When I became an entrepreneur I planned to live everyday like I was on a vacation!
Don’t misunderstand me, I wanted to truly help people and do work that I was passionate about and made a real big difference in someone’s life. But, I wanted the freedom of the time and place in which I did that work.
When I had a corporate job, I used to spend my weekends mapping out every detail of how I wanted my life to be different and painting the picture of my future “perfect days”.
Of course nothing is really “perfect”. You may not get exactly what you asked for or it might look a little different from what you envisioned when you finally get what you want.
The timing may be off too and you may not get what you want on your self-inflicted deadlines. So, pick a path but be open and flexible for something even better to come along.
I’ve learned to ask for exactly what I want but attach “Or something better!” to the end.
When I first started doing the exercises I’m sharing below, everything seemed so far in the future. Honestly, it was exciting at first to think this way and then it got very depressing. I felt like everything was taking too long to come together. I felt like I was always waiting for everything to line up before I took action towards these experiences.
I couldn’t do everything I wanted right away to live that perfect lifestyle that I mapped out and it was frustrating! I either wouldn’t have enough money to do exactly what I wanted or I wouldn’t have enough free time available because I was in the chaos of building my business.
But then I stopped waiting and I did what I could with the resources I had at the time. And, I was able to slowly weave everything in that still mattered. Then, gradually each day became closer and closer to the days I had envisioned.
Life happens so fast, I didn’t even realize how close my lifestyle today is like what I wrote down years ago!
I realized it when I was I was clearing out some files to move a few years ago and came across one of my old “perfect day” worksheets. My life today isn’t exactly like what I wrote down, but it is pretty close.
Little daily decisions and course corrections over the last few years ended up herding me into the lifestyle I wanted.
When working on the exercises below, it is very important that you get-away ALONE out of your normal surroundings – your home and office where your to-do lists and chores are constantly “talking” to you.
It is also important that you get away from EVERYONE – even your spouse…this time is just for you.
Go to an amazing spa retreat, rent a log cabin, or even check into a local motel. It is recommended that you get away for 2 or more days – you’ll need at least one day to calm down from your busy life.
If an multiple-night get-away is just not possible, retreat to the beach, a park, or your favorite cafe – just get away out of your normal environment!
Once you are comfortable and alone you’ll have the space to think, reflect and write on these topics – what do you desire your lifestyle to be in these following areas.
Topics to keep in mind when you are designing your ideal lifestyle:
- Family
- Finances
- Health/Physical
- Living Arrangements
- Spiritual
- Social/Relationships
- Travel
- Mental/Educational
- How to Spend Free Time/Hobbies
- Career or Business
It helps to think of both what you do want and what you don’t want. Often, clarity comes from what we know we don’t want in life.
It is also important that you are very detailed and write out your vision of your “perfect weekday” and “perfect weekend”. What to you see, hear, feel, smell, etc. Be as vivid and descriptive as possible to make it as tangible and real for you as possible.
Here are some questions to vividly map out your perfect weekday and weekend days.
- What is your environment like?
- Where are you living?
- What time to you wake up?
- What is your morning routine?
- What do you have for breakfast, lunch, dinner? What are the settings for these meals? Who is there with you (or not with you)?
- How do you spend the afternoon?
- How do you spend most of the day? How do you feel?
- Who are you spending your time with?
- What type of opportunities occur?
- What exciting things are happening?
- How do you spend the evening?
- What time to you go to bed?
- What is you nighttime routine?
- How do you feel at the end of the day?
Then, start doing whatever you can with what you’ve got to make these perfect days start to emerge and happen in some form right now!
Maybe you can’t take a luxury world cruise right now, but you could probably go on a little harbor cruise or take a short road trip.
Maybe you can’t afford a full time housekeeper right now, but you could pay a local stay-at-home-mom to run some errands for you and lighten your to-do list.
Maybe you’d like to one day contribute to a cause you care about in a big monetary way, but now you can just give 4 hours of your time this Sunday to help.
Maybe you won’t be vacationing to an exotic island this year, but you could unplug your computer and stay off your cell phone this weekend to get away.
What you might notice is that you can have most of the things on your “perfect day” list right now or soon if you clean up your schedule and get more productive in how you spend your time right now.
Luxury is not in material things but experiences and feelings.
It saddens me to see entrepreneurs say things like “When my business gets to this _____ level, then I’ll slow down, take days off, and start enjoying more.”
This never happens! There is always a new goal to go after. Start gradually weaving these experiences in now where you can.
Enjoy the process, you’ll wake up one day and realize it is all pretty perfect!
What are some ideas that you came up with for your perfect day? What parts of your perfect day can you start incorporating into your life now?
Please share your thoughts in the comments below. Maybe there is someone else in our community here that can help you make your dreams come true so put it out there!
Visit EricaDuran.co to get your FREE “7 Steps To Lifestyle Freedom Guidebook” today!
Read more posts by Erica Duran here. Erica is a blogger for JenningsWire.
The online feature magazine, JenningsWire.com, is created by National PR Firm, Annie Jennings PR that specializes in providing book promotion services to self-published and traditionally published authors. Annie Jennings PR books authors, speakers and experts on major high impact radio talk interview shows, on local, regionally syndicated and national TV shows and on influential online media outlets and in prestigious print magazines and newspapers across the country.