Venn—168 The Origin Story

How a burned-out cadet built a mirror for his own life

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” — Peter Drucker

In 1999 I was a resident advisor at UMass, a Cadet Commander in Air Force ROTC, a dual major in Business Management and Management Information Systems, and I worked part-time at a plastic extrusion company.

My schedule was maxed out. I thought I was winning at time management.

Week after week I found myself with almost no time for myself — and completely emotionally drained.

While working on a senior project, the simple idea of actually measuring where my time went — week after week and a professor's lecture on putting the "big rocks" into my jar (life) first led to the creation of VennZen 168.

The System

There are 168 hours in a week. Biology takes its share first. The rest is yours to allocate.

I started by subtracting sleep, eating, and basic hygiene — the non-negotiable cost of being human. What remained was the time that was actually mine to choose.

I divided that time into three rings that mattered most to me:

• Friends

• Work

• Me

The key was never about maximizing every single minute. It was about making sure the hours I spent aligned with what actually brought joy, satisfaction, and love into my life.

I review my allocations every quarter — or whenever I feel out of balance. That simple practice has served me for over two decades.

VennZen 168 is the marriage of two ideas I love: the Japanese concept of Ikigai (a reason for being) and the hard truth that we all only get 168 hours of “being” every single week.

It’s not a rigid system. It’s a mirror.

“It’s not about having time. It’s about making time for what matters most.”

Built in 1999 by a tired cadet who just wanted to stop lying to himself about where his life was going. He went on to become C-17 combat pilot, film producer and @FilmProfessor

Still in use today, but with the help of several AI platforms now in beta 1.0

Angelo Ford, MBA MFA 

Claire Davenport, Excutive AI

xArc AI Collective