If you could break down your day, hour by hour, to create your ideal day, what would it look like?
This week I was talking with my friend, Derick Grant, reflecting on the last year and my goals for the upcoming year. In addition to goals, I shared areas I’d like to see improvement—I’d like to get back to my disciplined workouts, execute on an actual marketing plan, and continue to see RLS Wealth grow (amongst other goals). I also shared my frustration with how relaxed I’ve become in my discipline for certain areas–I take complete responsibility, even though I can point to a number of “excuses”.
Derick asked me if I had ever planned out my day—every hour of the twenty-four accounted for—to create my ideal day. I’ve done exercises where I’ve written down my vision for my ideal day and created time blocks for my workday, but I’ve never written an hourly breakdown for my ideal day.
Here’s what I came up with:
5:00 AM: Wake up, Meditate, Yoga
6:00 AM: Peloton, Emails, Writing
7:00 AM: Wake Up Boys, School Routine
8:00 AM: Finish School Routine, Head To Office
9:00 AM-4:00 PM: Work & Leave
5:00 PM: Weights & Family Time
6:00 PM-9:00 PM Family Time
9:00 PM: Family Time, Bedtime Routine, Finish Work
10:00 PM: Finish Work, Read, Relax, Sleep
11:00 PM-5:00 AM: Sleep
From this template, I can fill in more details like which days or hours are reserved for client meetings or administrative work or the AGC™. I can also fill in which workouts I will do each day during the scheduled time—rather than going downstairs and trying to come up with the workout. But to get started, just breaking down each hour gives me more clarity and focus for the day. Plus, it has time for everything I want to do in my day.
For each hour, I am only going to focus on the tasks which fit into the category—work only during work, only family during family, etc. I often borrow time or multitask throughout the day, which ends up preventing me from being fully present. I don’t think this has caused any problems, so far, but also don’t want to allow issues to develop—no more editing videos in between sets of a workout.
I anticipate tweaking my ideal day and allowing for time to still be borrowed. For example, if I finish my workout and there is time left in the hour, then I can edit a video.
The exercise of allocating my day by the hour reminded me of Parkinson’s Law which states work will expand to the amount of time allowed for it. If you allow a week to complete a project at work, it will take you the entire week. But if you give yourself two days to complete the project, it will take two days.
I expect by applying more detail to my work hours, I will increase my productivity because I will apply Parkinson’s Law in my favor.
I’ve got my new game plan and now it’s time to introduce it to my life and implement it—I know it won’t be an overnight change. The goal is to take it day by day until it becomes a new habit. I’ll be revisiting James Clear’s Atomic Habits this week.
I’ve shared my day, what do your ideal twenty-four hours look like?
Disclaimer: Nothing on this blog should be considered advice, or recommendations. If you have questions pertaining to your individual situation you should consult your financial advisor. For all of the disclaimers, please see my disclaimers page.
