My ordinary day, 10 years from now

(A few months back I wrote “An ordinary day, ten years from now” which is a thought exercise for planning your future. Here’s my attempt at it. You will be bored if you read this because it’s for me, not you.)

Context:

• It’s Monday, February 23rd, 2032.
• I’m 45 years old and Nancy is 44.
• Charlie is 21, Henry is 18, William is 16, Thomas is 13.

My alarm clock wakes me up at 5:30am. I feel great because Nancy and I went to sleep at 10pm the night before like usual. I hop out of bed and chug a glass of water. I brush my teeth and throw on some workout clothes, then drive to my CrossFit gym for the 6am class. I know all the people, and we goof around a lot. It’s how I keep my bod looking like this guy’s:

Class lets out at 7am as the sun is coming up, and I’m home by 7:10 for a shower. We have one of those double showers that rains on you from both sides. I listen to a 10 minute daily news podcast on a bluetooth speaker while I’m in there. Then I get dressed in jeans and a thick sweater and make some decaf coffee.

Nancy, Thomas, and William are getting ready by now (and Henry and Charlie are off at college). We eat breakfast together (protein shake and veggie omelette, perhaps) and I pack up my laptop and my running clothes. Then Nancy drives Thomas and William to school and starts her day.

It’s 8am now, and I’m home alone. We live in a nice house overlooking Paris Mountain State Park. It looks like this:

I go to my cozy rocking chair on the porch with my coffee and a book, and read until 8:45am. Then I crack open my laptop and spend 15 minutes planning my day and ramping up.

The next three hours (9am-12pm) are writing time. I’m working on a book on leadership, or time management, or something. I do six Pomodoros (Work for 25 minutes, take a 5 minute break, repeat). I head back inside the house and eat a protein bar (my only lunch since I had a big breakfast) and put on running clothes and shoes.

I head out the door and run a 15 miler around Paris Mountain. I listen to an audiobook for the first ten miles and switch to music for the last five. At 2:15pm I’m back at the house to shower again (I love showers) and get dressed.

The next two hours, I’m taking coaching and consulting calls and meetings from my home office. I consider myself a writer first and foremost, but I’m also a part time agile coach for companies and a life and career coach for individuals. The books are good marketing so I can charge a lot per hour.

Once the meetings wrap up, I record an episode of the podcast which really means I chat with my friends and it happens to be recorded. That ends at 5:30pm. I spend 10 minutes closing out lingering tasks and responding to the last emails, and then head downstairs for family time.

Nancy and I cook dinner together while William and Thomas finish their homework. We eat and chat until 7pm. Monday is game night so we play a card game until 7:45. The boys head to their rooms to play video games or whatever it is that teenagers do in 2032. Nancy and I have a quick video call with Henry and Charlie to catch up, which they begrudgingly allow a few times a week.

8-10pm is my time with Nancy. We clean up with music playing in the kitchen, then head to bed to make fun of a dumb show together and talk about our days. At 10pm we go to sleep together.

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Takeaways:

• I want to move next to some great running trails once the kids are older.
• I have to take writing more seriously if I want it to be half of my job in 10 years.
• I will find and interview an agile coach or two about how they got started.
• Five hours of work per day (three hours writing, two hours consulting/coaching) is the goal.
• Next year, when all four kids are in school full time, I’ll try CrossFit.