Masterpiece Days
“Make each day your masterpiece.” John Wooden
If you could paint a picture of a great day, what would it look like? What would happen during this “masterpiece day”? How can we intentionally design and Have an Optimal Day, every day, starting today? Let’s take a look at these ten big ideas from the Optimize course, “Masterpiece Days 101.”
1. Today is the Day
Today is a great day to start building a great life. Let’s take a few moments to look at what we can do each day to design a life with purpose and direction. Today is the day to begin living our intentional, optimal, compelling lives. Let’s start now with a sense of urgency and presence. because today truly is the day to begin building the masterpiece.
2. Macros and Micros
Now let’s take a moment to, again, picture our ideal day. Taking a “macro” look at what we are doing, learning, creating, and enjoying? What makes this day so great. Now we can take a “micro” look and think about the small things we do today to make this day happen. Not just today, but every day. Creating a masterpiece requires a big picture view with tiny steps of action.
3. Our One Thing
To get a clearer picture of our day, we need to think about our targets. Not just today, but this year, five years from now, ten years from now, and so on. When we have a clear target, we are better equipped to take aim at what we can control. What we do today? What we do right now? So what is the target, the one thing? Now, write it down. This is important.
4. Make Progress
When we have clarity on the big picture, it makes our decision for today a little easier. To make meaningful improvement toward a great life, we simply need to make some marginal gains each day. These tiny little micro steps, day after day after day, add up and compound. We build habits that focus on the process, aka, the controllables in our lives.
5. Fundies and Waves
Our masterpiece days have a couple of key elements. One is attending to the fundamentals of eating, moving, and sleeping. If we want to feel good and approach our days with energy and zest, we need to start with these fundies. The other key element is waves. We need to alternate between high focus and recovery. Turning our work on, and turning it off.
6. Kryptonite Control
Now, consider our kryptonite, the things that make us weak by stealing our energy and focus. It’s helpful to identify and address these things that kill our masterpiece days. Two control strategies are to 1. make a “don’t do” list, and 2. make an “if-then” plan. If we’re aware of what tempts us to get off track, we can create and install an intentional reaction to keep us on track to our great life.
7. AM + PM Bookends
We have the most control over the first and last parts of our days. In the morning, news, social media, and email can hijack our time and focus derailing the day before it begins. We need to schedule an AM plan, blocking out time that can move us toward a great day. We can create a PM routine that helps shut down the day and prepare to start tomorrow right.
8. Deep Work Blocks
Blocking out “distraction free” time is a great way to prioritize important work. Schedule time to engage deeply on relevant tasks. Let’s be scientists as we experiment and examine ourselves as we search for our best deep work setting and times of day. Our masterpiece days really begin to take form when we learn about ourselves and schedule our work accordingly.
9. Deep Love Blocks
Great days move us toward a great life. A critical component of a great life is expressing love to those around us. This is important and we have to schedule what is important. So we need to consider WHAT are the areas where we want deep love, HOW we can schedule and spend time, and WHEN we intend to do so. It’s important. Let’s schedule it.
10. Test, Measure, Appreciate, Iterate
So all of these elements of our masterpiece days require practice. We need to make a plan, make daily progress, and enjoy the process. When we fail, we need to be curious, not furious. We’re experimenting, tracking, celebrating, and repeating. Day after day, moment to moment. THIS is how we build masterpiece days. THIS is how we create great lives.
With all this in mind, I’ll ask you again. If you could paint a picture of a great day, what would it look like? What would happen during this “masterpiece day”? How can we intentionally design and Have an Optimal Day? Let’s take the time today to make a masterpiece of today and every day. Again and again and again. Starting now.
Have an awesome, masterpiece day!
How to Make Today Your Masterpiece (Brian Johnson - Optimize)
Masterpiece Days 101: How to Create a Great Life One Day at a Time (Brian Johnson - Optimize)
Photo by David Iskander on Unsplash
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