Some days are good and some days . . . not so much. I’m a bit of a control freak, so I don’t like the feeling that my day, my direction or my destiny, for that matter, is somehow controlled by forces external or by people insignificant in my life. Master of the house. Captain of the ship. Author of my own fate. You get the picture.
With apologies to Horace, Carpe Diem has become an overused slogan and a trite cliché. Rather than seize the day, as carpe diem implores, perhaps we should imperium diem . . .control the day. Drilling deep into daily tasks at such a micro level might appear at first blush to be a bit excessive, obsessive or compulsive. This may be true, but if seven good days makes one good week; and if fifty-two good weeks makes a good year; and if many good years make a good life, then it calls to reason that controlling the direction of each and every day will logically result in a good life. Who the heck wouldn’t want that?
If given a 24-hour period of time, which happens every day whether we like it or not, then what must we do to make sure that those hours fall into a that somewhat relative and ill-defined category of “good?” I don’t know exactly what will happen tomorrow, but I do know that time and space will happen; I have no control over that fact. To that, I yield. But, how I fill both the time and space of tomorrow and any other day is entirely up to me. My task, therefore, is to define “A Good Day” and commit to making each and every new 24-hour period one that I create, one that I control. One day does not a good life make, but as Confucius so famously said, “A journey of a thousand leagues begins with but a single step.”
What defines a good day? Well, I like lists, so here is my list of what I like to do each day so that when I put my head on my pillow at night, I am pleased enough to say: “Ahhh, a good day.”
1. Experience sunrise
2. Express gratitude
3. Drink 100 ounces of water
4. Take my vitamins
5. Floss
6. Enjoy a cup of coffee . . . or two
7. Hike more than 10,000 steps
8. Workout
9. Physical, emotional and spiritual intimacy with my wife
10. Read
11. Make more money than I spend
12. Teach
13. Learn
14. Laugh
15. Write
16. Sing
17. Connect with a friend
18. Share a meal with my wife (see #9 above)
19. Walk my dog
20. Compliment someone
21. Eat chocolate, but not too much . . . it's good for the soul
22. Plan a new trip or contemplate the next journey
23. Take one step toward making a dream or goal a reality
24. Pray
This list is a work in progress, but the 24 items go a long way to making each 24 hours darn good ones. What should I add to the list? How should I expand or qualify items on the list?
My next task: Defining “The Perfect Day!” Any suggestions?
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