NINE70
Nine ways to measure and grow your spiritual health in 70 days.
Most people who practice a religion cannot point to what it has changed. Most people who left cannot either. Both are asking the same question from opposite sides of the table.
This takes the question seriously. You measure nine things today, run five simple disciplines for seventy days, and measure the same nine again.
The assessment is free. It takes about six minutes.
51 questions about the last two weeks. No payment, no account. We use your email to send your results and to find your day-one score again on day 70.
What gets measured
The nine come from one sentence in a letter written about two thousand years ago. They are still the most useful list I know for the question is this doing anything.
- LoveAn expense you absorb in public.
- JoyDecided before you needed it.
- PeaceWhat you stop rehearsing.
- PatienceThree separate capacities, not one.
- KindnessAimed at people who can't repay it.
- GoodnessThe one you cannot assess yourself.
- FaithfulnessMeasured in mornings.
- GentlenessOften a meal and a nap.
- Self-ControlWhat you built before the moment.
The questions ask what you did, not how you rate yourself — how many times in the last two weeks, never are you a kind person. There's a reason for that, and it's chapter seven.
The five disciplines
All five run for seventy days, and each has evidence behind it that doesn't require you to hold any religious position at all. Four are daily. The fifth — giving — keeps its own honest rhythm.
Read something old
Twenty minutes. Sacred text, or anything that challenges you. Not the news.
Pray, meditate, or sit still
If the word closes your throat, sit in silence — ideally in awe, and with gratitude.
Invest time in one person
A specific person. Not an audience.
Give something away
An amount you notice — on its own rhythm. For most people money moves weekly or monthly, and that counts. What's daily is noticing the need.
Sleep, move and eat like it matters
This is not the soft one. Chapter nine is largely about what a missed meal does to your character.
How the seventy days run
- Today
Take the assessment
The assessment takes about six minutes and gives you nine numbers.
- Every Friday, 4pm ET
You get an email
Each email has that week's chapter to read and a talk to listen to, recorded in my voice. It arrives Friday so you have the weekend for it.
- Each week
Read one chapter
There are ten weeks and ten chapters. You do the five disciplines every week.
- Day 70
Take the assessment again
You answer the same questions and get nine new numbers. Your email will have the link.
This is a wellness self-assessment, not a clinical or diagnostic instrument, and nothing here is medical or psychological advice.
Questions
Do I have to buy the book?
No. The assessment, the audio, and the ten weeks of email are free and always will be. The book is where the nine stories live, and it's the product — but nothing here is behind it.
Do I have to be religious?
No, and the book was written for two people who don't usually get handed the same one: somebody who stopped going, and somebody who still goes and can't point to what's different. Each of the five disciplines has independent evidence behind it. You can run the routine without holding a position on any of it.
Can I read faster than a chapter a week?
Yes — it's your book, and nobody polices your reading. The program runs one chapter a week because that's how the disciplines take root, and the Friday emails keep that rhythm for you either way. The audio talks unlock on the weekly schedule, and the only hard lock anywhere is the day-70 re-measure — taking it early would spoil your own before-and-after.
What if nothing moves?
That happens, and one of the nine going the wrong direction happens too. The last chapter is mostly about exactly that, and I wrote it before I knew what anybody's numbers would say. The first thing it asks about is the dose, not your character.
What happens to my answers?
They're stored against your email so day one can be compared to day seventy, and that's the whole reason we ask for it. These pages carry no analytics, no tracking pixel, and no session recording — that's a deliberate choice, not an oversight. You can ask me to delete everything at any time and I will.
How long is the assessment really?
51 questions, about six minutes. Most are "how many times in the last two weeks," which is faster to answer honestly than a scale of one to seven.
Can I do this with somebody else?
Yes, and it works better. Take it separately with your own email addresses so the numbers stay yours, then compare on day seventy if you want to.
Six minutes
Answer more honestly than is comfortable. You're the only person who will ever see the number, and it's the only thing that makes day seventy worth reading.