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Week 30 - My perfect day
One change each week. This week: My perfect day.
One good way for us to figure out what we want and where we're going is to sit down and write out what our perfect day looks like.
MY first brush with this idea came from Barbara Sher's book Wishcraft: How to Get What You Really Want. Her idea is simple, and I like simple ideas. Just write down what you will be doing in your perfect day. Use the present tense, as if that day had already arrived for you.
So here goes. My perfect day:
I get up at 6:30 and go on a short walk in the park with our gorgeous and mellow dog Polo. Upon returning, I give him breakfast and clean water. The hot water is ready for my first cup of coffee.
I open the computer and telecommute into my office. Anything needing immediate attention gets done, and everything else will wait. I scan through my news aggregator, looking especially for items dealing with employment law. I pick out some topics for blogging.
At 8:00 Polo and I drive 6-7 miles to a no-leash dog park, thoughtfully provided by the City. Here I join a small group of regular dog-walkers and we hike around the people path while the dogs have their fun. The topics of conversation involve dogs, family life, internal struggles. We avoid topics that involve the external world of politics, business, and war. It is a refreshing connection to real people of all stripes. (Half the time my wife does the dog walk, so I have discretionary time for sleeping in or whatever I want.)
Back home, I shower and get dressed. I dress well; nothing sloppy; usually casual slacks and French cuff shirt. I catch a small breakfast, some supplements, and do my stretching exercises. It's about 10:00 when I get my second cup of coffee.
I write. Almost all of my writing is for publication. I have five blogs connected to my business, plus this one. I also serve as an arbitrator, and that requires the writing of opinions. Now and then there is a poem (not for publication). The writing is "scheduled" for two hours. It can be shorter, and on many days it can be longer.
The noon hour is open for whatever random spur-of-the-moment thing I want to do. On some days this will be lunch with my favorite person in the whole world, who just happens to be the woman I married.
From 1:00 to 4:00 there is real work to be done. On Monday, Wednesday, Friday I attend to my law school class. On Tuesday and Thursday I attend to my business.
The end of the day depends upon whether I am on parent duty. If so, then I prepare an original and elegant supper, do the clean-up, and settle down with a good book. If I'm not on parent duty, I can hang around and chat with that woman I told you about, have an elegant supper that she prepared, and curl up with a good book. About once a week, there will be a good movie.
The exercise discussed by Barbara Sher is designed to get us to imagine our perfect day ... somewhere in the future. I can't wait that long. I've decided to start my perfect days today.
Ross Runkel, Post Office Box 1031, Salem, Oregon
97308-1031.
Phone 503-399-8028. Fax 503-566-8844. email Ross@LawMemo.Com
