Day 13: My Ideal Day

Random Observation/Comment #300: There are some mornings that I just feel fantastic and I want to just hug the world with everyone in it.  I call this: any day I don’t go to bed drunk (Just kidding, that doesn’t happen frequently).  Just kidding kidding, I don’t get hangovers. My liver and I are still on speaking terms.

I spend a lot of my time maximizing efficiency, being productive, and reviewing my habits, so it’s no surprise that I follow Jason Womack almost religiously. He provides a level of inspiration and energy that can only come naturally from a genuinely friendly person. From his book, “Your Best Just Got Better”, I’ve learned a great deal about a solid approach to solving a lot of my problems. He points out life hacking points and time savers that an engineering mind would nod and grin about.

In the Prologue, Jason describes his ideal day. It’s used to give himself a guide on what things he can keep constant to make his day awesome.

The Challenge:
Write my own “Ideal day”.

The Reason :
My mood and attitude for the day is vastly determined by the activities in my morning. By writing out my “Ideal Day”, I hope to be able to analyze the little things that make me happy and identify the true things I want to do with my free time. Much more than the ‘what’ behind this ideal day, would be the ‘why’. I’m fully aware that ‘why not?’ is also a valid answer.

The Result :

Clemens’ Ideal Day

 My eyes open naturally. It’s the serene feeling of waking up from a dream that ended on its own accord. All those details from my lucid dream are still fresh in my mind. I spend the first few minutes trying to piece it all back together and fill in the gaps. Life is so interesting when you can control exactly what happens.

It’s slightly cold in the room, but my blanket is warm. Sometimes, I just like the cold air filling my nostrils with my first deep breath of the day.  Both nostrils are surprisingly clear and my back feels fantastic. I don’t know what time it is or the day of the week, yet I’m calm and collect.  My brain is free of stress because I know I will work on what I love and create to share and help the world one person at a time.

The lovely lady next to me is my lover and my friend. Her legs are probably sprawled over mine with a serene smile on her face as she snores like a mouse.  However beautiful others may see her, she is beautiful to me – and that’s really all that matters.  She’s perfectly simple; just like the rest of my life.

I wake up silently and decide to cook breakfast. There was a new omelet recipe I read from my friend’s blog yesterday and I really wanted to try it with my own twist.  I think to myself – “self – your cooking friends would love this”.  And so, I decided to make this omelet and take pictures to document the process.

The kitchen is clean – there are no dirty dishes from the night before soaking or random glasses/coffee mugs that pile up for no reason.  The fridge has food – I’m not missing a crucial ingredient to an omelet, like eggs, because my roommate was drunk and hungry at 4AM.  The non-stick pan is ready for use and the knives edges are sharp and ready for cutting.  Cooking transforms into a joy.

The omelet is fluffy, but the first one doesn’t meet my expectations. There was something slightly off about it – still edible and tasty for me to devour it, but not good enough for her.  And so, I start over and adjust the recipe and make the better one for the lady in bed.  I like the smile on her face when she wakes up to breakfast.  She’s my favorite food critic.

She’s grateful and does the dishes while singing her favorite song. I whistle along while I stay in the kitchen posting my recipe on the new omelet.  Within 10 minutes, I get 40 likes.  My morning makes me feel like I’ve been heard.  I’m not famous to the world – just my web of peeps is tightly knit.  With every bit I share, they know me better and we become closer.

My ideal day usually consists of doing 1 short-term main task, 2-3 parts of long term tasks, and (of course) playing table tennis.  It’s difficult to say which activities I will take part in because I don’t expect to build Rome in one day.  I will, however, spend at least 5 minutes mapping out what I plan to get done before the end of the day. I’ll take the time to set my own goal so there’s no one else to blame.

The morning continues with one of the smaller tasks.  Let’s say I’m posting the photos of an event I took last night.  My Pandora plays in the background as I click away and make people look damn good.  Around 11AM, I decide to go out and eat at a restaurant – some place a friend suggested a few days. I’ll call and invite that friend to meet there.

During this lunch, we’d talk about ideas.  There are people who facilitate productivity and make you feel inspired.  I will surround myself with those who lift me up, as I’ve found that much of my energy comes from my immediate contact.  In that hour, we catch up on old news and then start dreaming about bigger things.  Travel and technology fills our conversations, and there isn’t a beat missed without laughing or smiling.

I spend the afternoon on the main task and another task.  It’s 2 hours of uninterrupted time running errands, 15 minutes to power nap, and then 2 more hours working on something interesting and long term.  Although I consider myself extrovert to a certain extent, I will always be more productive on personal projects when I’m in my bubble.  This doesn’t necessarily mean I’m alone, but I am surely clear from distractions.

5-6:30PM: Table tennis time looms near and I quickly finish up all my tasks.  I can’t wait to get my exercise for the day and work on a new aspect of my game.  Maybe I’ll get that backhand loop or inside out shot better.  It’s intense and indescribably fun.

At night, I finish a few more things, but mostly start to unwind.  It was a productive day and vegetation, to a certain extent, is required.  I’ll spend an hour or so watching a movie or a few netflix shows, and probably sneak in a Rhett and Link Good Mythical Morning episode.

Before I sleep, I reflect on my day.  It wasn’t bad at all.  There were no miracles or winning of the lottery or genie in a lamp – I just smiled and did the things I love to do.  I fulfilled my desires to be a good person and to influence my community. I worked on my passions and shared happiness.  It may not be perfect, but it is simple…

The Conclusion :
Writing my ideal day required a lot of deep thought about the responsibilities throughout my day and how I tend to use my free time when these responsibilities are completed. I learned that my desires are simple and rather inexpensive (except for maybe playing table tennis and paying Johnson to play it all the time).

I suggest that you write your own “Ideal Day” because I’ve found it surprisingly helpful.  There are things you can control in the day to make it ideal, and I’m not sure why more people don’t keep those constant.

After reading Jason’s book, I don’t think I became a lean, mean productive machine: In fact, I don’t think that was the point of the book. What the book did was give me practical guidelines and habits that pointed me in the right direction. With a bit of motivation and some effort, I found a system that works for me.  You can find one too.

~See Lemons Day Dream