What is your ideal day?
To me, an ideal day has music. It totally lifts me up. Yet knowing that, there can be days when I don’t hear a note! It has completing specific tasks and projects. Yet some days I don’t get to the first on the list. It has energy. Yet some days I don’t even get in a 10 minute walk – key to feeding my energy.
It is relaxing on the beach? Sleeping in? A day off?
At the unexpected funeral (due to an illness) earlier this month of Jim Stickels, a friend and fundraising colleague, Jim’s definition of an ideal day was shared – “Going to work for the Literacy Council, having dinner with my wife, Lydia, and spending the evening engaged with one of my many volunteer passions.”
Now think about this. His IDEAL day was MOST DAYS! Now, my friends THAT is how to create your life! Is your ideal day MOST days? Are you even clear on what your ideal day is? Do you recognize and appreciate what makes each day ideal? Try this…
- Define IDEAL for you. What happens in your life that makes you feel so “right” with the world? Makes you smile? Makes you feel JOY-filled. This takes some time and self-awareness. It’s often the little things. Start by simply thinking about the days you crawl into bed thinking, “This was a really good day.”
- Assess the current status.
WHERE does your time ACTUALLY go? Keep a log for 2 weeks.
Look at what you are actually doing most days. Does it look anything like ideal? Maybe you, like many of us in development work, would say that, indeed, each day brings a good dose of satisfaction in composing a good world. But have you fallen into that 60-hours-a-week martyr rut of overwhelm and “it’s still not really done well” routine? Understand clearly that the first step towards a change is AWARENESS. The cold, hard facts. Embrace what you discover with curiosity and interest – NOT JUDGEMENT! You are not a bad person if you are reacting to email, on Facebook, postponing setting up visits, and complaining. It just doesn’t make for an ideal day.
Is your current work situation fulfilling? Maybe it is. Great! But what’s missing? Time with family, music, sports, working out or just space? What is ideal, but rarely makes it into the day? What do you want to do with your major donors each and every day? Can’t seem to get out of the office?
How far off is your typical day from your ideal day? I am going to be brutally honest here – for most of my clients there is a big gap between what they THINK they do with their time and where it really goes. This is filled with justifying and blaming self talk and rationalizing. This is victim thinking and, take a look, “rational – lies” meaning lots of excuses you create to take yourself off the hook for not doing what you planned, promised and even wanted to do with your day. And this sort of excuse-making garners lots of support from those around you who also are complaining and making up stories for why the day doesn’t go as they hoped.
- Create your Ideal day. Let me hear it, “I create my life!” TAKE RESPONSIBILITY! You DO always have a choice. You can make small, or massive, changes toward your ideal day. You can add a walk listening to music. You can start a job search. You can stop complaining. You can decide to do this ONE thing that will make you proud and happy. You can drop something/someone that is toxic – yes, you can. It begins by thinking you can, then taking action. What would make your work day more rewarding? What would make you welcome Monday? What can you do TODAY to share the JOY OF GIVING with a prospective major donor? What would make you belly-laugh every day? When do you smile the most? What are you doing? Who are you with? How do you make this part of most days?
This is 2016! A new year…a new beginning…a new opportunity to live your IDEAL DAY…most every day! Set aside some time think about this. Vow to make it so. If you like, hit reply and tell me about the IDEAL DAY you are creating.
May 2016 be filled with ideal days!
Invest in Joy!
