How I embraced a countdown clock

Since we started the site, we’ve had a countdown clock.

To be honest, I barely ever look at it. It’s just a little gimmick for new visitors to see how long we have to go if they bother to look through the top menu. I certainly don’t expect return visitors to sit there and look at it. (Let’s be honest, it’s no lava lamp.)

But a while ago I did install a countdown app on my phone when I heard that someone else we know did it for their FIRE journey.

Initially I set it to the moment we retire. But I found that a little dispiriting. It was a big number.

Instead, at the time we were hatching the idea of the early retirement carrot — our six-month pre-retirement sabbatical. It wasn’t set in stone just yet. But we were hoping we could pull it off. It was certainly a very admirable goal to work and plan towards.

So without telling my wife Ellie, I set up this little countdown clock widget on my mobile phone. I set it to count down until the final year of employment. I hoped it would act as added inspiration to achieve that ‘early retirement carrot’ goal.

And it certainly worked. I’ve loved that clock ever since, with its little tropical themed background.

At the time I started it, it had a tick over 1300 days to go until we hit that final year.