- - What Is Project 1356? Mysterious Social Media Countdown Nears the End

Emy LaCroixDecember 27, 2025 at 9:57 PM

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In 2022, a man named Armin Mehdizadeh started a countdown from 1356 on a whiteboard. Every day, he posted a video erasing the number and replacing it with one number lower. Now, he's just days away from hitting zero, and his social media following is exploding as followers become increasingly desperate to know what exactly Project 1356 is counting down to! Here's @Project.1356 explained:

Mehdizadeh has been counting down for nearly 1356 days now, which is a little less than three years and eight months, and it should hit zero on Jan. 1, 2026. At this time, Mehdizadeh still hasn't revealed what will happen on that day, but fans have had many theories, ranging from the macabre (like guessing that is how long he was given to live) to trolling (with the assumption being that he doesn't actually have a grand finale planned and will just say "Happy New Years!" or continue counting into the negatives.)

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Many believe there will be some kind of moral lesson at the end of the countdown. "Watch this be a test of patience," guessed one fan, while another said, "It hardly matters what will happen after the countdown ends. Look at everything we’ve built!... [It] brought people together from all over the world around a simple count of days!" Another agreed, "No matter what it is, it was a nice experience." Mehdizadeh promises that "Everything will be revealed on Jan. 1, 2026." He's also insisted that "all of the theories are wrong."

Celebrities have even gotten in on the fun, with Jimmy "Mr. Beast" Donaldson even offering Mehdizadeh $1 million to tell him what he's counting down to, which Mehdizadeh refused. On April Fool's Day 2025, Mehdizadeh finally "broke," teasing, "I'm going to say it... It's just a Rick Roll. That's it. I'm sorry to break it to y'all!"

Project 1356 CountdownInstagram/@Project.1356

Mehdizadeh's following has been steadily growing over the last several years, but it's really exploded as the countdown nears the end. On Dec. 27, he hit 3 million followers, which represented a 41% growth over a one-month period. We'll all have to wait until Jan. 1 to see what happens, but here's everything you until then.

Why are some numbers missing on @Project.1356?

If you scroll all the way back on the @Project.1356 Instagram page, you'll notice that the first video shows 1089 instead of 1356. That's because Mehdizadeh started his countdown on TikTok before deleting the page and moving his project to Instagram on Jan. 9, 2023, so the videos from 2022 are all missing.

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Who Is Armin Mehdizadeh?

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Armin Mehdizadeh is the creator of Project 1356. His personal page, which has a much smaller following, reveals that he is a young Persian man who loves traveling. His adventures have taken him to beautiful places around the world, including Santiago de Querétaro, Mexico, Deep Creek Falls in North Carolina, and Niagara Falls, and even going skydiving!

He is also a musician who often posts videos of himself playing piano, often covering songs from films, like the title track to About Time and "City of Stars" from La La Land.

What Is Project 1356 counting down to?

At this moment, there's no way to know what Mehdizadeh is counting down to. Check back on Jan. 1, 2025, for more information!

This story was originally published by Parade on Dec 27, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”