Day Zero Project

Two updates to the Day Zero website this week. As promised there is a new page showing the most popular tasks that participants of Day Zero have added to their lists. Head over to the Top 101 list where you can also see a top 20 list showing some of the more ambitious goals people have added to their ‘Someday’ lists, and also the top 20 most completed tasks.

There are now also individual pages for each task. These pages will give you quick links to add the task to your own list, and you can also see which other participants have this task on their lists. Check out Sleep under the stars for an example of this.

The great Bobulate (my favourite daily blog) pointed out an article by Dan Pink on the ‘third drive’ of humans. There are some really nice observations on how people are motivated to seek out challenges and I think this goes a long way to explaining why the Day Zero Project has resonated with so many people. 

We do things even when they don’t satisfy our biological urges, win us a reward or help us avoid a punishment. We play musical instruments during the weekend simply to master something challenging. We quit high-paying jobs to take new jobs that are less lucrative but more meaningful. Human beings, says University of Rochester psychologist Edward Deci, have an “inherent tendency to seek out novelty and challenges, to extend and exercise their capacities, to explore and to learn”. Few would deny that this third drive is also part of what it is to be human.