How To Have A Good Day

The Daily Stoic for May 7th. “How to have a good day”.

“God laid down this law, saying: if you want some good, get it from yourself.”
—EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 1.29.4

I think we all can agree on our disagreement of “what’s a good day”. The definition varies wildly from person to person. Of course, a good day is not necessarily a perfect day… It’s just a day that ends with a sense of fulfillment and joy.

How To Have A Good Day?

In my case, there’s a series of things that help.

Set The Most Important Task For The Day, And Complete It

One of the most important things to end my day with a smile on my face is being able to finish a task that’s significant enough. I think it was The 4-Hour Workweek, by Tim Ferris, that mentions how you should set an important task and focus on finishing just that task to consider your day productive.

I have always struggled with that. As both a solopreneur and a workaholic, saying “no” or delegating tasks has not been easy for me. In fact, only recently I have learned to focus on one, and only one project. Ok, maybe two if you count this blog.

Setting a realistic task you can complete every day will allow you to end it with a feeling of closure, and will boost your confidence in your skills. On the contrary, overwhelming yourself with lots of different tasks will only make you think you never have enough time.

Cut to the chase.

Do Some Exercise, Or Go For A Walk

Today I had a lot of work and was not able to go to the gym. I try to go at least every weekday. Exercise not only helps you focus, it generates endorphins -the hormone of happiness- and gives you more energy to face the day, especially if you train or exercise early in the morning.

Thus, after finishing work, I felt constrained by the walls of my apartment. I decided to go for a walk and then find a café to write the daily stoic post of the day.

That short walk through Riga, and getting my eyes away from the screen for some time, has been enough to help me relax and focus on my writing.

Do Something Good For Someone

And this is where I completely agree with today’s stoic excerpt. Doing something good for someone is the best way I know to make you feel happier. In fact, I think every good deed we do propagates exponentially to people around at that very moment.

This small gesture need not be elaborate. You don’t need to chase old ladies to help them cross the street. Saying “I love you” to the person you love, or inviting one of your colleagues at work for a good cup of coffee will do the trick.

Conclusion

Today’s Daily Stoic, “How to have a good day”, discusses that in order to have a good day, one must do good things. That’s definitely one of the three things that are guaranteed to cheer up my day too. The other two being finishing the most important task of the day, and doing some exercise, a walk or any other outside activity.