So a challenge was issued in the post What Do You Really, Really Want? by Molly Greene on her blog: "Begin to imagine your perfect life, your perfect day. What would you be doing? Who would you be with? What would your workday look like?"
This post came just when I needed to remember such things. It rejuventated me and my husband because sometimes, when desiring something different (better), we pine and whine rather than making it happen. I've definitely ramped up my efforts to make the below true, but as with taking on anything new (marketing/promotion), I've hit an exhaustion point pretty quickly. This exercise really helped me to re-focus on what I want so I can focus on how to get it.
Often we think of big-picture ideals--a successful author! The next novel finished! But how do I get there? What's it like as I make progress? Visualization is a great way to help keep the juices pumping.
Both my husband and I work 9-5 jobs that are far from our perfect days. They are necessary and we're grateful for them (especially in this economy), but sometimes the blahs of those jobs drag us down and we don't use our evenings as well as we ought. My husband is a morning person, so he suffers more than I do under this arrangement but I suffer from a general discipline problem--I'm good in short bursts.
We both want to work from home again (we've each had a taste of our ideal days but for differing reasons, had to return to the rat race), so I've included him in my daydream. I haven't talked about income here but just replacing our current income would allow us to do the below and that's not a big number! So below illustrates progression toward total world domination.
An Ideal 9-5 Day
My husband likes to rise early and get straight to it. He's best in the morning so he'll leave me to snuggle the dogs for some extra zzzzzzzzs. I must force myself from bed because hubby is so engrossed in his work.
At 8 am I'll drag my NOT-A -MORNING-PERSON butt from bed, dress, let the dogs out, and then feed them and me. No special breakfast plans with the hubby because this is a work day and we don't need the distraction. I'll have my fruit, yogurt, and granola combination and take it to my desk. The dogs will join me immediately so I may have to bring their carrots and kibble to the office so we can eat together (they must be where I am--they are the moons that orbit me).
I'll open email and my blog first to answer comments or messages. Pandora will be playing because iTunes distracts me. If I began with iTunes, I'd suddenly need to re-organize all my playlists or make new ones. Then I'd end up purging and shopping. Suddenly two hours would disappear! No iTunes. Next I'll open other sites relevant to my writing and take care of networking and marketing. My published list includes "Strong Enough," "The Anonymous Blog of Mrs. Jones," and "Oak Land" so I check on their rankings and focus energy toward their continued success.
Around 11 am, everyone in the house will break for exercise. Since this is ideal, I'll do yoga. During deadman pose, the dogs will investigate my face and I'll have to move their stinky butts from my mat several times. Husband and I will eat sandwiches together but under the tick-tock of a timer because this is just a break. We'll return to our respective holes before 1 pm. I'll change from Pandora to iTunes now and wear my headphones as I spend the next several hours writing on my current projects "Wanderlust" and a YA plot that JUST jumped into my head. It's untitled.
I'll break for a dog walk--a brisk 20 minute tour of the neighborhood. Husband does not like to walk so that means the girls and I can visit some of our favorite furry friends for an extra ten minutes. When I return, I'll check in on hubby for dinner plans. He'll shrug or have his recording light on so I'll return to my desk and prepare for a scheduled event (in town, out of town, who cares!). I'll also check email again and try to wrap up any open networking. Sales reports will be solid but push me to work harder to finish my next novel and keep my brand fresh.
Eventually, we'll leave our caves and husband will convince me to get take-out so we don't have to deal with dishes. We'll watch bad TV and husband will struggle to stay awake past 10 pm. I'll read for an hour before crashing to sleep surrounded by snoring loved ones.
If 60% of my days could be like this, then I'll happily take the other 40% split between dressed up and schlepping, to cleaning and gardening.
I've asked hubby to describe his ideal day in the life of PixelTwister Studio. Hopefully he'll let me share.
