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In today’s fast-paced world, it’s easy to get caught up in societal standards of success—whether that’s making a certain amount of money, owning a dream home, or achieving a specific milestone in your career. But true fulfillment comes from defining what success looks like for you as an individual. In this blog post, I’m going to walk you through a recent exercise I did with ChatGPT that helped me envision my perfect day and clarify my goals. This exercise was an eye-opener for me, and I believe it can be just as transformative for you.
Defining Your Version of Success
We often chase after goals without really understanding what we want out of life. Are we striving for someone else’s idea of success or our own? To answer this question, I used ChatGPT to help me craft what my “perfect day” would look like—an exercise that helped me get clear on my personal version of success.
By inputting my goals, values, and priorities into ChatGPT, I received a detailed outline of what my ideal day would look like. The result was fascinating! It wasn’t filled with unrealistic fantasies or an unachievable work-life balance; it was a day rooted in real priorities, like spending time with family, focusing on creative work, nurturing my health, and building connections with others.
This exercise showed me that success doesn’t have to fit a predefined mold—it’s all about aligning your day-to-day life with what truly matters to you.
How to Define Your Perfect Day
You can do this exercise too. Simply take a moment to reflect on these questions:
What activities bring you the most joy and satisfaction?
How do you want to feel physically and mentally at the end of the day?
How much time do you want to spend working, creating, or with family?
What would a day full of “success” look like for you?
Write down your answers or use ChatGPT to guide you through creating a visual of your perfect day. By defining what success looks like, you’re better able to set goals that actually reflect your desires, rather than goals imposed by societal norms.
Turning the Vision into Action
After identifying my perfect day, I realized the importance of actionable steps to move closer to that vision. So, I asked ChatGPT for advice on what I could do to make my dream day a reality. The AI suggested five key areas to focus on:
Clarifying the Vision: Regularly revisit your vision of success and tweak it as necessary.
Creating Financial Goals: Build financial milestones that support the lifestyle you want to achieve.
Prioritizing Work-Life Balance: Ensure that your work schedule leaves room for personal time and creative pursuits.
Nurturing Health and Well-Being: Make physical and mental health a top priority.
Building a Support Network: Surround yourself with people who encourage and support your goals.
These strategies turned into a checklist that I now use to track my progress. The simple act of having a plan and a daily or weekly checklist keeps me accountable and ensures that I’m always making small but meaningful strides toward my ultimate vision.
Create Your Own Checklist
I encourage you to follow this process too! Take the time to list actionable steps that align with your perfect day, whether they’re small habits like exercising daily or more significant steps like taking on new projects that align with your creative goals. Small, consistent progress is the key to reaching the life you want.
Why It's Important to Define Your Own Success
The biggest takeaway from this experience is that success doesn’t have to be tied to societal expectations. When you chase after someone else’s version of success, it often leads to burnout, dissatisfaction, and even confusion about why you feel unfulfilled. By defining your own success, you're aligning your life with what you genuinely care about—your values, passions, and interests.
By creating your personal vision and focusing on actionable steps to achieve it, you build a roadmap for a fulfilling life. It’s an ongoing process, but one that feels much more authentic than simply checking off society’s boxes of what success "should" look like.
Take Action: Download My Worksheet
If you’re ready to begin defining your own success and building your ideal day, I’ve created a simple worksheet to guide you through the process. Whether you’re just getting started or looking to refocus your goals, this worksheet is designed to help you take actionable steps toward creating your perfect day.
Get the worksheet by subscribing to my Substack, where you’ll also find exclusive content like this.
Conclusion
Defining your version of success is one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself. It sets the foundation for a life that is aligned with your values, goals, and aspirations. Whether you’re an artist, a business owner, or a creative entrepreneur, taking the time to reflect on your ideal day and turning that vision into a practical action plan will bring you closer to living the life you truly want.
Start today by creating your perfect day and taking steps to turn that vision into a reality. You’ve got this!
Interested in diving deeper into goal-setting, mindset shifts, and productivity tips for artists and creatives? Subscribe to my Substack or listen to my podcast, where we explore these topics and more every week!
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