N/N/N Edition 12. 1,000 Days

1,000 Days

The Narrative Playbook was conceived back on Feb 3, 2020.?We have been building everything remote via the digital sphere.?A true experiment on so many levels.? The publishing of this edition marks the 828th day in development.

Today's newsletter visits an interesting concept called 1,000 days.?

Rex Woodbury,?Principal at Index Ventures was asked by?Jungle Gym?- a newsletter that is about building a more fulfilling career by integrating your work and life - to share one of 18 trends that will shape our careers in 2022.?His trend was about Digitally Native Jobs.??

"Today’s graduates are expected to hold between 15 and 20 jobs over the course of a career. Many of these jobs haven’t been invented yet: by 2030?85%?of today’s college students will have jobs that?don’t currently exist."

If you figure a 40-year work life and you have 15 jobs?that is about 2.7 years per job!?If you have read the book The?100-year Life you may net out around 20 jobs, but the ratio will likely remain the same, give or take a few months.?

This insight coincided with a recent conversation I was having with a friend at the international business school IESE who runs their corporate leadership programs.?He stated as a matter of fact, that most corporate jobs last around 1,000 days.?It is a known rule of thumb.?That leads to a deeper investigation around the idea of 1,000 days as a timeframe to?refresh?one's narrative.?

For the math curious, the breakdown for 1,000 days is below.??

When I disclosed this insight to Rob, he immediately went to his LinkedIn and counted two jobs that lasted - 2.7 and 2.8 months respectively.?Our curiosity was now officially piqued.?

We found a LinkedIn post by recruiter Steve Barnes who suggests to his candidates that they manage their careers in a tranche of 1,000 days.?His revelation was based on a common pattern he saw in his recruiting business.?

We discovered the 1,000-day rule was spawned back in 2011 by Dan Andrews, a start-up guy that was leaning into the recently launched book?The 4-Hour Work Week?by Tim Ferriss. (That book went on to become a global phenomenon for Tim and launched his career).?Ironically, Dan's blog is called Tropical MBA and it reflected his personal startup journey that debunked the idea of a 4-hour workweek.????

When applying his hard-earned startup knowledge to the concept of a 4-hour workweek, Dan was discussing this reality with a?friend involved in the accounting and tax services field, and the revelation was uttered: "people don't understand they need to be poor for 1,000 days before they earn back the income they lost leaving their corporate jobs".? Hence the rude realities of being an entrepreneur.? [ed note: I can relate]

The reality for the earliest beginnings of The Narrative Playbook is that we are now literally, as stated above, on day 828.?And, we can relate. The gyrations of the first 666 days of this vision fall in line with the descriptions of the 1,000-day author.?Day 1 to Day 333 (The Great Hope). Followed by Day 334 to Day 666 (The Grind).?Followed by the soon-to-be-known last sequence of Day 664 to Day 1,000 (The Sunrise).?

Digging deeper into the adjacent idea of a brand refresh, we spoke with several executives in the marketing world and found several academic and practitioner posts that landed on a very loose rule of thumb for?refreshing a brand to be around the 3-year mark.?There are many variables that go into the timing of that decision, but in general terms, three years was about the shelf life.??

So we head into the second quarter of 2022, with a goal?to figure out our next 172 days until we hit the magic number.?The question we ask ourselves is -?can we devise The Narrative?Playbook into an offering that will provide thoughtful coverage for individuals and teams to shape their own 1,000-day plans??Can we build something that provides long-term value for individuals who desire to craft and own their narrative going forward???

Every trend report you read today says we are on point in the evolution of the Creator Economy, The Great Resignation, and now The Inevitable Recession.?The individual will own their own identity, content, and path forward via the rise of new platforms and a decentralized blockchain with smart contracts.?The acceleration of remote work meets hybrid work is shifting the balance of power between corporations and workers.?The Great Resignation will spawn the need to articulate your personal value proposition and how you want to work with others like never before.??And, now the Inevitable Recession will surely impact the COVID recovery, the shifts in human capital, and the tempering of inflation on wages.

We sense the sunrise is about to happen and we are excited to keep believing that we are on to something unique and impactful. We believe Narrative Worth is the glue that binds self and net worth together in the AC (after COVID) era.

NOW

If you are one of the 12 million that reshuffled their jobs over the last three quarters, are you sure you know your narrative? Like an oil change, you just changed it and you have 1, 000 days to figure it out. Like the sticker, they put on your windshield.

If you are on the fence and one of the 4 million who are considering a change in the next quarter, we bet a refreshed narrative would represent the best version of your future self. Your 1,000-day clock is expiring and it is time for an assessment.

NEW

If you haven't had your 1,000-day personal oil change lately, take our? Narrative?Assessment to see where your prevailing narrative sits. At a minimum, you will gain a selfie of your narrative.

And, if you want to take a self-assessment of how far you have come from your old neighborhood check this site out: https://www.opportunityatlas.org

NEXT

What we are reading, listening and or viewing:?

How to Write One Song, by Jeff Tweedy.??The goal of?How to Write One Song?is to help distill the songwriting project to a “focused, self-contained event” where “the mystery and fear subside, and songwriting becomes an exciting pursuit.” The book finds Tweedy pushing back against the notion that songwriters are either “suffering artists” or “constantly inspired,” and instead focuses on “the importance of digging deep and finding beauty even when we don’t have the time or confidence in our ability to do so.” ~ Rolling Stone?

The Cold Start Problem, by Andrew Chen or you can?listen to the interview?on the current Tim Ferriss podcast.??Andrew Chen is a general partner at Andreessen Horowitz in Silicon Valley.?Andrew writes about the whole idea of network effects and the power behind them.??

This quote sums up Andrew's thinking.??“Between the early adopters and the early majority you have this chasm where all the nerds will love you but the mainstream market has no clue what it is that you do.”?— Andrew Chen

The Psychology of Money, by Morgan Housel. I literally read this on my flight back from Miami to the Bay Area. It is so well written that I am gifting copies to my daughters to think about the timeless lessons of building wealth (and net worth) while they are still young enough to begin building a compounding strategy.

THE PAYOFF?

1,000 days feels like a?logical timestamp for thinking about when you should refresh your personal narrative. Every component we create for The Narrative Playbook is grounded in practitioner experience gleaned from our work with corporations and continuous learning inputs from our reading and extended conversations with industry leaders.??

Many of our current narrators will be moving into their first 333 days, another tranche into their next 333 days, and the original folks (OG's) are now cresting into their last 333 days. Many have advanced their careers into new roles or big life decisions.?A few are still in the process of change.?Together, we will create the 1,000-day journey and all that that entails.?

Where are you on your 1,000-day journey? Drop us some feedback below. We are curious to hear your view on this mathematical phenomenon.