An ideal day, in three parts

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the shape of an ideal day. Not necessarily a ‘productive’ day, but one that leaves me feeling balanced, steady, and quietly fulfilled. It can rest on three simple parts:

1. Cultivate a skill—something that sharpens me a little. It could be for work, but just as often it’s patience or learning to show up better for the people close to me. Each effort compounds over time.
2. Craft something lasting and delightful—a small program, a line of prose, a sketch, or even a refined idea. Something I can look back on and say, this didn’t exist before today.
3. Care for what naturally decays—bodies, housekeeping, the invisible upkeep that resists entropy: cooking, cleaning, and rest. These things don’t announce themselves, but if I ignore them, they pile up and pull me down.

I’ve been trying to hold these three parts in mind, weaving them into my own routine. They act less like rules and more like a compass.

If I can touch each one, even lightly, the day feels less like it slipped away and more like it left something behind.