Within the “lifestyle design” genre, it’s commonly taught that we should try to plan our life around our ideal day. The lesson typically goes something like this, “Imagine your ideal Saturday. Now think about how you can design your life so every day is as close to that “perfect” day as possible.”

It generally makes sense.

I like Saturday, and I particularly like my favorite Saturdays. So it seems reasonable that I would want every day to be like that.

But as I began reflecting on what this perfect day would look like, I came to an interesting realization. I don’t have a single “favorite day.”

Some of my favorite days are spent relaxing, others are spent hard at work. Some are with family and/or friends, others are just me doing my own thing. Some are at home, others are far away from home.

I would get bored if I planned around any particular day. Who would want to sit on a beach (or do anything for that matter) every single day?

I enjoy weekends and vacations, but I’m usually eager to get back to work by the time they come to a close. Just like I like working out, but I don’t have any desire to make it a daily practice.

There’s also a significant difference between the pure joy I feel during an activity and the satisfaction I get after having completed it. I can’t say that I have fun playing basketball, but I enjoy it a great deal. It’s just a different type of enjoyment than what I get from laughing with friends or working on a difficult problem, and I think it’s important to have balance.

So overall, I like the intent of the quest to design our life around some “perfect day.” It makes us reflect on which elements we do, and don’t, enjoy; and it encourages us to try to incorporate more of the positive elements into our life on a regular basis.

But it isn’t as simple as trying to make every day “perfect.”

Unless, of course, we change the way we define perfect.

-Brandon