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My Perfect Day: a Journey into Serenity and Joy

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Published: Sep 16, 2023

Words: 872 | Pages: 2 | 5 min read

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The tranquil morning, a day of exploration, a culinary delight, afternoon serenity, an enchanting evening, reflecting on perfection.

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What is Your Idea of a Perfect Day?

Hajra!  Let’s talk about a perfect day!

All of us dream of the perfect life. All of us yearn for a perfect day to say the least. But how many of us have the idea of what the perfect day means for us.

As a kid I thought every day was perfect, but then I didn’t have to work for money then! As I grew up I stopped “fantasizing” as one might say. However, one does think from time to time, what the perfect day for me might be like. Will it just be having loads of money, or peace of mind, or a weekend spent like I would want it to?

Now, there is nothing like perfect. But yes, there is something like ideal. Close to perfect I might say.

So, I got thinking what would an ideal day – what a close-to-perfect day might be like?

Here’s how think my “almost perfect” day would be.

It would definitely begin a little later than normal. Yes, I like sleeping and I hate getting up early, so one that begins later than usual with breakfast in bed! I don’t know who is going to make that breakfast but yes, definitely breakfast in bed with the newspaper in hand and hopefully, with all good news.

Obviously, there will be a good book, a great movie – preferably at home; good food and just the right amount of coffee on that day. And yes, all my laundry done on that day.

Money I hear someone saying – well if it is the perfect day, then I am hoping there is a decent amount in the bank and if there isn’t; then come on, it is a perfect day and I am not worrying! Peace of mind – well yes that is why I got up late and I am not worried about money. Happiness is what I feel is a state of mind and if I am getting up late, having good food and all my likes all around then I feel I am happy.

But I wonder; there might have so many perfect days and perfect moments; but we might have missed it because we were thinking of actually having a planned perfect day.

Yes, my perfect day always has to end with ice cream!

Have you thought about such a day? What constitutes your ideal day? What does your perfect day look like?

photo credit: Widerberg

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The Perfect Day

What does your perfect day look like? Write it down, make it happen, and change your life.

This is my version of Barbara Sher’s exercise in which one imagines one’s “perfect day.” My wife introduced me to it, and we use it to map out, individually, our personal and professional goals. Sometimes we share with each other, sometimes we don’t. It’s a personal thing, just for you, and should guide you to change your life in positive ways.

The exercise can sound cheesy to some – it certainly did to me. But in practice, it’s an effective way to drill down to what really matters to you. It can be a subtle but energizing motivator.

We often wish we spent our time doing other things. Our days are filled with jobs we hate, people we don’t like, and tasks we don’t want to do. And while it can feel like there’s nothing to do about it, there is.

Change only happens when we make it happen. But we fall into a trap: we only think about what we don’t want in our lives, instead of what we do want in our lives. And while removing unwanted parts of our lives is an important part of increasing our overall satisfaction, focusing on filling our days with what we do want works better.

How do you want to spend your time? That’s a vital question you need to ask yourself. The only way to be truly satisfied is to spend your time on things that are enjoyable, interesting and inspiring to you.

A fun and easy way to accomplish this is by imagining your “perfect day.”

Your perfect day can be whatever you want. This is your perfect day and no one else’s. It doesn’t matter what other people think; your perfect day is for you. If it includes other people, or even doing things for other people, that’s great! It might feature volunteering at a local food bank, but it also might simply be filled with reading a book and eating great food.

In order to get the most out of this exercise, however, I recommend you imagine your perfect weekly workday. The reason is that the purpose of this experiment is to improve your overall satisfaction with your life. Work is part of life; by imagining your ideal workday, it may push you to find a more satisfying career. That doesn’t have to be the goal, but it might be part of it.

A good way to start is to write down everything that is most important to you. You may want to look back at that list as you create your perfect day.

Imagine your perfect day from the moment you will wake up until the moment you will fall asleep.

A perfect day is not perfect unless every part of it is something you want. Each moment of your perfect day should be spent doing something you feel good about. This doesn’t mean that you make a million dollars or find the love of your life. It means that you don’t spend your time doing something you hate.

Your perfect day should be filled with things that matter to you.

Here is one example of a perfect workday for me:

• Wake up in the morning, well-rested, in a comfortable home surrounded by nature, next to my wife
• Kiss my wife goodbye as she either goes to work or goes about her day
• Meditate for 20 to 45 minutes
• Enjoy a cup of coffee while taking a short walk
• Eat a light breakfast
• Take second cup of coffee into my home office
• Write for 1-3 hours
• Workout or take a long walk
• Write for 1-2 hours, or, work on other project
• Short call to family member or good friend
• Spend time with my wife as one of us makes dinner
• More time with my wife
• Read or listen to music before heading to bed

This is just one example of a perfect day for me. This is also a perfect day for me:

• Enjoy a cup of coffee while thinking and journaling
• Take a second cup of coffee into my home office
• Work on music project or podcast episode
• Take a short walk
• Work again, creating, researching, or writing
• Afternoon reading
• Welcome my wife home and make dinner while talking
• Watch a movie with my wife

Those are slightly different days, but both perfect days to me. Why? Because they include things that are important to me and that I enjoy. Why is work in there? Because the work is work that I want to do. Nowhere in my perfect day do I list “go to job I hate,” or “find a better job.”

I want to work from home. I want to create my own schedule. I want to write about things I care about, create meaningful work, and enjoy the process of creating. When I was working a job I no longer enjoyed, which was outside of the home, I wrote down my perfect day. I imagined the life I wanted, and then worked on steps to create it.

