It’s time to bump up your ideal day exercise!

So, by now you should have spent a week refining your ideal day.  (If you missed last week’s blog, maybe you should go read that one first and then come back here.)  You’ve got a good idea of how you would like to live, who you want to share your  life with, and what “stuff” would make you happy.  “So,” you ask, “how do I figure out where to begin.  My life is really really far from my ideal?”

Here’s how:

Get yourself a piece of paper and pencil (you’ll probably want to erase!), or a Word or Excel file.  Whatever works for you.  You’re going to make a matrix where the columns are “People,” “Places,” “Things,” and “Activities.”  (Feel free to add any other columns that suit your purpose better.)

There are only 3 rows:  “Gotta have it to be happy (fulfilled, live my ideal day),” “Would be nice,” and “Frills.”  If it doesn’t fit into those three rows, throw it out!  It’s not going to make you happy.

Now go through your ideal day in your mind – or reading it if you wrote it down.  As you encounter each item, place it in the matrix in the appropriate box.  Is having a partner essential to your ideal day or a frill?  Is it essential that you live near the ocean to be happy or would it just be “nice.”  Only you can make those decisions.  Once you have gotten all the pieces of your ideal day sorted out, you will have a good idea of where to start.  After all, if playing the guitar is one of your frills, no matter how many classes you take, no matter how much you practice, you will not be closer to your ideal day if you don’t get the “gotta haves!”  However, if one of your “gotta haves” is to be a rock star on the guitar, then learning to play will make a big shift towards your ideal day.

This exercise gives you something to work towards.  A priority list, if you will.  Look at each item in the top row (and only in the top row!).  Which item looks like you could get it – or maybe just more of it – into your life right now?  Which one scares you the most?  (Sometimes that’s a clue to what you really really want and are afraid to go after because, what if you don’t get it?!?)

So the next obvious question is how do I get…  Once you are really clear on what you want, you will start noticing opportunities to get it.  You still have to repeat your ideal day to yourself at least twice a day – on waking and before going to sleep.  But if you want more practical advice, check out Wishcraft by Barbara Sher and Annie Gottlieb.  This is where I got these two exercises, although I have added some things to them.  The first half of the book is the “wish” part where you figure out what you would like to have more of in your life.  The second part of the book is the “craft” part which tells you how to go about getting to it.

Share your questions and comments on your quest to help inspire others!  I look forward to hearing from you.