My best friend and housemate Gayle and I are always talking about travel. We fondly remember the trips we’ve taken, often spurred on by a Facebook or other memory popping up on our phones. We’re often discussing possible future trips. And, as Gayle is a travel agent, we’re even talking about other people’s trips.
I recently listened to an episode of the Happier podcast. I think it was this episode as I was doing a marathon catch up session to try to get back to current on some favorite podcasts. In the episode, they recapped a “framework” for anticipation.
Anticipating a happy event can bring you as much happiness as the event itself. The most recent example of this for me is the approximately 80 page travel guide we created for our Trip to London, The Netherlands, and Belgium. Working on this was an absolute joy. As I researched each location and thought about the plans for the day, my excitement and anticipation grew. Gayle and I also had several conversations about the trip - where the travel guide allowed us to clarify what we were thinking about for the trip.
Returning back to the podcast, they suggested that you should always have something to look forward to. There was no specific framework presented - but more general, so I made it more formal:
- 1 BIG thing
- 2 Mid-size things
- 3 little things
I’m a big planner, so I have lots of things on my radar screen. However, as I was putting this together, I realized that what I was missing are little things - daily joy types of things. These can be as simple as a trip to the library or coffee shop just to read or write or creating a simple surprise for someone.
To try to build more little moments in my schedule, I put something in place that I’d been holding off on for a while - block scheduling my days. I’ve revised my calendar so that the only days open to others to schedule on are Mondays and Wednesdays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are now blocked as writing and work days and Fridays are blocked as clean up and play days.
I planned to start this at the beginning of April - as an experiment for the second quarter of the year. With all of the preparation for the Tulip Time trip, I didn’t actually start the experiment until the beginning of May.
I’d say, overall it’s been mildly successful. Any change takes some getting used to - and I remain my schedule’s own worst enemy. That said, I’ve had more coffees and meals with friends since trying to put this in action. During my weekly review, I added a prompt to look at the calendar for the next few weeks and see if I do have three little things to look forward to. If not, it’s time to turn to my phone and/or calendar and get something scheduled.
How do you put anticipation to work as a part of your happiness? Hit reply or click the button below to chat in the I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up Community on Circle.
Some Other Things You Might Find Interesting
What I Published This Week
Behind the scenes I’m working on what has become a massive revision of a series I wrote on Obsidian templates. It will be published first in my community and then eventually on my website and Medium. If you’re a follower because of Obsidian, there has never been a better time to join my community. The article will be published on the free membership tier so that’s all you need. You’re also welcome to purchase a paid membership where you get all of my courses, Obsidian Office Hours, and more - including the soon to be published Obsidian Your Way courses.
What's Coming Up?
Events for All Circle Community Members
- 1Password for Mobile - August 1 from 9 - 10 a.m. EST
- YNAB/Budget with Me Office Hours - August 18 from noon - 1 p.m. EST
Events for Paid Circle Community Members
- Obsidian Office Hours - August 1, 11 a.m. - noon EST
- August 18, 3 - 4 p.m. EST
Also, watch out for some trials of “live” community events in the next few weeks about Obsidian.
Tennis Legends Play Pickleball
I will admit this is a little old and very niche, but in honor of Wimbledon wrapping up this past weekend, I thought I'd share a few tennis greats playing Pickleball. Gayle has been enjoying Andre Agassi's recently released autobiography which begins with the line, "I hate tennis." So, we've been enjoying some extra content about some tennis pros we've enjoyed through the years.