Also important to me are: meditation, time with my wife, contact with family and friends, working out, taking walks, reading and journaling, time to think, and sometimes napping. These are things that feed me, interest me, excite me, or bring me joy.

Attempting to reach your perfect day, every day, is a great motivator to change the aspects of your life that prevent your perfect day from happening.

My perfect day does not happen every day. In fact, it hasn’t happened yet because I’ve now added “surrounded by nature” to my perfect day. I live in a city, but I would rather live in a quiet place in the country or a small town. I want to wake up surrounded by forest or mountains or both. The fact that I’m not there yet doesn’t depress me; it reminds me of my goals. 

So don’t alter your perfect day so that you can easily say you’ve achieved it. Write down what you actually want your perfect day to look like. Then chip away, bit by bit, until you reach it. It can happen! I still remember when right before bed one night, my wife exclaimed, “I did it! I just lived my perfect day!” It’s an amazing thing to feel, and an amazing thing to witness.

When I wrote down my perfect day, I was working a job I no longer enjoyed. I was working nights, so I was waking up in the afternoon. So, including “Wake up in the morning” was very important to me. I wasn’t meditating as much as I wanted to, nor was I taking many walks (which I truly enjoy). I knew I wanted to work from home writing and creating. Somehow, I had to make that happen.

Write down your perfect day and save it somewhere. Keep it in your purse or wallet, hang it somewhere in your home or office, or even keep it on your phone. Refer to it every so often as a reminder of what you want to achieve.

It may take you years to get there, but knowing how you want to spend your time is the first step. Your perfect day will never happen unless you know what it looks like. You need to fully visualize the life that you think will satisfy you. If you get to that perfect day and it’s not as perfect as you imagined, change it! You change all the time, so your idea of the perfect day will change, too.

What does your perfect day look like?

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#3 What I Learned from Asking 30 People about their Perfect Day

Most people just want four things: connection, autonomy, progress and a peaceful state of mind.

• Post author By Darren
• Post date November 20, 2019
• No Comments on #3 What I Learned from Asking 30 People about their Perfect Day

Last year I started asking friends and strangers about their perfect day. I realized 90% of my Kindle books were written by white males from western societies. The thinkers I admired shared a similar worldview. Where could I find different ideas about the good life?

I wanted to learn from a broader spectrum of lived experience. Rich or poor, young or old, accomplished or not – it didn’t matter. I wanted to listen to everyone, even that random dude across the street in Vietnam. We idolize the rich, famous and powerful. Maybe the average, everyday man and woman had something to teach me.

The interviewees were 17-69 years old and hailed from 10 countries. Most were from the US and Vietnam, not surprising given I’m an American living in Vietnam. Slightly less than half were females.

I had no expectations. If anything, I yearned to hear wildly different ideas about their perfect day. Yet after 30 interviews, I’ve found that people mostly want four things: connection, autonomy, progress and a peaceful state of mind.

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Seventy percent mentioned spending time with close friends or loved ones.

• “For me a perfect day when I catch some fish to bring back to my grandma. It would make me proud.” (Sparky, Vietnam)
• “I got to spend it with people I love” (Ramon, USA)
• “My perfect day is simple. Beautiful weather, good food, lots of time, with family – that’s it.” (Hoa, Vietnam)
• “Wake up next to someone special” (Rola, USA)
• “A small group of friends having fun and telling stories in a safe setting.” (JJ, Ireland)
• “I’d call up friends and family and have heart to heart conversations. It’s all about connection. That’s what makes me happy and fulfills me.” (Isalee, Singapore)

Sixty percent wanted control over their perfect day. There would be no externally imposed demands on them. My mom put it best: “I can do whatever I want, whenever I want, spend whatever I want, and be with whoever I want.”  (Grace, USA)

• “I would love to rest and spend time doing things I love”  (Linh, Vietnam)
• “Chilling back on my sofa and doing Sudoku is one of those things I enjoy. I find it relaxing.” (Shan, Ireland)
• “I would be able to do what I want for the rest of the day” (Tomo, USA)
• “My perfect day is free form, not feeling rushed at any point, just being free to go… I literally have space and time to approach the day.” (Rebecca, USA)

Forty percent wanted to feel like they achieved something. This deep satisfaction could come from getting better at something, doing what they love, or getting important things done.

• “Having the feeling of achieving something.” (Manuel, Germany)
• “I’m free to shut down because I had a fulfilling day.” (Jennie, USA)
• “You need a feeling of daily improvement, validation that you’ve achieved something.” (Matt, USA)
• “When I come back home, I feel very tired – a good feeling tired – and I’m happy the day was spent the way it was spent.” (Maud, France)
• “I have to dance until I reach a feeling: ‘Yeah, I’m good.’ It’s a release, a deeply soulful activity to me. That’s a perfect day.”  (Jimmy, USA)

Peaceful State of Mind

Sixty four percent wanted what I call a “peaceful” state of mind achieved by entering a flow state, or having a clear mind absent of frustration and anxiety. A few described this as feeling thankful. Peaceful seems the best word to describe this present, balanced, and grateful state of mind.

