How to Start Creating Your Ideal Life TODAY
Monte Fitz Roy, Argentina
On the surface, the Outside 365 project may seem to have a narrow focus: espousing going outside and moving your body every single day. But actually, the idea is much larger and can be applied much more broadly than to just exercising outside.
Instead, the underlying message is this:
Living in alignment with your values every day is critical for achieving happiness and well-being.
Outside 365 isn't prescriptive. I'm not saying that you MUST do exactly as I say, or else you're a failure in life. If you don't value going outside and connecting to nature, hey, that's up to you. If you don't want to go outside and exercise, I suppose that's fine (although numerous scientific studies show that you'd be happier, less stressed, and physically and mentally healthier if you did).
This project was born from a growing unwillingness to let even a single day slip by without acting on my most important core values. I didn't want to waste a single day of my one and only life by living out somebody else's idea of how I should be spending my time, my energy, and my money... so I decided that I just WOULDN'T put up with the mediocrity and compromise anymore.
I decided that even if it was a small action—even if it was just 20-30 minutes of walking outside—that I was going to stop caving to the many excuses that I concocted for why I couldn't live a more active life. Instead, I decided to actually start living the life that I wanted to live... right now. Instead of waiting for some future magic moment when I'd be pain and injury-free, free from work and the computer, and living in a location where I'd enjoy perfect weather every single day, I decided to tell those excuses to fuck off. I sought ways to overcome the many challenges that I was facing instead of caving to them and surrendering without a fight.
Patagonia, Argentina
The road to your "perfect" life may seem impossibly long, but getting to the end isn't the point.
While you can take action to create your ideal life right now, sometimes the road to your end vision is incredibly—if not impossibly—long. I failed several times at Outside 365 before I eventually accomplished a 365-day consecutive streak. So while it might seem like your perfect life is out of reach, in order to create your optimal reality right now, you need to place the value and importance on the small actions that you take every single day.
The point is today.
The point of Outside 365 isn't to go outside for 365 days in a row. The point is to go outside today and to enjoy the beauty that surrounds you right here and right now. Setting a lofty goal can help pull you through the seemingly insurmountable challenges, but the big number isn't the point: the point is to build a life that you love today.
All that exists is this present moment. The past is gone to dust, and our imagined future never actually arrives because it is always now. It is never the future, it is only right now.
If we can truly absorb this reality into the marrow of our ideology, we realize that the only choice we have left is to create a fantastic life that we love every single fucking day. There is no putting off for tomorrow. There is no deferring happiness to a later date. There is only living now, living here.
(Caveat: This isn't saying that you can't prepare for tomorrow while simultaneously enjoying today. Why not do BOTH? Just don't make the mistake of deferring today's happiness until tomorrow in an attempt to secure the future.)
More Examples
I can imagine innumerable ways that you can begin living in alignment with your values today—and every single day this year.
Perhaps you are most passionate about practicing one particular sport. Well, who says that you can’t do that one sport every single day? While the run streak is the most obvious example of athletes doing this, what if your sport is a bit more esoteric like, say, BMX biking? Do you think you could ride BMX every day for 365 days straight? Or what about 10x that—3,630 days?
That’s exactly what Scott Towne did—rain or shine, snow or sun, at home or while abroad. And he’s not stopping anytime soon! (Hat tip to Dani for sharing this great story with me!)
But what about values that aren’t sport-related?
Well, if you value mindfulness, why wouldn’t you meditate every day? What’s stopping you from setting aside ten minutes to sit down and quietly focus on your breathing?
If you value learning, why wouldn’t you read an interesting book or listen to a podcast that challenges your mind for at least a few minutes every single day?
If you value creating art, why wouldn’t you whip out a sketchbook and draw a bird that lands outside your window, an interesting person at a coffee shop? Even if you can’t necessarily get in the studio and work on canvas or create a sculpture every day, why not inject a little art and creativity on a daily basis to help keep your imagination alive?
If you value getting wealthy, why wouldn’t you create a side hustle (or two or three) and work for at least an extra hour every day on growing a second income stream?
If you value friendships and connection, why wouldn’t you take at least a few minutes every day to have a real conversation with someone you care about—not just exchanging a few text messages?
If you value quality family time, why wouldn’t you go out of your way to share at least one meal per day with your beloved family members?
This concept applies to basically any value that you hold dear. If you truly do want to achieve something and integrate it into your life, you can make it happen—and not just every once and a while, but every damn day.
But what about the challenges?
Monte Fitz Roy, Argentina
I guarantee that you'll face numerous challenges as you try to create your perfect life. And—spoiler alert—the challenges, difficulties, and resistance will never go away. Sure, you’ll undoubtedly surmount some of the original challenges that you faced, but they will inevitably be replaced by new, previously unforeseen challenges.
In order to create a free life right now, you will have to pay a price—and it may be an expensive price. You might have to pay the price by investing time in chasing your values, having difficult conversations with people you care about, or maybe even investing actual money in making your dreams come alive.
But which would you rather do: spend your entire life wishing that you could live a certain way, or instead, pay the price right now in order to begin living your life the way that you want to live it?
The beauty is that even in the midst of challenges, traps, and limitations, we can still take small but mighty actions that slowly, ever so slowly, open ourselves up to the possibility of what our radical, beautiful, extraordinary lives could look like.
So take that first step today. And take another step tomorrow. And keep taking steps until you turn around and barely recognize the life that you left behind.
