An Ideal day

I want to share a coaching exercise with you that I love called The Ideal Day.

So often, when we think about what we want next, we begin with our current reality:

What can I afford?

What does my schedule allow?

What would actually be realistic?

What will everyone else need from me?

Before we know it, we're building our future around the limitations of our present.

The Ideal Day invites you to do something different.

Instead of asking what seems realistic, I want you to spend a little time imagining what's possible.

Picture an ordinary day in your ideal life, not a vacation, celebration, or once-in-a-lifetime experience. Just a regular Tuesday in a life that feels deeply right to you.

Imagine waking up.

Where are you?

What do you see when you open your eyes?

Who is beside you? What does the room feel like?

Move through your morning.

What are you wearing?

What are you eating?

Are you rushing or moving slowly?

Where do you go?

What kind of work are you doing?

Who are you spending your time with?

What does your environment look and feel like?

Continue all the way through your evening until you climb back into bed.

Don't worry about how any of it could happen.

For now, your only job is to notice what you want.

Pay attention to the details that come easily and the things that surprise you.

And perhaps most importantly, notice where your mind immediately responds with:

That's not realistic.

I could never do that.

That's not possible for me.

Those thoughts are valuable information, too.

They may reveal some of the beliefs that are keeping you rooted in what is rather than allowing you to imagine what could be.

When you're finished, ask yourself:

What stood out to me?

What did my Ideal Day reveal that I may be craving more of?

What parts of this life already feel possible?

What beliefs surfaced when I allowed myself to want something different?

And finally:

What is one small step I could take toward this life now?

You don't have to know how to create the entire life you imagined.

Sometimes we simply need to give ourselves permission to imagine it first.

Before we can grow new branches, we have to allow ourselves to imagine where we'd like them to reach.