• “When I forget that I exist I feel like I’m my best self.” (Shane, Singapore)
• “Having a balanced mind” (Phúc, Vietnam)
• “A day where I can go to sleep without feeling incredible pressure from business and family matters would be really quite wonderful… Something as simple as that – where you’re not always worried about the future – would be perfect enough.” (Howard, USA)
• “Everyday is perfect because I am alive.” (Convenient store clerk, Vietnam)
• “The things that matter are the small things, the things you take for granted. You never realize what you have until you lose it.” (Salah, Yemen)
• “If I have no issues at work and no issues in my personal life, that’s a perfect day.”  (Chung, Taiwan)
• “Everyday waking up and not thinking about anything. Just relaxing.” (Thoi, Vietnam)

This survey is far from scientific, and maybe I can ask better questions. Still I was shocked to see these four elements appear again and again, no matter the age, sex, and nationality of my interviewees.

Self-Determination Theory

Maybe autonomy, connection, progress and a peaceful mind were deep human needs.

Researching theories of human needs, I came across Edward Deci’s and Richard Ryan’s self-determination theory (SDT).  

Their theory, developed over 40 years and backed by hundreds of studies, posits that humans have an innate psychological need to be autonomous, self-determined and connected to one another.

This matched fairly well with what friends and strangers were telling me about their perfect day. They wanted:

• Autonomy: a sense of willingness, volition and choice
• Relatedness: to feel cared for by others, to care for others, to feel like they belong in various groups that are important to them
• Competence: to feel confident and effective in relation to what they’re doing

When these needs are satisfied, we’re motivated, productive and happy. When they’re thwarted, our motivation, performance and wellness plummet.

I plan to interview dozens (if not hundreds) more people, so the conclusions might change. But so far…

Perfect days are mostly within our grasp.

They are not full of expensive vacations or private yachts. In fact, they are quite simple, even mundane.

What’s stopping us?

I’m left with two questions to investigate.

How can we structure our environment to support our need for connection , autonomy, and competence? This will lead to optimal performance and wellness, and more perfect days. Is our current environment antagonistic or supportive of these needs?

Deci calls this “autonomy support”

What activities support a peaceful state of mind?  Well-designed exercise, practice and work can put us into the flow state . Practicing meditation and gratitude can strengthen our ability to be present and thankful, no matter what happens to us.

I’ll be thinking a lot more about self-determination theory , autonomy support , and living in a beautiful state as I continue asking people about their perfect day .

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How to Write the Perfect Essay: A Step-By-Step Guide for Students

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• What is an essay? 

What makes a good essay?

Typical essay structure, 7 steps to writing a good essay, a step-by-step guide to writing a good essay.

Whether you are gearing up for your GCSE coursework submissions or looking to brush up on your A-level writing skills, we have the perfect essay-writing guide for you. 💯

Staring at a blank page before writing an essay can feel a little daunting . Where do you start? What should your introduction say? And how should you structure your arguments? They are all fair questions and we have the answers! Take the stress out of essay writing with this step-by-step guide – you’ll be typing away in no time. 👩‍💻

What is an essay?

Generally speaking, an essay designates a literary work in which the author defends a point of view or a personal conviction, using logical arguments and literary devices in order to inform and convince the reader.

So – although essays can be broadly split into four categories: argumentative, expository, narrative, and descriptive – an essay can simply be described as a focused piece of writing designed to inform or persuade. 🤔

The purpose of an essay is to present a coherent argument in response to a stimulus or question and to persuade the reader that your position is credible, believable and reasonable. 👌

So, a ‘good’ essay relies on a confident writing style – it’s clear, well-substantiated, focussed, explanatory and descriptive . The structure follows a logical progression and above all, the body of the essay clearly correlates to the tile – answering the question where one has been posed. 

But, how do you go about making sure that you tick all these boxes and keep within a specified word count? Read on for the answer as well as an example essay structure to follow and a handy step-by-step guide to writing the perfect essay – hooray. 🙌

Sometimes, it is helpful to think about your essay like it is a well-balanced argument or a speech – it needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question in a coherent manner. ⚖️

Of course, essays can vary significantly in length but besides that, they all follow a fairly strict pattern or structure made up of three sections. Lean into this predictability because it will keep you on track and help you make your point clearly. Let’s take a look at the typical essay structure:  

#1 Introduction

Start your introduction with the central claim of your essay. Let the reader know exactly what you intend to say with this essay. Communicate what you’re going to argue, and in what order. The final part of your introduction should also say what conclusions you’re going to draw – it sounds counter-intuitive but it’s not – more on that below. 1️⃣

Make your point, evidence it and explain it. This part of the essay – generally made up of three or more paragraphs depending on the length of your essay – is where you present your argument. The first sentence of each paragraph – much like an introduction to an essay – should summarise what your paragraph intends to explain in more detail. 2️⃣

#3 Conclusion

This is where you affirm your argument – remind the reader what you just proved in your essay and how you did it. This section will sound quite similar to your introduction but – having written the essay – you’ll be summarising rather than setting out your stall. 3️⃣

No essay is the same but your approach to writing them can be. As well as some best practice tips, we have gathered our favourite advice from expert essay-writers and compiled the following 7-step guide to writing a good essay every time. 👍

#1 Make sure you understand the question

#2 complete background reading.

#3 Make a detailed plan 

#4 Write your opening sentences 

#5 flesh out your essay in a rough draft, #6 evidence your opinion, #7 final proofread and edit.

Now that you have familiarised yourself with the 7 steps standing between you and the perfect essay, let’s take a closer look at each of those stages so that you can get on with crafting your written arguments with confidence . 

