July FIRE Metrics That Matter – Part 1: Zeroscaping, Looking Under the Hood
It’s a heat wave in the PNW again today. There have been at least four of these since I got back in June. The good news is that they have not gone much above 85 degrees. Yeah, I know, that’s nothing. What is something is not having air conditioning. And when the temperature gets up over 90 degrees and stays there for most of the afternoon and early evening, that makes for a miserable night of heat sleep (no sleep).
Yesterday, I continued working through the insights I took from the Northwest Tarot Symposium this past weekend. I got so wrapped up in it that I ended up staying awake until after 5:00 a.m. Then I woke up at 7:25 a.m. and decided to get going with the day anyway. Ugh.
The good news is that I have done this before while just listening to music, dancing around the house, and sipping alcoholic beverages.
Big difference between going to bed completely sober and waking up completely sober with only two hours of sleep versus waking up hungover, even if only a little bit. That will ruin your whole next day. Surprisingly, I feel energized and ready to get things back on track today.
As soon as I got a coffee brewing, I sat down to complete what I call my end-of-the-month tasks. This is what results in my FIRE Metrics That Matter posts.
End-of-Month Tasks: Zeroscaping
There are several steps in the process I follow to complete these end-of-the-month tasks. One of them is tallying up my “bowling scores” spreadsheet for the Zeroscaping Game.
I decided to split this month’s FIRE results into two articles.
That gives me a chance to describe a little more of what is under the hood, and hopefully makes the insights more digestible. We will see.
I wrote about the game in an earlier Zeroscaping-focused article, but here’s a quick recap of how it works.
It’s basically built around the scoring system used in bowling.
That’s right—a total nerd game, and totally fun.
In Column A of the spreadsheet, I have my 12 measurable process and metric goals. They represent the 10 frames in a bowling game. The first nine frames each have one goal, while the 10th frame has three. (If you roll a strike or spare in the 10th frame, you get one more chance to knock down pins.)
Each of the 12 scoring opportunities is worth zero to ten points. Roll a strike or spare? Ten points. Throw a gutter ball? Zero points. Knock down seven pins? Seven points.
Columns B through AF represent the days of the month—31 this month, 30 in June, and so on. Each day represents one game of bowling. That gives me both a daily score and a monthly average.
So, after getting my coffee, I spent about 30 minutes completing the spreadsheet to get my final July results. I track every day, but several of the 12 goals require me to wait until the end of the month before assigning a score.
Then I took a walk, and now I’m back and ready to report on the July Zeroscaping Game results.
As I have used this game to track progress toward my prioritized goals, it has evolved.
At first, I had three Process goals each for Stuff, Money, and Fitness, and 3 Metrics.
Then I began adding other types of goals into the 12 slots.
Now, the Zeroscaping sheet is gradually morphing into my One Hit Wonder tracking tool.
July was a real milestone.
I believe it was one of the first months ever that I actually “bowled a game” every single day. In the past, I have essentially taken PTO and not recorded a score for a day’s game—sometimes skipping three to ten days in a row.
That tells me my One Hit Wonders are doing part of what they were designed to do. They are making me more present and more accountable for the life I am designing and wanting to live.
Here are the July Zeroscaping results.
10-Frame Results (Six One Hit Wonders)
As you may recall, I currently have six official One Hit Wonders and six candidate slots for future ones.
Walk 15,000 steps per day (on average). Nailed it.
Post one blog article to Highway to Yeah each day. Done.
Escape the Algorithm (zero passive YouTube, streaming, podcasts, or TV). Yes. The shackles are coming off. It’s been over a month now.
Play 100 open mics. The monthly pace is eight. I played 11 in July. Awesome.
Daily Zeroscaping tracking, including fitness, finances, and journaling. Check.
Maintain the Range: Stay at or below my target weight. I implemented austerity measures whenever I drifted above my threshold and stayed at my target weight on average. Fantastic.
I also scored some points for decluttering during July, although I essentially averaged about four bowling pins knocked down per day.
I also received a small boost from guitar practice and songwriting—about one bowling pin per day on average.
In addition, I have a strength-training routine. During July, I completed it an average of four times per week. That earned a score of 10 for each day.
Perhaps I am being a little generous with that score, but that’s okay. When this becomes an official One Hit Wonder, I’ll tighten the standard. For now, I decided to give myself a little extra credit because I am building so many habits simultaneously.
I also currently have a goal of staying at or below my 5% withdrawal spending rate for the year. Since I achieved that goal, I scored 10 points for that frame each day of the month. This is another example of a measure that cannot be scored until month-end.
Quantitative Results
My monthly bowling average for July?
187 points.
In June, it was 116.
That is a great improvement in just 31 days.
If you have bowled before, you know it’s not easy to break 100 points. An average of 150 makes you a valuable member of most bowling leagues.
A 187 average starts getting into semi-professional territory.
That felt good to see.
I also track two financial measures on the Zeroscaping spreadsheet.
Withdrawal Rate
As I mentioned, my goal is to stay at or below a 5% withdrawal rate for the year.
In July, I came in at 4.31% and am currently trending toward 4.32% for the year.
That is great.
I may eventually replace this with a different One Hit Wonder, but for now I’ll continue giving myself credit for achieving this goal.
Cash Flow Growth
My goal is to grow cash flow by at least 20% per year.
Eventually, I actually expect this number to become flat or even decline slightly. Last year I harvested gains from stock sales, so my cash flow grew like a weed.
This year, I am not doing that, so I may not hit this goal. Even so, I still want to track it because it helps me determine my annual budget and spending plan.
So far this year, I am at 85% of goal.
I think that means I am essentially tracking close to last year’s cash flow, but I’ll wait until year-end before digging into the details.
Additional Fitness Metrics
I also track daily calories, protein intake, weight, body fat, muscle mass, and steps.
At the beginning of the year, I added a bonus metric. If I have zero to two alcoholic beverages in a day, I earn a $20 bonus that goes into a discretionary spending account I can use for whatever I want.
In June, I also began tracking desserts and sweets. I continued doing that in July, although I occasionally had to remind myself to record it.
That is another good reminder that habit formation is tricky at first.
And if you don’t keep track, how do you really know whether you’re moving in the right direction?
I’ll report on those results in Part 2 of this FIRE Metrics That Matter series.
Overall, the numbers were pretty good, although there are definitely still opportunities for improvement.
Back tomorrow—or later this week—with Part 2.
Until then, remember that sometimes freedom benefits from structure.
Sometimes reducing friction requires introducing an equal and opposite kind of friction.
I think that’s exactly what Zeroscaping both does and demonstrates.