“I’ve been lucky to live nearly 40 years, and through trial and error, come closer to an understanding of my perfect day. What is the good life? How do I want to live my few days on earth? Wouldn’t life be amazing, meaningful, a gift, if we were to repeatedly live our perfect day?” (Darren, 38, USA)
My perfect day:
- Wake up well-rested and with a prayer of gratitude
- Wake up early to the sunrise, get outside and walk through crisp air, breathe, break a sweat
- Ideally surrounded by nature, close to a beach, a mountain, a river
- Early morning yoga, tai chi, or gym to improve my conditioning and circulation
- Time, space, silence to visualize my perfect life and a fulfilling day
- Healthy, nutritious breakfast in a comfortable, minimalist living space. Any media consumed is inspirational or related to my biggest goals. No news or social media.
- Mornings (3-4 hours) dedicated to creative “deep work:” writing, recording, brainstorming, creating new products, new value propositions, marketing plans, hiring strategies. This work or skill development pushes the mission of my life forward. I am in an expansive space and surrounded by objects / cues that minimize distraction and inspire deep work.
- Healthy, light lunch with inspirational people, masters of their craft, adding value to society
- Early afternoon – finding great talent, and developing, coaching and unleashing their gifts, whether that’s employees, customers, partners, mentees, mentors, investors, partners, students; building organizations, cultures and systems that free people to do their best work. Also, time spent building networks – looking for ways to connect and help people and add value
- Late afternoon / early evening I am playing sports I love – basketball, tennis, frisbee – or practicing a physical skill like salsa to enter the flow state and leave the mind behind
- Being outside as the sun sets
- Delicious dinner with close friends, family and loved ones, sharing stories, struggles and laughs
- After dinner entertainment – movies, music, dancing, games, exploring new worlds, people, and interests
- 10 minute reflection on day and planning tomorrow’s schedule and MITs
- Reading, drinking in wisdom of a great book
- Close connection with significant other
- Prayer and water seeds – good things you’ve done for others – before sleep
What it DOESN’T have:
- Administrative tasks like paying bills, going to post office, cleaning, booking trips, house maintenance
- Mundane, repetitive work that I have been doing for years
- Negative energy, from junk food or pollution or people
What it FEELS like:
- purposeful
- focused
- stretched
- exciting
- generous
- valuable
- connected
- clean energy
- clear mind
- thankful
- joyful
- peaceful
- magical & mysterious
- end day spent – in a good way