4000 Weeks to Live: How to Make Them Matter

I was listening to a podcast on a run yesterday and heard something that stopped me in my tracks. The person I was listening to said that if you live to age 80, you will have spent about 4000 weeks on this earth 🤯

Something about life being broken down into weeks made it a bit more sobering.

If I’m being honest, I even felt a small wave of dread. What if I’m not making the most of my weeks?

It made me want to shift into hyper-productivity mode. I love planning out my day, sticking to a routine, and squeezing every ounce of possibility from my time. But if I’m being honest, no matter how much I get done, I still often feel like I don’t have enough time.

A few years ago, hearing this concept of 4000 weeks could’ve put me into a panic. I hate the thought of wasting time or not making the most of it. But there’s something I’ve learned over the past few years that’s helped me and it’s this simple sentence:

Productivity is important, but your purpose is even more important.

Of course I want to make each week productive, but more importantly, I want to make each week meaningful.

And over time, I’ve learned that the secret to making each week matter is simply living the life God has called me to live and prioritizing the people God has put in my life.

It’s simple to understand, but not always easy to live out.

In the end, what will matter most isn’t our productivity, but the purpose we lived for and the people we loved.

I’ve been taking this concept more seriously than ever. So serious, that I worked with a good friend to create a new tool and framework around it. Below is a snapshot👇

It’s called the Purpose Circle and it’s over a decade in the making. It’s a tool for keeping my priorities, my patterns, and the people I care about most in front of me at all times.

Why a tool like this? Well, I wear a lot of hats and it’s important to me that I wear them all well:

I’m a husband and dad to 2 kids under the age of six.

A writer and creative.

A leader of a marketing team of 8 people in a thriving ministry.

A friend.

And a community builder at LearnStash.com

In order to organize all of the priorities and passions, this tool breaks purposeful living into 4 simple components:

• People – Those who you want to prioritize as you grow

• Persepective – The way you think about yourself and your future — including goals

• Patterns – The daily habits you’re forming (prayer, reading, exercise, connecting with others, etc.)

• Perseverance – The “why” behind what you do

It’s simple, but I’ve found that it works. I even worked on creating some video courses that teach each of these simple but powerful principles.

If you wear multiple hats like me, find yourself struggling with distraction, and want to live with deeper purpose — I’d love to help you with your own personalized plan.

If you’re interested, you can get one for free by becoming a Learn Stash member today. Helping people create their plans and learn more about themselves has been one of the most rewarding aspects of launching our community.

We’ll be closing enrollment later this week until 2022, so if you’re interested in being a part, now’s the time to check it out 🙂

I’d love for you to join us and try it out for yourself. Even if you don’t, I hope this post is a reminder to live each week with meaning and purpose. Life’s too short to not make the most of it 💙