Design Your Ideal Day

Sunset by marcoreyesgt

What would make you happy? When thinking about what kind of life you want to have in the future, it's easy to end up thinking about possessions: a car, a house, some cool gadget, a boat... Think again: why do you want these things? What if you have enough money to buy all these things, but you would need to work long days and maybe even weekends to be able to keep them? Would you be happy? Right, let's look at happiness from a different angle.


If there's anything you should remember from this intro, it is that happiness doesn't come from possession, but from what you spend your time doing. Well, there's a great trick to getting there: design your ideal day, then take steps towards (slowly but surely) realizing it.

The ideal day
The first thing you need to keep in mind is that "the ideal day" is not supposed to be a holiday, but a day with time to be productive (and earn a living). Think of it in a pretty structured way:

• What is your morning routine?
• Evening routine?
• Lunch break?
• Smaller breaks?
• How do you organize your work?
• What tasks do you want to do?
• ...

Some examples:

• In the morning, I exercise.
• During my lunch break, I go for a walk.
• Before going to bed, I read half an hour.
• ...looks like

Build habits
You probably already saw it coming: a part of what makes your ideal day are actually habits. The next step is implementing those. Start small and build up from there. (It sounds easy, but can sometimes get hard, I know. Just do your best.)

Invest for the future
True, you might not be able to make all the changes you want in order to achieve your ideal day. If you want to work from home and be your own boss, but currently you work a 9-to-5 job, then you will need to figure out how to tackle that challenge. That requires time. Make sure to plan it in so you can work on reaching your ideal day.

Get started... and iterate!
Think about your ideal day. Write it out, visualize it, and build towards in step by step. Make a plan, and every day, try to complete a task that will get you closer to your goal. It will make every day feel good! And from time to time, don't hesitate to improve your day further or change it up completely! As long as it makes you happy. :)

I still need to figure out what my ideal day looks like. Care to share ideas? Leave a comment! :)