This is the most crucial stage in essay writing – r ead the essay prompt carefully and understand the question. Highlight the keywords – like ‘compare,’ ‘contrast’ ‘discuss,’ ‘explain’ or ‘evaluate’ – and let it sink in before your mind starts racing . There is nothing worse than writing 500 words before realising you have entirely missed the brief . 🧐

Unless you are writing under exam conditions , you will most likely have been working towards this essay for some time, by doing thorough background reading. Re-read relevant chapters and sections, highlight pertinent material and maybe even stray outside the designated reading list, this shows genuine interest and extended knowledge. 📚

#3 Make a detailed plan

Following the handy structure we shared with you above, now is the time to create the ‘skeleton structure’ or essay plan. Working from your essay title, plot out what you want your paragraphs to cover and how that information is going to flow. You don’t need to start writing any full sentences yet but it might be useful to think about the various quotes you plan to use to substantiate each section. 📝

Having mapped out the overall trajectory of your essay, you can start to drill down into the detail. First, write the opening sentence for each of the paragraphs in the body section of your essay. Remember – each paragraph is like a mini-essay – the opening sentence should summarise what the paragraph will then go on to explain in more detail. 🖊️

Next, it's time to write the bulk of your words and flesh out your arguments. Follow the ‘point, evidence, explain’ method. The opening sentences – already written – should introduce your ‘points’, so now you need to ‘evidence’ them with corroborating research and ‘explain’ how the evidence you’ve presented proves the point you’re trying to make. ✍️

With a rough draft in front of you, you can take a moment to read what you have written so far. Are there any sections that require further substantiation? Have you managed to include the most relevant material you originally highlighted in your background reading? Now is the time to make sure you have evidenced all your opinions and claims with the strongest quotes, citations and material. 📗

This is your final chance to re-read your essay and go over it with a fine-toothed comb before pressing ‘submit’. We highly recommend leaving a day or two between finishing your essay and the final proofread if possible – you’ll be amazed at the difference this makes, allowing you to return with a fresh pair of eyes and a more discerning judgment. 🤓

If you are looking for advice and support with your own essay-writing adventures, why not t ry a free trial lesson with GoStudent? Our tutors are experts at boosting academic success and having fun along the way. Get in touch and see how it can work for you today. 🎒

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How to Write the Perfect Essay

06 Feb, 2024 | Blog Articles , English Language Articles , Get the Edge , Humanities Articles , Writing Articles

You can keep adding to this plan, crossing bits out and linking the different bubbles when you spot connections between them. Even though you won’t have time to make a detailed plan under exam conditions, it can be helpful to draft a brief one, including a few key words, so that you don’t panic and go off topic when writing your essay.

If you don’t like the mind map format, there are plenty of others to choose from: you could make a table, a flowchart, or simply a list of bullet points.

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Thanks for signing up, step 2: have a clear structure.

Think about this while you’re planning: your essay is like an argument or a speech. It needs to have a logical structure, with all your points coming together to answer the question.

Start with the basics! It’s best to choose a few major points which will become your main paragraphs. Three main paragraphs is a good number for an exam essay, since you’ll be under time pressure. 

If you agree with the question overall, it can be helpful to organise your points in the following pattern:

• YES (agreement with the question)
• AND (another YES point)
• BUT (disagreement or complication)

If you disagree with the question overall, try:

• AND (another BUT point)

For example, you could structure the Of Mice and Men sample question, “To what extent is Curley’s wife portrayed as a victim in Of Mice and Men ?”, as follows:

• YES (descriptions of her appearance)
• AND (other people’s attitudes towards her)
• BUT (her position as the only woman on the ranch gives her power as she uses her femininity to her advantage)

If you wanted to write a longer essay, you could include additional paragraphs under the YES/AND categories, perhaps discussing the ways in which Curley’s wife reveals her vulnerability and insecurities, and shares her dreams with the other characters. Alternatively, you could also lengthen your essay by including another BUT paragraph about her cruel and manipulative streak.

Of course, this is not necessarily the only right way to answer this essay question – as long as you back up your points with evidence from the text, you can take any standpoint that makes sense.

Step 3: Back up your points with well-analysed quotations

You wouldn’t write a scientific report without including evidence to support your findings, so why should it be any different with an essay? Even though you aren’t strictly required to substantiate every single point you make with a quotation, there’s no harm in trying.

A close reading of your quotations can enrich your appreciation of the question and will be sure to impress examiners. When selecting the best quotations to use in your essay, keep an eye out for specific literary techniques. For example, you could highlight Curley’s wife’s use of a rhetorical question when she says, a”n’ what am I doin’? Standin’ here talking to a bunch of bindle stiffs.” This might look like:

The rhetorical question “an’ what am I doin’?” signifies that Curley’s wife is very insecure; she seems to be questioning her own life choices. Moreover, she does not expect anyone to respond to her question, highlighting her loneliness and isolation on the ranch.

Other literary techniques to look out for include:

• Tricolon – a group of three words or phrases placed close together for emphasis
• Tautology – using different words that mean the same thing: e.g. “frightening” and “terrifying”
• Parallelism – ABAB structure, often signifying movement from one concept to another
• Chiasmus – ABBA structure, drawing attention to a phrase
• Polysyndeton – many conjunctions in a sentence
• Asyndeton – lack of conjunctions, which can speed up the pace of a sentence
• Polyptoton – using the same word in different forms for emphasis: e.g. “done” and “doing”
• Alliteration – repetition of the same sound, including assonance (similar vowel sounds), plosive alliteration (“b”, “d” and “p” sounds) and sibilance (“s” sounds)
• Anaphora – repetition of words, often used to emphasise a particular point

Don’t worry if you can’t locate all of these literary devices in the work you’re analysing. You can also discuss more obvious techniques, like metaphor, simile and onomatopoeia. It’s not a problem if you can’t remember all the long names; it’s far more important to be able to confidently explain the effects of each technique and highlight its relevance to the question.

