A MeaningfulExistence

Purpose & Meaning · 2 min read

Create the Life You Want: Describe Your Ideal Ordinary Day

A practical exercise: describe your ideal ordinary day in detail, compare it with your current days, and pick small changes that bring the two closer together.

By the A Meaningful Existence editors · Updated

In short

Write a detailed description of an ideal but realistic ordinary day, from waking to sleeping. Compare it with a typical current day, spot the biggest gaps and choose one or two small changes to make this month.

Most goal-setting focuses on achievements: the promotion, the house, the marathon. Those matter. But much of life happens on ordinary days, and how those days feel shapes our wellbeing more than occasional milestones.

This exercise asks a simple but revealing question: what would your ideal ordinary day look like?

Why this exercise works

Imagining your best possible future has research support. In a 2001 study, psychologist Laura King asked participants to write about their "best possible self", a future in which everything had gone as well as it possibly could, for twenty minutes on four consecutive days. Compared with a control group, they reported improved mood and, months later, fewer visits to the health centre.

The ideal-ordinary-day exercise is a practical variation. Instead of focusing on grand achievements, it zooms in on the texture of daily life, which makes it easier to turn into action.

Step 1: Describe your ideal ordinary day

Set aside thirty minutes. Imagine a normal day a few years from now when your life is going well. Not a holiday or a special occasion, just an ordinary weekday. Write it in detail, in the present tense:

  • What time do you wake up? Where are you? Who's with you?
  • How do you feel when you wake?
  • What do you do in the morning?
  • What kind of work do you do? Where? With whom?
  • How do you spend lunch and the afternoon?
  • What happens in the evening?
  • What do you eat? How do you move your body?
  • Who do you talk to?
  • How do you feel as you go to bed?

Keep it realistic but hopeful. The aim isn't fantasy; it's a version of life you could plausibly build.

Step 2: Describe a typical current day

Now write about a typical weekday in your life as it is now, with the same level of detail.

Step 3: Compare

Put the two descriptions side by side. Look for:

  • What's already the same? Notice and appreciate these.
  • What are the biggest gaps? Work, relationships, health, time, environment, mood?
  • What surprised you? Sometimes people discover that their ideal day is simpler than expected: more time outdoors, fewer meetings, dinner with family.

Step 4: Choose small changes

Pick one or two gaps and identify small changes you could make this month. For example:

Ideal Current Small change
Morning walk before work Rush out the door Wake 20 minutes earlier twice a week
Dinner with family Eat separately in front of screens Two phone-free family dinners a week
Creative work No time for hobbies One hour on Sunday afternoon

Step 5: Identify bigger changes

Some gaps need bigger changes, such as a different job, a move or a new relationship. Write these down too, along with the first step you'd need to take. You don't have to act on them immediately, but naming them is useful.

Revisit regularly

Your ideal day may change as you grow. Revisit this exercise once or twice a year. It's also a good way to evaluate opportunities: does this job, move or commitment bring me closer to my ideal ordinary day?

Try this

Complete the five steps above this week. Choose one small change and put it in your calendar.

Related: show me your plan and I'll tell you your future, using visualization to get from point A to point Z and create your future using a vision board.

Sources and further reading

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