Designing your life. I have been attracted to this concept since I heard about it in my early 20’s. Life design. Life by design.You’ve probably heard this said- how you live your days is how you live your life.
If you want to enjoy your life more, if you want to experience more in life, this is the not so secret secret. Designing your life.
It adds up. It compounds. And it turns into something whole. A day in your life is a precious thing.We hear we shouldn’t waste it, but how do we not waste it? There is so much to do.
It really begins by being intentional. Without intention we will not go where we want to go no matter how many things we fill our days with.
And let’s be clear right now- it is NOT about filling your days! Full days do not necessarily add up to the life you want. What are your days full OF? That is the question.
How do we know what to fill our days with? Well that takes TIME. Time that you set aside monthly, weekly and daily. You have to be willing to do it. Planning, thinking, committing. When you handwrite something down it gives it energy and power. Commit to yourself by designing your schedule with all of the stuff of life AND your appointments with yourself.
If you’re not used to doing this you might want some accountability from someone else. While you learn that doing what you want to do in your days is not, as a client said to me yesterday, selfish. Why are we here to live life if not to create time to enjoy the things we specifically enjoy doing? Yes, we have to do a lot of other things, too. That is the fact of human life. What works for me about designing my days and weeks is that I ALWAYS have something to look forward to. And I ALWAYS have a bit of self care and healthy, energizing activity coming up.
We all have different needs and wants. That is what makes designing YOUR life so special. No one else is living your life. It is up to you to take responsibility for what you create in your life. You take the reigns.
If you don’t like what you have created so far there is GREAT news! You can begin to change that whenever you decide to. Even little things compound and add up. Start by just taking time on Sunday to map our your week. Start with a plan. Having a plan to start with gives you a much better chance of what you want to happen to happen.Life happens and things will not go perfectly.
The biggest obstacle? YOU! Making the plan is only half of it- then you need to follow through. That is where accountability comes in. Most people take care of everything else before they follow through on the things that are for them personally.
What’s your ideal day? If it was perfect what would it look like? Write it down? As you do this exercise let yourself truly go for the ideal- you are not thinking about “how” you can do it at this point, you are just defining clearly what you would like.
What would an amazing week look like? Write it down. What would the week contain? This is where we start by being clear of what we want. Start to envision it.
Today- whenever you are reading this- and on every Sunday moving forward take 30-60 minutes to think about and plan your days and weeks ahead. There is nothing fancy to do or know– just take this time and write out your schedule for the week.
What might be in your week? Work, exercise, fun, connection with others, appointments, caring for others. These may be the big buckets- what is in your bucket? What you are up to in your week really depends upon the season of life you are in.I have learned to embrace the seasons of life. It has made growing older more meaningful and with less resistance.
When I teach coach training and entrepreneurs to grow their businesses we talk about consistent, long term activities.being the key to success. I am going to suggest this to you, as well. Commit to working on daily and weekly life design for the next year. If you get off track, get back on track. You will see a year from now how it has added up.
Most of all, enjoy the process!