Step 4: Be creative and original throughout

Anyone can write an essay using the tips above, but the thing that really makes it “perfect” is your own unique take on the topic. If you’ve noticed something intriguing or unusual in your reading, point it out – if you find it interesting, chances are the examiner will too!

Creative writing and essay writing are more closely linked than you might imagine. Keep the idea that you’re writing a speech or argument in mind, and you’re guaranteed to grab your reader’s attention.

It’s important to set out your line of argument in your introduction, introducing your main points and the general direction your essay will take, but don’t forget to keep something back for the conclusion, too. Yes, you need to summarise your main points, but if you’re just repeating the things you said in your introduction, the body of the essay is rendered pointless.

Think of your conclusion as the climax of your speech, the bit everything else has been leading up to, rather than the boring plenary at the end of the interesting stuff.

To return to Of Mice and Men once more, here’s an example of the ideal difference between an introduction and a conclusion:

Introduction

In John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men , Curley’s wife is portrayed as an ambiguous character. She could be viewed either as a cruel, seductive temptress or a lonely woman who is a victim of her society’s attitudes. Though she does seem to wield a form of sexual power, it is clear that Curley’s wife is largely a victim. This interpretation is supported by Steinbeck’s description of her appearance, other people’s attitudes, her dreams, and her evident loneliness and insecurity.

Overall, it is clear that Curley’s wife is a victim and is portrayed as such throughout the novel in the descriptions of her appearance, her dreams, other people’s judgemental attitudes, and her loneliness and insecurities. However, a character who was a victim and nothing else would be one-dimensional and Curley’s wife is not. Although she suffers in many ways, she is shown to assert herself through the manipulation of her femininity – a small rebellion against the victimisation she experiences.

Both refer back consistently to the question and summarise the essay’s main points. However, the conclusion adds something new which has been established in the main body of the essay and complicates the simple summary which is found in the introduction.

Hannah is an undergraduate English student at Somerville College, University of Oxford, and has a particular interest in postcolonial literature and the Gothic. She thinks literature is a crucial way of developing empathy and learning about the wider world. When she isn’t writing about 17th-century court masques, she enjoys acting, travelling and creative writing. 

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My Perfect Day Essay (559 words)

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No day is perfect as something always seems to go wrong. Little or big, there is always a flaw. That is what I have believed and probably always will. A nice summer days is always a good start of the day for me. My perfect day would start by me waking up at 10 am feeling refreshed and restored, not worrying about work. I want to be in Mauritius and as I get out of my bed, I would walk to the balcony so that I can see the ocean from my room and feel the zephyr of the ocean. Then i would have a traditional english breakfast.

After my breakfast I would take a hot shower and get ready. I would be wearing my Gabriele Pasini Coat, Louis Vuitton Belt, Burberry Scarf, and Rolex along with my Rayban Shades. I would go out for shopping with my best friends Alec Doan and Carson walker driving in my matte black Lamborghini Aventador. I call my friends Alec and Carson and ask them to meet me in the Gucci store. We decide to shop and obviously I pay for them, after all they are my best friends. We have lunch and In my lunch I would have Nutella and Banana stuffed Cap’n Crunch Crusted French Toast.

We hangout, drive around for a while and then go back to my house and then go to beach or just hangout with them for a couple hours in my house and then we take my private jet to go to the Tomorrowland concert in Miami where all the best Electro Dance DJs in the world are going to perform. Tomorrowland is the biggest Electro Dance Music festival of the year, the people, the entire setup, people dancing, the DJ’s playing their best music track. I get to meet Calvin Harris and he gives me his signed album. Then I would take my private jet and go skydiving with my friends or bungee jumping.

Later in the evening we all pick our woman and I decide to throw a party in my private yacht. Some famous models would be attending the party, among them Irina Shayk (my favorite), Kate Upton and also Rosie Huntington are my good friends. My best friend Carson tries to flirt with Irina Shayk but she turns him down. All my friends would be attending the yacht party and Martin Garrix would be the DJ. In the middle of Mauritius Ocean having a yacht party with my friends would be memorable thing to do. There would be famous models,booze, girls and music playing. Then we take my jet and travel to Spain to watch the El Classico.

Tonight is the Spanish El Classico night and The spanish giants my favorite club Real Madrid would be facing their rivals Barcelona. We all watch the game and Cristiano Ronaldo scoring a hattrick. After the game I get to meet Cristiano Ronaldo and he gives me his signed jersey. I would spend the rest of the night hanging out with my best friends. We would go the biggest local casino in Spain and stay in casino gambling till 5 in the morning. Then I fly back to my house and go to bed listening to my favorite song “Party All Night” thinking this was the most perfect day I could ever spend.

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How to Answer the “What’s Your Perfect Day?” Interview Question

Recently, it came out that Facebook’s head recruiter’s favorite interview question to ask is more like a personal essay question. “On your very best day at work—the day you come home and think you have the best job in the world—what did you do that day?”

Now that this is making the viral rounds, don’t be surprised to hear it in your non-Facebook interviews as well. Here are some tips for breaking the question down and being ready to pounce on it. If you have a upcoming job interview, make sure to go over these 10 toughest interview questions.

