The phone rings. You answer, only to find out your childcare has fallen through at the last minute. That’s when the doorbell rings, scaring your dogs into a barking frenzy—while you drop your mobile phone into your smoothie. You’re still hungry, your kid is care-less, and that phone might never recover. Your day is off to a horrible start.
A perfectly bad day. Or is it?
Wonder why you never have a perfect day?
I asked that question in my book Working From Home: Making the New Normal Work For You. And then I got curious.
Maybe you don’t believe in perfection. As the saying goes, no one is perfect, not even a perfect fool. But haven’t you ever said, “This is perfect”? Whether it’s your partner or a pizza or a presentation, have you ever felt that shimmer inside that says, “perfect”? Perfection does exist when it’s personal—we define it on our own terms. So, let me ask you a personal question:
Why haven’t you found your perfect workday, I wonder?
Maybe it’s because you’re focused on what’s not going according to plan. And maybe it’s just because you haven’t taken the time to write out what a perfect workday looks like.
Take a moment, right now, and just consider: describe a perfect workday. A day where you feel fulfilled, productive and balanced .
Create the timeline and the script. Open up a Google doc or grab a pen and paper—take the time to explore what you really want. Otherwise, how are you going to get it?
If your perfect day were a scene in a movie, what would it include? And if you were the leading actress or actor in this drama, what elements would you bring to your performance? Be sure to consider other characters, props, and setting—that’s your “office”- inside this cinematic masterpiece.
Even in your perfect day, you’ve got to leave room for the unexpected!
Fires and unpredictable events are a part of every day—so, what’s going to be different on a perfect day?
The answer might be found in how you show up. After all, it’s your performance that makes this movie a hit.
Now, on this perfect day, I wonder: would you show up a little differently? How would you perform your role?
I met Candace Sauve while she was suspended in the balance between a “stable corporate job” and starting her own business. We met during a pilot session to incubate her idea for her new business Got Breathwork. As she expertly guided me through her in and out breath technique—designed to reset your nervous system—I made a discovery of my own. The common denominator in every perfect day.
Breathing Room
When you picture your perfect day, are you living in chaos? Running from obligation to obligation? Your calendar so full a paperclip would be pressed to fit in sideways? Snapping at anyone who dares to delay your burgeoning to-do list?
When Candace described her perfect day to me, she spoke in terms of how she wanted to feel rather than what she wanted to accomplish. “Ease. Passionate. Compassionate,” she explained. “When I’m in back-to-back meetings non-stop, all I can think about is how to go faster, faster, faster. Then I show up as tense. Stressed. Controlling. And that’s not how I want to live – or how I want to show up.”
The description of her perfect day resulted from pondering these three questions:
How do I want to feel when I wake up in the morning?
How do I want to show up in the world?
What do I want to do about these realizations?
Consider Candace’s prompts and write your answers in the same Google doc or journal with a pen and paper.
Who said you couldn’t set yourself up for a perfect day, every day?
It’s like the old saying goes about thinking outside the box: “Who told you there was a box? And that there were rules?” The new world of work is a time to expand your mindset and shift into new possibilities. A time to design your space, your calendar and your mindset in way that makes your work world work for you.
How will you create a day that’s satisfying, productive, fulfilling….and perfect in its own way? Be deliberate about your calendar. Set up your own guidelines for success, and you’ll define it in your own terms.
Finish designing your perfect day in your Google doc or journal with these promising prompts:
There’s something you need to divest, right now. Something you need to let go of, so you can invest in something better. What is it?
Think about the filters in your life. Do you need more, less, or different ones?
Write out your perfect day. Explore success. Expect it. What’s that look like for you?