Design the Perfect Day

I know that I need to work on this one-and I’ve done it before and it really helped, and I enjoyed it…..

http://brendonburchard.tumblr.com/post/96277486198/how-to-design-the-perfect-day

SUMMARY

To design your ideal day, consider these questions:

What would you want to CREATE?

Who would you want to CONNECT with and spend time with?

What would you like to CONTRIBUTE?

Who would you like to be – what CHARACTER would you show to the world?

Full Transcript:

What would be your perfect day, your ideal day, a day that you went to bed that night and you thought that was the most incredible day? That’s how I want most of the days of my life to be, just like that.

What would that perfect day be like for you?

I’ve asked this to tens of thousands of people around the globe as I travel and do my speeches. I get invited to speak at all these conferences and most people don’t know and that’s amazing. I ask the audience this: how many of you have had a perfect day, one that was so amazing you’re like I was so happy and fulfilled and grateful for that day? How many of you have had one of those perfect days this week?

Usually out of an audience about half the room will raise their hands, so 50% had a perfect day that week. [Keep in mind these are audiences in the personal growth industry. Still, you would be surprised that most people are generally happy and having good weeks. While many people think that most people are miserable, they are incorrect].

Then I say how many of you have had at least two of those this month? People really have to think about it. They don’t know if they’ve had that many good days. They think about it and they’re like no, and it goes down to 30%.

What I end up finding is that most people feel like they had 10, 15 or 20 perfect days in the course of a year. Think about that. There are 365 days in a year and they say they have maybe 10, 15 or 20 perfect days a year.

Of course we have to talk and qualify about this idea of a “perfect” day because maybe people just set too high of expectations for themselves.

Then I ask, “Do you think you have too high of an expectation for that perfect day? For that perfect day that you had… is that something you can’t have ever again?” They’re like no, of course not. Then I say, “So the day is achievable?” And they say yes. Then I ask, “Why don’t you have more of them?” Two reasons it turns out.

It seems that some people just have never clarified what an ideal day would be for themselves.

What would it really be like?

Most importantly, what would it feel like?

What would an ideal day feel like for you?

Have you ever journaled about that?

Is there a vision board somewhere that would describe what that day would be like for you?

Do you have it written down in a journal or a dream sheet that says this would be the ideal day for me; knowing, that maybe that day is so amazing and perfect?

Some people would say, “It would be my wedding day” … They said a singular day.

But I’m talking about more of a lifestyle, not just a day but a life. What would it be like?

What would it feel like for you?

I think there are some common things you can start to think about in designing your [ideal days]. Again, most of the problem is that people don’t have vision for it. It’s Biblical: where there is no vision people perish.

The number one rule I have is to have vision for your life. Know where it is you’re going and what you want to feel, sense, experience, give and contribute or be about.

Let’s talk about some of these things so you can start crafting your ideal day.

The first thing you might want to take into consideration is something I spoke about earlier which is, how does it feel? What does that [ideal] day feel like?

I want you think not about it in terms of what you’re doing, because a lot of people start with the do. Here are the things I have to be doing. I want you to think about what it would feel like for you if you ended that day, laid your bed on the pillow, how would you describe how you felt that day? If you’re clear about the feeling than maybe we can start matching some activities that would generate or help us feel those particular feelings or experience those types of emotions.

What did it feel like? Let’s start moving into a little framework to help you think through this. Usually when you talk about someone’s ideal day there are several things they want to experience in there.

First, they want to create something.

They want to feel like they’ve created or contributed to something. They’ve created an experience with some friends or family. They’ve contributed something specifically to folks that are trying to help out or lead or serve in some way.

What would you like to create or contribute on your ideal day? What would it be? What would that ideal day be about?

Others also say they want to connect.

Their ideal day would let them be with their wife the whole day. Or, they say they want to be with the kids out on the lake fishing or something. So they might have this idea in their mind about that feeling and connection through a relationship with someone that makes them feel alive and fulfilled for that day.

What types of things would you like to create, contribute, but also who would you like to connect with?

Let me pause here and say this… could you create that day? Is this a day you could actually have more than one of a year, two of a year or five of a year?

Most people who have an ideal day, but I think they’re off track in life sometimes because they have a definition of an ideal day in their life and yet they don’t seek to actualize that day. They don’t seem to design their days around that.

Some people say that’s not realistic: People can’t have these ideal lives. You know who says that? Bitter people. Those who have given up on the path of their dreams. People who are so frustrated, jaded and so torn from their belief or from themselves or their dreams that they don’t believe it anymore.

