Summary
This article will discuss how to create a Perfect Day, which will provide you with tangible daily actions that you can do every day to main your life’s stability while providing opportunities for growth at the same time. Interested? Well, read on then!
The Issue
Did you ever feel completely in control of your life? Did you feel like nothing could go wrong? But then, did you ever find yourself waking up one day into complete chaos not knowing how you got there? Did it ever feel like you had to start over once again with a process of rebuilding yourself? I have been there too many times. I was almost accepting the idea that this is how the life is – continuous reinventing of oneself.
To an extent it is true. Yet, to me it became a very tiresome process. I felt like I was starting from scratch every time! It became harder and harder to get up after being knocked down. Finally, I came up with a solution which provided me with some structure around which these reinventions would happen.
The structure had to accomplish two main goals:
- provide a foundation for stability
- provide me with opportunities for growth
Eventually, I came up with that structure. I called it the Framework For Life. However, that is all it was – a framework. I needed something more concrete. I needed to put everything into action on a daily basis. I was able to do that by packing a variety of concepts into the idea of The Perfect Day.
The Perfect Day
The Perfect Day contains a variety of interrelated concepts. I have put the Perfect Day into a formula for easier use and understanding.
The Formula.
- The Essentials + Purposeful Actions = The Perfect Day.
- The Essentials =Framework For Life Concepts = Foundation + Purpose of Life
- Purposeful Actions = Daily To Do List
The Essentials. Essentials are the goals that I need to accomplish to maintain stability and balance and my life and provide growth at the same time.
Framework For Life. I discussed the concept and the necessity for the framework for life earlier. But just to recap: framework for life requires you to simplify complex life issues into simpler ideas and concepts, which you can easier grasp. When I worked out my framework for life, it turned out that the supporting foundation of my life is made of proper rest, nutrition, physical fitness and meditation. That means I need to incorporate all of those elements into my life on a daily basis to have a healthy foundation. Even though the foundation provides stability, it does not mean that you will automatically build something amazing on top of it. You need purpose for that. With purpose you will know what to do and what resources to seek. I spent quite a bit of time until I was able to formulate the purpose of my life : “Evolve by consciously seeking and learning from unique value adding experiences with a purpose of becoming a positive role model.” I had to find a way to incorporate growth into my daily actions. Once you put the two concepts -the Essentials and Purpose of Life – together you get a list of daily goals that are going to stay constant for the rest of your life.
Purposeful Actions. These actions represent ever changing goals of your every day life. They will change every day depending on the situation. That is how they differ from the Essentials: The Essentials stay the same over your life and Purposeful Actions change daily. Purposeful Actions are in fact a simple to do list that is based on your short-term and long-term life goals. This to do list of Purposeful Actions should be made at the end of day to be incorporated into your life the next day along with the Essentials.
If you work hard enough at completing The Essentials along the Purposeful Actions, then you will have a Perfect Day! Why does that make it a Perfect Day? Here is why. You will have accomplished the following:
- Maintain your stability and balance in life by performing the actions related to the Essentials
- Acquire experiences and information related to reaching the purpose of your life
- Come a step closer to completing your short term and long term goals
Now…tell me, can a day get any better than that?
My Perfect Day
In order to put things in perspective, I will share with you how I put the above suggestions into action and created my Perfect Day!
The Essentials. My life purpose is to “Evolve by consciously seeking and learning from unique value adding experiences with a purpose of becoming a positive role model”. Proper rest, nutrition, physical fitness and meditation support my life purpose. Now I need to turn these abstract concepts into daily actions that I can keep track of. Here is the list that I came up with. You will notice a goal accompanied by an action:
- Foundation
- Proper Rest – Wake up at 5AM; Go to Bed at 10PM; Watch my favorite shows for mental rest
- Proper Nutrition – Eat 5 times a day; Keep track of what I eat; No Junk Food, Drink 8 glasses; Take the necessary supplements;
- Proper Physical Fitness – Run 3 miles in the morning Mon-Fri; Lift in the afternoon; stretch on Sat and Sun
- Engagement in Spirituality – Meditate Twice A Day; Read a Thought of a Day; Reflect at the end of the day by journaling
- Growth (life purpose)
- Knowledge Advancement – read a chapter a day of a relevant book
- Experience Advancement – try to incorporate a new habit into my life
- Other (these are the things that I add that I want to become part of my daily routine)
- Stay Updated – get a gist of news every day by reading WSJ, The Economist, TIME, etc.