DO understand what the question is probing.

This is a test to see what you value and prioritize in your work life. Your perfect workday is what you want to achieve—just on a more micro level than the ol’ “Where do you see yourself in five years?” question.

DON’T take it literally.

Don’t take the interviewer through your teeth-brushing, your miraculously easy commute, your cappuccino waiting on your desk when you get to the office.  Consider it more of a highlight reel of the best moments of that ideal day.

DO tailor your answer to this job.

This isn’t the place to debut your fantasy career as a tennis pro. If the job you’re interviewing for includes managing a team, talk about how the day includes productive meetings with your squad (leadership skills). If you’ll be in a marketing role, talk about how the day would include a breakthrough by using a new form of digital media (tech-savvy skills and being results oriented).  This question is a great way to wave your passion points in with the skills you want to emphasize in the interview.

DON’T make a joke out of it.

This is a legitimate question, and the interviewer wants a sincere answer. It might be tempting to say that your perfect day involves skipping work and sipping fruity drinks poolside. Resist that urge.

DO include specifics.

You can use your own professional goals to create specific scenarios that would make you feel fulfilled. But again—make sure this matches up to the job description. If you have a particular goal, especially one that aligns with the job for which you’re interviewing, work that in here.

DON’T spin an epic story.

Keep it brief, like 2-3 points. Hint: if you start including characters with backstory, you’ve gone too far. Never forget that you’re in a job interview, not a casual conversation.

DO be authentic.

If you’re passionate about an aspect of your career, here is an excellent chance to gush about it. The interviewer is trying to gauge your personal relationship to your job, and this question is an opportunity to show how connected and committed you can be.

As interview questions go, this one is actually a pretty useful one to consider for your general career goals . Long before you step into any interview, you should know what makes you tick, professionally. And being able to focus in on that in an interview will make you a stronger, more confident candidate.

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About the author.

Kate Lopaze

Kate Lopaze is a writer, editor, and digital publishing professional based in New York City. A graduate of the University of Connecticut and Emerson College with degrees in English and publishing, she is passionate about books, baseball, and pop culture (though not necessarily in that order), and lives in Brooklyn with her dog.

A Summary and Analysis of J. D. Salinger’s ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ is one of J. D. Salinger’s best-known and most widely studied short stories. First published in the New Yorker in 1948, the story is a masterclass in how to reveal both character and plot through elliptical and suggestive dialogue, with the ‘action’ largely focusing on two scenes: one in a hotel room and the other on a beach. These two scenes are then brought together for the story’s tragic denouement.

Among other things, ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ is a powerful depiction of alienation in the immediate post-war world of the late 1940s. The story is about a man, Seymour, who has returned from the war and feels disconnected from the world around him, including his wife.

‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’: plot summary

On a hot day in Florida, a young married woman named Muriel talks on the telephone to her mother. She is discussing her husband Seymour, who has become withdrawn since getting back from the war. We learn that Muriel and Seymour have gone to Florida on holiday.

Muriel’s mother is concerned by the fact that Seymour drove himself and his wife there in his unstable mental state. Indeed, Muriel’s mother believes the army should never have released Seymour from the army hospital because he is in danger of completely losing control. We learn that Seymour has recently crashed his father-in-law’s car. However, Muriel insists to her mother that Seymour is fine. Seymour has also asked Muriel to learn German, so she can read the German poems he sent her when he was stationed in Germany during the war. These poems, he claimed, were written by the greatest poet of the century.

Muriel tells her mother that a psychiatrist staying in the hotel had asked her the night before if her husband was all right, presumably because he looks so pale and unwell.

While Muriel and her mother talk over the phone, Seymour walks along the beach, where he meets Sybil, a young child who is staying in the same hotel as him. They talk in a way that is more suggestive of two adults flirting than a grown man and a young girl conversing, with Sybil implying that she is jealous that Seymour let another girl, Sharon Lipschutz, sit next to him as he played the piano in the hotel.

Seymour finally removes his robe, and goes down to the water with Sybil, pushing her out to sea on a float. He tells her about the bananafish, a greedy fish which feeds on bananas by squeezing into holes filled with them. This strange fish then gorges on the fruit, becoming trapped because it’s too fat to squeeze back out the hole again. The creature subsequently dies of banana fever. Sybil goes along with this tall tale, and even claims to have seen a bananafish in the water, with six bananas in its mouth.

Seymour gets back to the hotel, causing a scene in the elevator where he accuses a woman of looking at his feet. He arrives at his room where his wife is asleep, takes out a gun from his luggage, and shoots himself in the head.

‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’: analysis

‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ has been compared to Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway : another post-war fiction which focuses (in one of its plotlines or character arcs) on a soldier who has recently returned from the war and who struggles to adjust to post-war life.

Seymour Glass is Salinger’s own version of Septimus Smith, Woolf’s shell-shocked First World War veteran whose patient wife Lucrezia feels powerless to help her troubled husband, much as Muriel feels unable (though willing) to help Seymour. (Oddly enough, Seymour’s statement about Sharon Lipschutz, ‘mixing memory and desire’, is an allusion to another post-WWI modernist work which features shell-shocked soldiers: T. S. Eliot’s The Waste Land .)

