's coin.

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Very cool. Btw the way Burkeman's new book, Meditations for Mortals, is excellent and also up this alley.

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Thanks Rick, Burkeman's new book is on my "to read" list, which is frustratingly long right now. I'm thinking about emailing him to show him the calendar, but trying to figure out a way to do it in respectful fashion without making him feel like I'm just reaching out in hopes that he shares it. Alternatively I wonder if he would be interested in some kind of co-marketing deal. Any thoughts on this?

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There's certainly no downside to reaching out.

But if it were me, I wouldn't ask him to share it or for any partnership, at least out the gate. I would share it, say how he was an inspiration for the work, and thought he might be interested in what a loyal reader created based on that inspiration. I certainly would be flattered if a reader did something like this based on my work.

Then... see if he responds and go from there.

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Thanks Rick, seems like a sensible, respectful approach, will craft something along these lines.

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Congrats on Project #2, Dave! This is inspiring. And, thanks for sharing Small Bets, and Always be Launching. I feel like these need to be front and centre in my arsenal.

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Hi Carly, thanks, glad you like it. Small Bets is a pretty cool philosophy, it maps nicely to portfolio career pursuits, in that you try some small things, like just try to even make $100 online before trying to make a million. We'll see if the Always Be Launching thing works, it will be slow and steady to hopefully reach my goal for the Kickstarter. I don't have a million followers so I can't do a huge launch anyway, I'm in it for the long haul. One day of growth at a time!

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My friend, Nick, has the phrase “memento mori” tattooed across his chest. He’s a big fan of the Stoics.

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Hi Jenn, please share this with Nick! Stoicism seems to be increasing in popularity lately, I credit people like Ryan Holiday for this. As people are trying to make sense of the crazy world we're living in, stoicism has a lot to offer.

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Thanks to Nick, I’ve been reading Ryan Holiday’s book, The Daily Stoic. It’s so good!

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Yeah I read Courage is Calling and Ego is the Enemy a while back, both good books!

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'Calm campaigning' is a concept that really resonates!

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thanks Jessica, yeah the world is in such a rush all the time, I want to see if I can run a marketing campaign calmly :)

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Moved by this. I know this is a 'no shit' comment - but seeing the calendar, and then imagining my dad seeing the calendar, it hit me how much closer my parents are to the end of their life vs. the beginning.

How are you planning to use it? Put it up somewhere prominent in your home? Mark off every day?

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Hi Jules, thanks! I have it in my office, right now I do the "mark off every day" for 3 things in particular 1) if I exercised and 2) to work on my Octopus projects 3) overall reminder to stop wasting my life. I can get lazy and squander a lot of time (like on social media) so I need external reminders to stop wasting time, and do something meaningful and productive instead.

My parents are now in their 80s and after my mother in law died recently it made me seriously consider how short life is, and ask myself if I'm spending it how I should. Especially as I get older, time seems to accelerate too.

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Congrats on launching tentacle #2 Dave! 👏 Takes guts to put it out there.

I enjoyed the Always Be Launching article. Sounds like right process to me. It fits with a continuous PDCA cycle for aligning personal action with the real world (aka adaptation) to breed success.

https://bairdbrightman.substack.com/p/success-101

Taking many small steps (experiments) sure helps me feel less overwhelmed with the business of life!

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Hi Baird, I appreciate the support as always, thanks for sharing to your notes. Yeah baby steps, gotta start somewhere and build up the confidence and guts to be successful. I'm the Plan/Do phase of PDCA!

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I love this idea so much that I get to call firsties on Kickstarter! 🥳 You're right about keeping ideas to yourself - everyone benefits when we're generous sharing them, and I'm so glad you're putting this calendar out into the world.

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Hi Jen, thanks and you get the prize for firsties! I appreciate the support and encouragement, part of me is really excited about this, and part of me is afraid. When you put a personal creative project into the world, whether writing, art, music, etc there's always this internal battle to believe in what you're doing. But I'm also just wanting to express my creative ideas more, so I'm glad I just put it out there. Please share with anyone you know that might be interested, thanks!

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