- Proper Appearance – take care of my clothes, hair, nails, beard, etc.
Purposeful Actions. This one will vary from day to day, but in general I will add things such as the following:
- errands that I need to do
- actions related to short-term goals
- actions related to long-term goals
- rewards for completing the Perfect Day
Then all I have to do is just organize the above items in an effective manner so that I am sure I complete them every day. Obviously, some items such as nutrition, physical fitness, reading books, or appearance will require more attention and detail than other items, but I do not feel it will add any value to share them with you at this point of time.
After organizing everything into simple routines, you have one final thing left – DO IT. Do what you have written down while trusting yourself that you will get the results that you want.
6 Comments
I have to admit that I’ve never even thought about creating the perfect day before, but I like how your approach starts with a good foundation. It’s too easy to overlook those things or deliberately skip them because there is “too much to do” but I see that I am shortchanging myself by doing so. Better to cut out the NON-essentials if there is really too much to do.
Dear Jackie:
I am glad that you find the time to read this article! Seems like you really got some value from reading it.
I agree, too many people focus on things that are NON-essential to their lives and forget what really matters. That is exactly why I came up with the above idea of a Perfect Day :)
Best,
Tomas
hey thomas!!
really cool idea.
considered writing something along these lines a lil while back.
but then i realised that no matter how much you try to plan or perfect your day, no matter how many fancy equations and dry descriptions you paint with self-persuasion, something will always mess up your carefully crafted plan.
and that’s the fun part.
and the part that teaches you about life and makes you grow.
that’s one of my favourite aspects of travelling. no matter how much you plan it, things will always be different to how you planned. so you learn acceptance. and you grow.
was by far the most formal article i’ve read in ages. would love to see some more personality in your writing.
otherwise, really cool site. love the colours and interesting content all round.
keep well and in touch mate.
alex – unleash reality
Hey Alex:
Welcome back :)
Unfortunately, I have realized that making plans is difficult and that life will always get in the way. That is why I tried to build in some structure into it – something to strive for. We’ll see how this all works out :)
I appreciate that nice words. However, what I really appreciate is the suggestion that you made. I wish more people did that. I did not even realize that it was that formal, but I will keep it in mind and try to show myself more in my other articles.
Have a great week!
Best,
Tomas
Interesting approach to the perfect day, Tom. By having a framework, rather than a schedule, you kick yourself in the butt to do what’s important to you, but you leave it open and flexible – life is unpredictable, after all.
I’ve tried to live by a schedule, and it falls apart after 2 days. I get behind, activities pile up, I become discouraged, and soon after I give it up.
While not as detailed as your framework, I too have set what I’d like to do each day. I keep myself in check by doing what’s important to me, but I leave the day/week open to spontaneity. I feel great for accomplishing what’s needed, and I enjoy the little surprises throughout the day. I DON’T feel frustrated or discouraged by attempting to follow a futile schedule.
Great stuff Tom. Nice pic of Zenobia,
Oleg
PS. I agree with Alex. The topic is great, but the writing is a bit too dry and formal. More fitting for a textbook than a blog. One thing I noticed that could be sucking away the personality is those filler term paper-style phrases like “now that you know” or “Why __? Here is why ___.” Perhaps writing more how you speak could help in injected more Tom in the articles. Or whatever else you think could make your articles more uniquely YOU.
Hey Oleg:
Thanks for a great response. Same as you I try to leave some room for spontaneity in my schedule. Which is key if you do not want to get stuck in the same routine over and over.
I am glad that you liked the pic :) hehe
I am going to continue looking for more creative ways of injecting Tom into the articles.
Best,
Tomas
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