It is clear that Muriel’s mother is concerned for her daughter’s safety when in the company of her husband, and it’s also clear that Seymour has been acting erratically and even dangerously (such as crashing his father-in-law’s car). He also refuses to take his bathrobe off because he doesn’t want anyone to see his tattoo – even though, according to Muriel, he doesn’t have a tattoo.

He is evidently scarred by his war experiences. But it is Sybil for whom he takes off his robe, partly, perhaps, because such an act has none of the adult connotations it carries with his wife (with whom he is expected to perform his marital duties) and is instead a regression to childhood.

With this in mind, we might also compare ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ with another post-war story, albeit one that is, like Mrs Dalloway , about the aftermath of the First World War rather than the second. Ernest Hemingway’s 1925 story ‘ Soldier’s Home ’, in which a young man named Harold Krebs returns from fighting in the First World War and can no longer relate to the people in his hometown in Oklahoma.

The alienation of the war-scarred male character is not the only thing which unites these two stories: Seymour’s playful conversation (indeed, borderline flirtation) with Sybil recalls Krebs’ relationship with his younger sister (where he talks to her as though they are courting boyfriend and girlfriend rather than sisters).

Both male protagonists can only truly relate to women – or rather, girls – who are much younger than they are, and who are, indeed, still children. It is not that the adult males in either story wish to objectify the girls: indeed, the point is that the men are themselves children, who have retreated back into childhood to avoid the unbearable strain of adult life.

Indeed, the one character in ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ who seems to understand Seymour is the child, Sybil, whose very name summons the prophetesses of Greek mythology who made elliptical, but wise, pronouncements by scattering fragments of their prophecies which those who consulted them had to piece together themselves to discover their (potential) meanings. Salinger’s story is similarly full of elliptical statements and exchanges (‘elliptical’ meaning that parts of the meaning are left out, leaving us to deduce the full meaning for ourselves).

But how sibylline is Sibyl? Salinger’s child-characters are often the wisest, while the adults are too corrupted by the weight of the world and the realities of day-to-day living to be in touch with the true meaning of life. We might recall, in Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye , Holden Caulfield’s disgust , when he visits his younger sister Phoebe’s school to say goodbye, upon finding that a swearword has been scrawled on the walls, corrupting the innocence of childhood.

For Holden, many adults are ‘phonies’ and childhood is a pure state which we leave behind at our peril, for then we are truly lost. There is something deeply Romantic, in the Wordsworthian sense, about Salinger’s view of children and childhood.

In this connection, Sybil’s breaking down of Seymour Glass’s name into three distinct syllables (sibylline syllables?) – ‘see more glass’ – is both a child’s immature play with the inherent but meaningless puns hiding within language and, at the same time, an almost metatextual revealing of Salinger’s own writerly technique: clearly he intends us , like Sybil, to liberate this cryptic statement from Seymour’s name as well.

This apparently nonsensical statement chimes with Seymour’s own attitude concerning the fictional ‘bananafish’, a creature reminiscent of children’s nonsense literature which he uses as a device to bond with Sybil in ways he cannot bond, in the adult world, with his own wife, with whom he can only now, it would seem, communicate in any meaningful sense in a language she literally cannot understand (that book of German poems).

And in other respects, there is a suggestion that Seymour views Sybil as a kind of mirror or reflection of himself: hence the punning potential of his full name which she liberates, ‘see more glass’, because he can see more of himself in the looking-glass that she represents than he can with anyone else, including his wife (whose name, Muriel, means ‘sparkling or shining sea’: an ironic touch given that she is the one person out of the three of them who doesn’t join them in the water: hers is one watery mirror in which he cannot locate himself). Observe how Seymour initially mistakes Sybil’s yellow bathing suit for a blue one, mirroring his own royal blue shorts.

But the yellow bananafish also recalls the yellow bathing suit Sibyl is wearing: ‘bananafish’ thus combines her yellow attire with her proximity to the sea. But if she is the bananafish, so is Seymour: he has been squeezed through the hole and is unable to make his way out again. For ‘banana fever’, read PTSD following his war experiences.

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How To Write The Perfect Essay in 8 Easy Steps

by Pat Wyman | Aug 25, 2011 | Articles

Everyone can write the perfect essay.

The ideas are inside your child’s or student’s brain just waiting to be put on paper in a form that everyone can read.

The following is an excerpt from the book  Instant Learning for Amazing Grades .

Schools and home-schools require essay writing, so do colleges and college entrance exams, so, why not learn a few simple tips to make essay writing easy?

Below is a template, followed by 8 additional easy steps on  how to write the perfect essay in 8 easy steps, every time.

How to Write the Perfect Essay in 8 Easy Steps

1) the topic.

Example:  Amazing Grades

2) Brainstorm

This helps you think of related ideas.

• Motivating yourself instantly
• Cut learning time in half; higher grades in 14 days
• High-Performance Memory Strategies

Example:  How to Create Higher Grades in 14 Days Using Your Child’s Personal Learning Style

4)     Grab the Reader’s Interest

What is the first sentence you would use to pique their interest?

Perhaps it might be a question or a simple statement.

Example:  Would you like to have higher grades in 14 days?

5) Elaborate Your Point

This is the part where you use as many facts to support your idea as possible. Write several sentences using some of the brainstorms you had in step 2.

Example:  Learning can be difficult, but you don’t have to do it alone.

Many learning experts say that learning is not about being smart – it’s about strategy.

These experts show you how with xxx…

6) Do You Need an Introduction?

7) What About a Conclusion?

8) You Did It!

Congratulate yourself – you’ve just written an excellent essay!

