What is the ideal life? Is it sitting around the pool relaxing? Is it being a billionaire? Is it having 20 houses in an investment portfolio? Is it being happy? Is it being super fit?

There is no one answer. One person’s dream can be another’s prison.

When we look at the ideal life, we have to look at your broader life to start with. You are bigger than your business or your job. Your life comprises many more elements.

When engineering what your ideal life is, you must start with the bigger picture and ensure that all the parts fit together. 

If you just get a job or just start a business and see how you go, you might end up engineering a business that rules your life—or a job that makes you unhappy.

 Let’s look at the parts that an ideal life would include:

Personal Goals and Purposes

It’s YOUR ideal life, so we have to start with your personal goals and purposes.

Do you have any? Do you have dreams? Do you have things that motivate you? Are you doing things that excite you or challenges that you want to overcome?

To be happy everyone needs to have some personal goals and purposes, some ambitions. It does not matter what they are. They may be big, they may be small, they may be medium. It doesn’t matter. They just need to be yours.

Note down some of your personal goals and ambitions.

Relationships

An Ideal Life include rewarding relationships. It might include being married, a life partner, family, kids.

How many kids? How are they doing? What are they doing?

And your partner or your spouse—are they winning? Are they happy? Are you aligned with one another?

Career or Business

Is this something you do for money so you can fund other parts of your life? Or is this something that has meaning and purpose in itself?

For some, their job supports everything they care about and this is meaning enough. For others, their career, business must have meaning. The money is not the main focus but a byproduct.

I recall planning the Ideal Business with a client. He told me he wanted a company with 50+ staff etc. etc. I asked Why was he starting this business? He proceeded to tell me what he wanted for the rest of his life (many of the points in this article). Once we’d listed down what he wanted for his family, self, income, etc. I asked what business would he need to produce that?  

The answer was a business with 5 staff! Much easier. 

So beware the “big is better trap”. Big is better if it is what you want and fits your Ideal Life. 

By the way, the above guy achieved his business goal and now is looking to make it more Ideal. 

The World

Then we have the world at large. Does your ideal life include travelling, helping other people, other races, being involved in other cultures? I don’t mean just posting things.

Do you want to live somewhere else? Interact with more people? 

Health

It’s very hard to live an ideal life if you’re sick, ill, if you lack energy, if you’re overweight and unwell.

So what is your ideal body, your ideal health?

Now, I know most blokes might just say to have a six-pack, but that’s largely been popularised from men’s health magazines. 

Most women may have an image in mind from a magazine or Instagram.

But what do you really want?

I suggest most people would want to feel good, be healthy, and have energy to do their ideal life. Healthy people look good and have energy. 

Anyway, it is what it is for you.

Environment

What about the environment?

I don’t mean necessarily what you hear in the media. I mean, where do you want to live? How do you want to contribute? Do you like growing plants? Do you like animals? Do you want lots of pets? Do you want to live on a farm? 

It could be as simple as cleaning up your neighbourhood or a local park. 

Wealth

Most have a lot of attention on this. It is not ideal to be poor in our society. But ensure your targets fit in with everything else. 

Rich people are not necessarily happy. Neither are poor people. I’ve noticed people who are drowning in debt are stressed—not fun. So consider what the ideal set up is. Your financial position has a crucial role in your Ideal Life. 

I recall talking to a guy who’d just finished selling off 18 properties and only had a couple left. He said he felt so much better. 

I know another who bought 17 in a few years and was very busy, but enjoying himself. He had a very specific target he was working towards which fit in with his life and family. 

 We all have heard the saying “you can’t take it with you”. So it’s a good idea to work out what income you need to support your Ideal Life and your values.

There’s no point accumulating it all and only enjoying the last 10 or 20 years of your life. Your life should be moving towards ideal the whole journey. 

Also, beware the limiting trap. I’ve seen people with far less resources travel and enjoy themselves than those who have way more money. So it’s not just the money, it's the personal freedom to do what you want. 

Creativity and Aesthetics

Life is better with creativity. Life is more ideal when it includes aesthetics and beauty.

Creative pursuits could be dancing, could be painting, could be music, could be writing books, could be writing fiction. It could be sculpting. It can be how you dress, how you design your house, etc.

Creating a business can be a form of art. Or making a beautiful win-win deal with others. 

The possibilities are infinite.

Most people have a more ideal life when they’re creative. Creativity is making things for the future.

Clearly Define It

Hopefully that’s given you some prompts to look at your Ideal Life.

The first step when working out any goal is to define it. And that’s what we’ve been doing.

Because if you can’t define it, you won’t get it. 

If you want to go and buy a car, the first thing you need to do is define what sort of car—or at least the categories, the price range, and so on. Otherwise, it’s impossible to tell the dealers what you want. It’s no different with your life.

You may have noticed that when you decide to buy a certain type of car that you start seeing them everywhere. The same phenomena happens with your life. If you start defining what you’re looking for, you’ll start to see it more. You’ll see the opportunities that can take you there.

Don't Fall for the Bigger-Is-Better Trap

Another factor that can happen when people start looking at what’s their ideal life is that they get into the trap of “bigger is better.” It must be huge. Must be the richest, the biggest, the whatever.

This can be a trap.

Perhaps that is your goal, truly—which is great. But for many people, it's not.  They’ve been promoted to by TV, by society, social media or whatever, to take a goal that isn’t really theirs.

I can guarantee you: 

Your Ideal Life does not include achieving other people’s goals. It’s achieving your goals.

So keep that in mind. Make sure it’s your goal. What do you really want?

It Will Probably Change

When looking at your ideal life: Remember that things can change.

You’ve decided that you want to have two kids and be married and have a business with a million dollars turnover and live in your favourite suburb—that may change.

You may get there and you’ll start to think of something more ideal, most likely. Most people do.

Life is a continuous journey where you envisage bigger and better things—or different things.

Don't Forget to Have a Win

This leads me to the last point. It comes up a lot when advising business owners and people in general:

Don’t forget to have a win. Life is improved by wins, not loses.

You’re somewhere on the path. If you’ve made a step forward, just remember to take care to notice it and give yourself a pat on the back. Beating yourself up doesn't help. Closer to the ideal is an improvement and it should be validated. 

Because life—an Ideal Life—is composed of little wins. Lots of little wins. Lots of little improvements.

The big breakthroughs are the culmination of lots of little improvements, discipline, persistence. And of course—defining it to start with.