DESIGN YOUR DAYS TO DESIGN YOUR LIFE

Here is a secret.

I don’t know where my life is going.

I have goals, hopes and plans, but there is no way to know whether any of them will work out.

There are a million situations that could arise at any moment and change the entire course of my future.

Even if nothing life changing happens externally, in six months I could be a different person with different goals.
You never know.

You might think this is a negative way to view life, but I find it to be freeing.

When you are looking too far forward into the future the uncertainty can seem daunting.

But every marathon is finished step by step, every wall is built brick by brick and every life is lived day by day.

If you live your life trying to get as much out of each individual day as possible, you can rest assured that you have done all you can to achieve a life that makes you proud.

You have to design your days to design your life.

Here are three things you can do to ensure that you get the most value out of today.

Do something that moves you forward.

This is anything that improves you physically, emotionally, spiritually or intellectually.

It is important to try and improve yourself at least marginally every day.

Read a book, go for a walk, meditate or hit the gym. Whatever you have to do to feel like you are a slightly more balanced and stable person than you were yesterday.

When you get into the habit of doing something that moves you forward every day, you will never be stagnant.

You will feel like a completely brand new person every six months.

Do something you haven’t done before.

Without novelty in our lives the days seem to blend together in a mix of early morning coffee spills and beaten up alarm clocks.

It’s hard to notice when your life has been going on autopilot. You look back in shock as you realize that you haven’t done anything new in months.
Where did the time go?

Novelty is the spice of life. Go to a film festival, check out a farmers market. Do something you’ve never done before, go somewhere you’ve never been before.

Add some colour to your life to prevent it from becoming a symphony of greys and blacks.

Do something selfless.

There is no better way to have a meaningful day than to devote some of your time to something other than yourself.

There are more than seven billion people on this planet but we often only think of life from our own perspective.

Devoting some of your time to others can help you see life in a new light.

Spend some time volunteering, reach out to a friend you haven’t seen in a while or show some love to your pet.

Any time spent on someone else, is time well spent.

You may not know what will happen in the future, but decide what happens today.

If you consciously try to get value out of every day, you will have a valuable life.

A life with meaning is a life well lived, but your whole life doesn’t happen at once.

It’s built brick by brick, step by step, day by day.

As always, I’ll see you next Sunday.