0 ➡ 100
If you’re like me, 2025 can kiss your ass.
This year has been a steady stream of kicks to the teeth - frustrations, burn out, and one hit after another. With time moving in a blur of confusion, its easy to get paralyzed by depression and just accept the hamster wheel of shit as your life. So many times this year I wanted to pack up and sail away. Let the world burn, let my responsibilities crumble, and stop chasing dreams or goals, why does it matter anyway? Its like we are in an alternate universe and what used to work no longer works and whats the point in sending that effort out anymore. I know I am far from alone in these feelings so I thought the first blog would be a good place to start with my 0-100 theory.
The most satisfying parts of life don’t live in the middle. They’re at the extremes. They’re the 0 and the 100.
The middle is maintenance: paying bills, showing up to work, getting haircuts, making sure life doesn’t collapse. The middle keeps the ship afloat, but it doesn’t light you up.
0 is stillness. Your personal version of total rest. For me, 0 is the smell of ocean salt while sailing with nothing scheduled, or the quiet of a campfire in the mountains with no screens and no notifications. It’s absolute relaxation - no work, no drama, no chaos - just breathing and recharging. Perfection is rare, sure. But you don’t need perfection to touch 0. A walk in a park, an evening camping, a slow BBQ with good friends - these little pockets of genuine calm are “the realm of 0,” and they should be reachable on a regular basis.
100 is the opposite: the place where your spark ignites. It’s adrenaline and purpose dialed to eleven. My personal 100 of high-stakes purpose and adrenaline would be in my nonprofit of human trafficking rescue and recovery - busting down a door to rescue somebody from harm, the kind of situation where every skill you’ve got matters and you’re fully alive. But 100 doesn’t have to be life or death or extreme, again, everyone is different. It can be the moment you give CPR and bring someone back in a diner, standing up to protect someone getting assaulted, leading a team and watching them execute a plan that actually matters, leading a church or addiction meeting, or talking to a friend going through a very hard time.. Doing something that uses your talents to save or elevate lives - that’s 100.
I do lump purpose and adrenaline both into the perfect 100, but the “realm of 100,” could have just one. Taking an exciting vacation, sky diving, starting a new hobby or perfecting your current one, or helping a friend move their house all would check the box of a rechargeable moment that makes life valuable.
Here’s the trick: both 0 and 100 are essential. They’re not opposites you pick between - they’re bookends that make the middle livable. If you only do middle, you wither. If you chase adrenaline 24/7 you burn out. We need both stillness and rush; we need reset and meaning.
How do you live the 0–100 life without quitting your job and buying a boat tomorrow?
Schedule micro-zeros. A real 0 day once a month is ideal, but you can touch 0 every week. Take a walk without headphones. Have one meal with no screens. Go outside for ten minutes and actually look at the sky. These are small deposits into your battery.
Create micro-100s. You don’t need a headline rescue to feel alive. Do one intentional, bold thing that scares you a little: teach someone a useful skill, volunteer at a shelter, push a physical limit in a workout, call someone and speak the truth. Those moments of focused purpose add up.
Combine them. Some activities live in both worlds: wilderness first aid training, teaching self-defense, heading a kayaking group, organizing a fundraiser. They recharge you and give you purpose.
Protect your boundaries. Saying no to middle noise is usually the fastest way to create space for 0 and 100. Let go of small obligations that don’t matter so you can show up for the big ones that do.
Ritualize both. Have a ritual that signals 0 (slow coffee on the porch, a 20-minute breathing session) and a ritual that signals 100 (a warmup routine before a big task, a short mental checklist before stepping into something important). Rituals prime you.
2025 pushed a lot of us into a fog. The temptation is to stay there and accept the grind as the only option. But the middle was always supposed to be the plumbing - not the main course.
Find your zeros. Find your hundreds. Don’t let the middle convince you it’s everything. Life’s best moments live on the edges. Go get them, rest for them, and return stronger.
- J. Potts
