Quick Answer

A life calendar is a visual grid showing approximately 4,680 dots, where each dot represents one week of a 90-year human life. Filled dots show weeks you've already lived; empty dots show weeks remaining. It's a powerful memento mori tool for gaining perspective on how you spend your time.

The Math: 90 Years in Weeks

A human life, when measured in weeks, is both breathtakingly finite and surprisingly manageable to visualize. The calculation is remarkably simple:

90 years × 52 weeks = 4,680 weeks

That's it. Your entire life—every childhood memory, every career achievement, every relationship, every adventure—fits into a grid of less than 5,000 dots. When you see it laid out visually, with a portion already filled in, the effect is profound.

Key Takeaway

Your entire 90-year life equals just 4,680 weeks. When displayed as a grid, this fits on a single iPhone screen—making the abstract concept of “a lifetime” suddenly concrete and countable.

Origins: Wait But Why's "Your Life in Weeks"

The modern life calendar concept was popularized by Tim Urban in his 2014 Wait But Why article "Your Life in Weeks". The post went viral because it took an abstract concept—the passage of time—and made it viscerally real.

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It kind of feels like our lives are made up of a countless number of weeks. But there they are—fully countable—staring you in the face.

Tim Urban — Wait But Why

The article spawned thousands of life calendar posters, apps, and tools. But most shared a common limitation: they were static. You'd fill in your weeks once and hang it on a wall, where it would gradually fade into the background.

Why Visualization Works

There's a reason life calendars resonate so deeply. Human brains are wired to process visual information far more effectively than abstract numbers.

When someone tells you "you have 2,340 weeks left," it's hard to feel anything. But when you see those weeks as a grid of empty dots, your brain grasps the finitude immediately.

Temporal landmarks

Visual markers help us reflect on time passage and create meaningful mental bookmarks

Mortality salience

Awareness of death paradoxically increases gratitude and life satisfaction

Perspective taking

Seeing your life from "outside" changes how you value each week

Types of Life Calendars

Physical Life Calendars

The original format: a poster with 52 columns and 90 rows. You fill in dots with a marker as weeks pass. The tactile ritual of filling in a dot each week creates mindfulness, but the poster eventually becomes wallpaper—something you stop noticing.

Digital Life Calendars

Apps and websites that calculate your weeks automatically. More accurate than manual tracking, but often relegated to a rarely-opened app drawer.

Dynamic Life Calendars

The newest evolution: life calendars that update automatically and live where you'll see them daily. This is the approach we took with WeeklyDots—your life calendar updates every morning and appears on your iPhone lock screen, ensuring you never stop noticing.

Try a dynamic life calendar

WeeklyDots updates your iPhone wallpaper every morning. No app required.

Create yours free

How to Create Your Own Life Calendar

Creating a life calendar is simple. You need just two pieces of information:

Your birthday — The starting point for calculating weeks lived
Your expected lifespan — Most life calendars use 90 years as an optimistic but achievable goal

From there, simple math tells you how many weeks you've lived (your age in years times 52, plus any additional weeks since your last birthday) and how many remain.

With WeeklyDots, this calculation happens automatically. Enter your birthday once, choose a theme, and get a wallpaper that updates every day via iOS Shortcuts.

Making Your Weeks Count

The goal of a life calendar isn't to create anxiety about death. It's to create clarity about life.

The Insight

When you see your weeks laid out, certain truths become obvious: there are enough weeks for meaningful change, but not infinite weeks for endless delay. The weeks we've already lived aren't losses—they're the foundation we've built.

A life calendar works best as a gentle daily reminder, not a source of stress. That's why seeing it every morning on your lock screen is more effective than staring at a poster once and then forgetting about it.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Why 90 years instead of average life expectancy?

Life expectancy statistics include infant mortality and accidents, which skew the average down. If you're healthy and reading this, you have a reasonable chance of reaching 90. Using 90 years gives you a target to aim for rather than a prediction to accept.

Isn't this depressing?

Surprisingly, no. Research on mortality salience shows that gentle reminders of life's finitude increase gratitude, reduce procrastination, and improve life satisfaction. The key is "gentle"—a life calendar presents facts without drama.

How is this different from a regular calendar?

A regular calendar shows days and months, which feel infinite and renewable. A life calendar shows your entire existence at once, with no renewal. It's the difference between seeing one step on a path versus seeing the whole path from start to finish.

What should I do after seeing my life calendar?

Nothing dramatic. The insight from a life calendar unfolds slowly, not in a single moment of revelation. Let it sit with you. Notice what comes to mind when you see it each morning. Over time, it gently nudges you toward what matters.

What is a Life Calendar? The Ultimate Guide to Visualizing Your Time