The Complete Guide to The Perfect Day Practice : How To Get Clear on Your Future Vision

“The great secret of getting what you want from life is to know what you want and believe you can have it.” —Norman Vincent Peale

I often share the importance of getting clear on our vision for our future selves and this quote really speaks to me. The secret to life is a two-part process. I find that giving ourselves permission to succeed with our vision is by far the hardest part.?

Having a regular practice of visualization along with clarity of action seems to be the best solution for coming to believe that our vision is possible. ?

A friend of mines Maria Wade recenlty reminded me of a simple practice called The Perfect Day Exercise.

We returned from The Traverse with Christopher Schmitt, CPD, MSOD & Scott Morley, M.A. and were discussing how much of a major impact visualization and meditation makes in our lives.

The full practice is below. If you'd prefer to listen here is a recent Monday Mindset segment from the Jumping Point Podcast discussing the step by step method.

I recently spoke at an event for professionals in their late 20’s and early 30’s. Afterwards, many of them came up to me and shared that they are finding it hard to get clear on what they want for their future self.

Lack of clarity on what we want its often because we are being too fixed in our #Mindset on what clarity means. We end up overthink and making the process way too hard.

WE VISUALIZE ALL THE TIME WITHOUT THINKING

The process of creating a new vision of the future is something we do all the time without realizing it. ?

Whenever we feel discomfort, stress, financial insecurity, or trauma of some sort we naturally begin to dream about what we want based on what we currently don’t have.

EXAMPLE: Let’s say you have a job that you dislike.

How often do you spend time throughout the day listing all the things you don't like and comparing it to past jobs that you liked better? (Living in the past)

How often do you imagine what you want in your next job to be and what life would be like if you had it? (Living in the future)

OUR VISION OF THE FUTURE SCARES US

The majority of us do have a clear idea of what we want but are hesitant to go after it because of Fear.

The Fear of Failure and the Fear of Success are the two categories we use to tell ourself stories about what is possible for our future based on our past. ?

We are unable to see past the first stage of meeting our basic survival needs such as paying rent, "I need a car," "I need to pay my bills," etc. This is rooted in our Fear of not meeting the basic human need for Security.

When we try to dream of a future that is better than our present we can't see farther than our current and past stress and as a result keep our attention fixed on our temporary limitations.

This actually an evolutionary response in our Brain that is stopping us from dreaming bigger and seeing farther.

OUR BRAINS KEEP US ALIVE NOT MAKE US HAPPY

We belive the stories of our past because our brains are designed to keep us alive not make us happy.

The parts of our brains that have been around since we were running around as cave people turns on when we feel stressed.?

The Amygdala (Our Fear Center) is so good at its job that it starts working overtime when we feel the stresses of everyday life.

It releases a set of stress hormones which casues us to focus more intently on the things around us—where it thinks the danger and threats are—and less on possibilities for the future.

This is useful if we are living in the woods trying to avoid being attacked by Bears or eaten by Tigers but now its stopping us from pursuing what we really want.

We can right size the Fear Center in our brain and begin achieving the vision we have for ourselves even if it is scary but it takes Action.

THE PERFECT DAY PRACTICE

The Perfect Day Exercise is journaling exercise to help you get clear on the Vision for the future you want to create for yourself and determine a path to get there.

It’s a simple process but can be surprisingly difficult to do. We often have vague ideas of our future like “have a great career", "be in good health", "have better relationships” but rarely do we actually describe what each of those things looks like to US.

Those desires remain unfulfilled because we lack clarity and focus. Visualizing in detail exactly what we’re aiming for helps us figure out the steps needed to get there.

HERE IS THE PRACTICE

Get out your journal or notebook. Get yourself something nice so that you can keep around to revisit periodically.

This is something worth investing in. You are worth it and so is your Future. Find a journal that you can be proud of.

Now Imagine a day that is not too far in the future. 5 years or less is perfect.

Its far enough away that you have enough time to achieve it but not too far that it seems out of reach.

We’re going to describe each part of what a perfect day looks like to us and write it down. Remember that we are talking about a perfect average day, not our dream vacation day or the day we win the lottery. This is a real day in your real world.

I like to describe my day using the categories of The Whole Human Method? as a guide:

• Health (Emotional +Physical Fitness),
• Relationships (Family + Friends + Community),
• Work (Time + Career + Finances)
• Spiritual Wellness (Sense of Purpose + Mission + Service to others)

Be Detailed with the outline. Take it in 30–60-minute increments for the entire day.

Here’s a few prompts to consider:

1. ?What time did you wake up?
2. Where do You live?
3. What’s your morning routine?
4. Are you married or single? ?Kids? Pets?
5. What does your body and fitness feel like?
6. What do you eat? Where? When?
7. How are you of service to others?
8. How do you Feel about yourself?
9. What's your evening routine?
10. What career do you have?

Identifying what we are actually aiming for is the first step to being able to hit our target.

Once we have completed the list lets identify the delta or difference between where we currently are and where we want to be.

We will likely find that we’re not all that far off in some categories and have some work to do on others.

The great news is that our perfect day exist only a few years from now and our list of Delta’s are a list of areas for taking action to close the gap.

Try It…I’d love to hear what you think.

Connect with me today and let's talk !

#leadership?#motivation?#personaldevelopment?#mentalhealth?#positivepsychology?#emotionalintelligence