I only do business with shiny people

I was reading this article the other day, and somewhere near the end of it, John Jantsch mentioned having “Your vision story.” He’s speaking of the “why” behind your business and life choices…your “shine factor.” Specifically, he wrote about plotting a detailed description of your “ideal day” in the life of your business. Here’s mine:

7am - Wake up. Have coffee. Just kidding. Coffee tastes bad (yes, I’m still secretly 12.) Instead, I’ll eat waffles with my family and talk about current events.

8am - Check my email. Read a really awesome one from an incredibly cool client who thinks everything I do is golden. Call client and discuss plans for a future project in which I have full creative rein. Do a happy dance. I only work with one client at a time (this is my IDEAL future, remember), so I get to be choosy with who I work with.

9am - Take a break to go on a walk outside with my kids. It’s the perfect day. 80 and sunny with a slight breeze. Bring the dog along. On my ideal day, he would actually choose to walk with us instead of drag us down the road.

9:30am - Work on my blogs. Chat with really cool people (preferably shiny…see title.)

10:30am - Eat pita chips and hummus with my kids (they really do like it.) Color. Bake stuff. Learn about why the sky is blue.

12pm - Eat lunch with my family. There will be green grapes involved.

1pm - Put kids down for nap/quiet time. Meet with John to go over our project deadlines. Record for an hour for a future animation short.

2:30pm - Read during the few moments of solitude that I have before the kids get up.

3:30pm - Everybody’s up. We are all desperate for a Tropical Smoothie. We end up making our own, and it tastes even better.

4:30pm - Add to my idea book. Connect old ideas with new ones. Make sketches for upcoming project.

5:30pm - The whole family makes dinner. Perhaps chicken wraps with black beans and rice. With tomatoes from the garden, of course. And a LOT of cheese. And dessert.

7:00pm - We all watch a movie. We eat popcorn and drink soda, possibly through Twizzler straws.

8:30pm - Put kids to bed. Clean up around the house. Eat more dessert. Read more. Go to bed early.

So hmmm. I really could be doing a lot of that stuff right now. The things I would have to subtract? Stress. Working with a bunch of clients at once. Staying up too late. Thing I would have to add? An animation studio in our home so John could work here instead of somewhere else.

Definitely stuff to look forward to, but I’ve got a lot of the elements of my perfect day already. Nice.