Review: The Perfect Day Formula

Ballantyne's stoic inspired guide to winning each day is my latest read in what sometimes feels like a long line of slightly meta self-development books. Essentially, the authors write books and launch businesses by writing guides on how to do the same. Often the books are long form advertising brochures for other services like consultancy or courses.  But cynical though that sounds, it doesn't make them worthless.

The Perfect Day Formula follows the familiar pattern. Ballantyne has developed a formula that works well for him - as something of an extreme lark - and he thinks it will work for you too:

• Control your mornings -
   ie reserve them for high quality creative work
• Conquer your afternoons - run good meetings, plan your next day, express gratitude
• Concentrate on what really matters in the evenings
  - put down your work tools and focus on family and friends

On mornings, it turns out that plenty of creative historical figures were in a similar mind to Ballantyne:

"Revived and strengthened by sleep and not yet harassed by the absurd trivialities of everyday life"

Goethe on mornings

But I suspect even Warren Buffet's famously regular routine looks indulgent next to Ballantyne's:

4 a.m. – Writing Session #1
6:30 a.m. – Meditation, Dog Walk, and Breakfast
8 a.m. – Writing Session #2
10:30 a.m. – Early to Rise Team Meeting
11 a.m. – Exercise (four days per week)
12 p.m. – Reading and Lunch
2 p.m. – Phone Calls and Email
4 p.m. – Dog Walk, Big Thinking, and Gratitude Journaling
5 p.m. – Reading, Dinner, and Family/Social Time
8 p.m. – Bedtime

All of this sounds like I wasn't that impressed by The Perfect Day Formula. That's not true as I did like how certain truisms common to these guides were framed in this book and I learned a few new things.

Slowly introducing new habits
He first created a habit of not checking email before 9am, and then slowly increased it to 10am, 10.30 am etc.   He suggests delaying checking your inbox by an extra five minutes each day.

Writing in your gratitude journal in the late afternoon
This period of reflection, and listing of accomplishments can add to your sense of achievement and so increase motivation. As an occasional gratitude diary keeper - I will be giving this one a go.

Using triggers to overcome bad habits
I've been unconsciously using this minimum effective use of willpower for some time - but was good to see it crystallised in this book. Ballantyne's example uses it to "summon up the smallest amount of discipline to open up the Microsoft Word program on my computer. That was the trigger that snapped me out of my procrastination".  This inception like observational trigger is one that I will definitely be making more use of.

The Goodnight formula
Ballantyne's day is a highly scripted one and did like his rules of thumb to help ensure a good sleep:

• Caffeine - no later than 10 hours before bedtime
• Food or alcohol - no later than 3 hours before bedtime
• Work - no later than 2 hours before sleep
• Screen time - no more than 1 hour before sleep

Again I do some of these, but others are worth testing.

Doing brain dumps at the end of each work day
This self explanatory technique seems like a good one for clearing your head and preparing for the next day.

Getting up
I tend to use the 5, 4, 3, 2 1 Go approach I learned from Mel Robbins - but Ballantyne recommends repeating something like this mantra:

“Remember why you are doing this. It’s your one and only life, one that is not rewarded for staying in bed, one that does not move forward because you stole an extra five minutes of sleep. If you want more sleep, you need to get to bed earlier, not wake up later. You cannot miss out on your magical fifteen minutes in the morning”

Craig Ballantyne, The Perfect Day Formula

That's kind of hard core, but I might try it...

Preach what you know
I've logged this based on something known to improve happiness - giving.  Ballantyne it turns out is big on giving knowledge away - and also rather eloquent:

“When you teach others what you know, when you share your knowledge, when you add value, this can help you in so many ways. It can deliver you from (mild) depression and anxiety, from a scarcity mindset, and from a lack of clarity. Teaching will give you a natural high”

 Craig Ballantyne, The Perfect Day Formula

Finding fellow travellers

Most of us who want to try something new will have encountered sceptism, perhaps even outright hostility or sabotage from others. The Perfect Day Formula suggests using small tests initially to find people who are on a similar path.  OK, it's fairly obvious but I hadn't seen it written down before so a hat tip to Craig for it. 

Verdict: Succinct guide to having a great day - if you are a lark!