Ask anyone about their dream life, and you’ll probably get some flavor of this:
Luxury travel. First class flights. The house, the car, the cool things.
These desire tend to be big and generalized.
After the novelty dies down, that’s when the truth comes out.
To truly get a sense of what you actually value…we can start by looking deeply into the day.
Enter the dream day exercise
The power of the dream day exercise lies in how specific it is. Generalizations hide; specifics reveal.
“What does your perfect day look like from waking to sleep?”
Here’s an excerpt of some things I wrote down:
- Wake up next to my love* and make coffee for us
- Have a slow mornings to meditate, stretch and journal
- Do deep creative work for 3-4 hours.
- Walk out in nature
- Have friends over for dinner
- Wind down slowly with gratitude. Make room for intimate time.
*still working on this one. I’m taking referrals ;)
I was shocked at how basic my dream day looked like.
It felt jarring to realize that I have access to many aspects of my “dream life” now.
My “dream” isn’t as out of reach as I thought it was.
I’d say there’s at least an 70% overlap, and the rest of the 30% I have to optimize for.
It’s relatively easy to…
- Reach out to friends
- Cultivate a morning ritual I enjoy
- Move through the day with more presence and ease
These are all things that don’t require winning the lottery. It just takes effort to override my conditioning.
I forget that life really is created day by day, moment by moment.
Not only can I live a rich life now, but this is a feeling to be cultivated.
For those pursuing financial independence, it’s easy to relegate dreams into the someday, fuzzy future.
Just keep your head down, invest, and wake up free one day.
When my mind is overly fixated on an external goal, I forget that it’s my job to make myself feel good.
Recognizing that there’s so much overlap makes me grateful.
It also challenges me to expand my focus into the present moment.
A rich life is made in the recognition of one’s riches.