However, I can tell you now having accomplished my dreams it’s possible. I wanted to be a writer and a trainer and get to do this with you full time and now I do that. It’s what I get to do and it’s a fulfillment of my dreams. I can tell you, I’ve met more and more people who are living lives that they’re satisfied with, so engaged and connected with. They wake up with a high degree of enthusiasm for their day and can’t wait to experience that day. At night they’re so grateful for it that they journal about all of their gratitude.

It’s not to be Pollyannaish and say you won’t have some bad days come up, but it’s saying that you can design your days. You can make your life about what you want it to be about.

What do you want [your life] to be about?

What should the majority of your days be about for you, in terms of creating, contributing and connecting?

What should they also be about for you, your character?

Who’s going to show up on your ideal day?

What would you be like on your ideal day?

Would you be weak and fearful or courageous and strong?

Would you be judgmental, mean and upset, full of hatred, jealousy, anger and regret about life and other people?

Or would you be somebody who’s open, excited for others and connecting with other people, positive and enthusiastic?

What would you be like on your ideal day?

Have you ever written that down… Here’s who I would be on my ideal day. Here’s how I’d treat my wife, my partner or my spouse, my lover or the kids. Here’s how I’d treat strangers. Here’s how I’d treat other people.

The idea is, don’t wait until the end of your life to have that ideal day. Don’t wait until next year or next week to have that type of day.

We can choose to wake up every single day and live that day in an idealistic way for ourselves, in a way in which we show up as who we want to be, in a way in which we are doing things that enliven us and engage us and get us excited, in a way that we’re doing things and being with people, creating experiences that feel alive and fulfilling.

We can have that type of life. I call it The Charged Life. Everybody can have it: it’s a matter of discipline in getting it.

Here’s a simple trick and tool to make sure you get more of those ideal days: When you start your day you must own your morning.

If you thought about your ideal day I bet you didn’t say, “Well, I roll out of bed, grab my iPhone and check my email.” That’s not an ideal day.

You have to own that morning to make sure that you’re proactive with that day, to say:

“What is it that I want to be about this day? What are the things I want to achieve create and experience this day? What kind of character do I want to cultivate? What do I want to learn today, give today, and grow today?”

You have to have aim and intention to have a phenomenal day.

It’s not that you can’t go with the flow, the bumps and the bruises and the struggles and hardships of life, but when you’re experiencing those you can still experience them from a place of presence, peace and enthusiasm.

Even the ultimate challenges in my life: having lost friends, lost my father to leukemia,  my own multiple brain injuries, car accidents, ATV accidents, broken enough bones in my body. And it’s a sad story really, but every hardship I’ve ever faced, including leaving [a job] and starting my own business and moving to new cities… Every major obstacle or challenge in my life I always chose to meet that as my ideal self.

I’d always say, “How would my highest self interact with this situation?”

Maybe that sounds Pollyannaish to some people and I know on YouTube I’ll get plenty of hate for it, but a lot of people need to get more intentional about their day, to create the ideal lives, not to have an ideal day once a millennium but to have a string of ideal days.

Even if you’re dealing with struggle and hardship in the world’s curveballs, you’re showing up in a way that when you go to bed at night you’re proud of the way you interacted with the struggle, challenge or demand on you. You’re proud of who you demonstrated yourself to be to the world, that you’re living the ideal character and person you believe yourself to be on a continual basis. And then life starts to feel ideal again.

Give yourself that gift. Do this journey. Take this time today. Sit down, pause the video or watch it again if you have to.

What is the ideal day like for you?

What would that dream day be like for you?

Who’s there?

What are you doing?

What are you contributing?

What might you be learning, giving or being part of?

Think about that. Who are you specifically during that day?

With that intention and aim you start to experience more and more of those days and as more and more of those days start to gather for us the more your character develops force and momentum. The world sees what you’re about and draws more opportunities to you to serve it up to that type of person who wants those types of things. And suddenly you wake up one day, you look around and you have this sense of aliveness and joy in the day. Then, when you look back at the week you’re like, “That was an amazing week, an amazing month, an amazing year, an amazing decade… that was an amazing life and you deserve that.

That is The Charged Life. http://brendonburchard.tumblr.com/post/96277486198/how-to-design-the-perfect-day 

Tagged: life, perfect day, planning, self-help, success, time management, vision, visualize