Writing the perfect essay is a matter of   building up your skill level  a step at a time.

Once you have fallen into the rhythm of the template above, you can step up your essay game!

8 More Easy Steps to Write the Perfect Essay, Every Single Time

Step one – picture perfect summary.

Put your title/main idea in the center of the page, make a circle around it, and write down all the ideas and keywords about your topic that you can think of.

Use one branch off the circle for each main idea.

You’re brainstorming at this point, so just write down any ideas that come into your mind.

(That’s how I write magazine and news articles and books too)!

Step Two – Find Your Keywords

Organize them into groups.

Make sure that each group reflects the topic or question that you’re writing about.

Step Three – The Beginning, Middle, and End

The middle develops and supports your main topic.

Back everything you say up with facts, quotations, evidence.

The end will give a clever answer or summary to the original question or idea that you started with and tie up those loose ends.

Step Four – Your First Draft!

That’s how I wrote this book!

Give each idea its own paragraph, don’t worry about style and spelling at this point.

You can check this later.

Your Picture Perfect Summary is your guide. Use all the ideas that you decided were important.

Step Five – Then the Ending

Make sure it sums up your answer/summary to the main topic/question. Look back at the draft of the middle.

Write down the 5 or 10 most important keywords.

Find the shortest way to link them together – this is your ending.

Step Six – Now the Beginning

There’s an old saying from my college days English class: Tell ’em what you’re going to say, tell ’em, tell ’em what you said!

This beginning is essential to set the stage – make sure it’s catchy and makes the reader interested in what you have to say.

Once you have the body and conclusion of your essay completed, you already have the big picture in your mind.

This makes writing the introduction much easier because you know what you’re going to be talking about in the rest of the piece!

Step Seven – Get Some Rest!

Now, go to bed and get some rest. Give the ideas a chance to process in your brain. Tomorrow you’ll notice a few more points to talk about and think of additional ways to say things.

Step Eight – Edit

Author, Colin Rose, says, “EDIT – Excellent Draft, Inspirational Text”… read the whole essay aloud to yourself.

Audio record it if you can. Does it sound logical and convincing? You are on your way to understanding how to write the perfect essay.

Are your examples bringing your ideas to life? Check the beginning – is it awesome? Does it make sense?

Edit the beginning, middle, and end – check spelling and grammar. Have someone else proofread it too. Now check the middle. Did everything you said relate to the main topic or question? Is it convincing?

Go to your ending. Edit it – is it punchy? This is the place to really put on your thinking cap. Did you really convince your reader??

Polish up how the essay looks – Is it neat, organized, well written?

Are you satisfied that it does the job you started out to do?

Only you can be the judge of this.

Your essay reflects how you think – do you like the way it came out? If so, turn it in. Now you know how to write the perfect essay in just 8 easy steps.

Now I’d like to hear from you!

Did you find these steps helpful?

Do you think you can now write the perfect essay, every time?

Drop me a line and let me know!

Her superpower is helping people learn, read and remember everything faster. Pat is the best-selling author of more than 15 books and is also a university instructor, mom and golden retriever lover!

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Perfect Days Ending, Explained: Why Does Hirayama Laugh and Cry?

The Japanese film, ‘Perfect Days,’ directed by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, charts a moving story about a man’s ordinary life and its extraordinary quiet revelations. Following Hirayama, a janitor who cleans public restrooms, the narrative revolves around the man’s routine life, with each day unfolding in similar patterns. Yet, as the man moves through one public park to another, the days— peaceful in their monotony— also bring something distinct into Hirayama’s life. As a few changes come his way, most significantly in the form of his runaway niece, Niko’s arrival— some of his past comes out in the open, informing his future to come.

Hirayama’s story maintains a picturesque, free-flowing pace as the man goes through the motions of his everyday structured life. Consequently, tension builds gradually and more subtly, allowing viewers a more authentic peek into life’s fluctuations. Therefore, as his story comes to an end, viewers might hold onto some questions about the quality of Hirayama’s life and what it says about the man. SPOILERS AHEAD!

Perfect Days Plot Synopsis

Each morning, Hirayama wakes with the dawn to the sound of a woman sweeping the road outside his small apartment. His morning rituals include making his bed, caring for his small army of potted plants, and buying a coffee from the vending machine outside before loading on in his van to attend to his janitorial duties. Like clockwork, he makes his rounds at different Tokyo Toilet Project’s public restrooms situated around different parks. Eventually, he’s joined by his junior, Takashi, who is much more interested in impressing Aya than his work.

Although Hirayama performs a vital task by ensuring such public essentials remain in pristine conditions, it remains a thankless job. Nevertheless, he isn’t bothered by the same, pleased to work around the morning sun, enjoying his lunch under the shade of a park tree. During the same time, the older man also captures old-school film photographs of Komorebi— the sun rays that filter down through tree leaves. After work finishes in the early afternoon, the man visits a bathhouse, where he may indulge in some sumo match viewings.

Likewise, Hirayama also watches some baseball when he goes out to eat at a local diner. However, apart from the same, the man remains detached from modern technology, satisfied with his analog lifestyle. Before bedtime, he reads a book under his bedside lamp until night sweeps him away into dreams of mazed black-and-white memories.

The only time Hirayama’s days depart from their set routine is on the weekend when, in lieu of his regular job, the man does his housework, peruses the local bookstore looking for his next read, and visits a hole-in-the-wall bar. Furthermore, he gets his photos developed and sorts the Komorebi shots into tin boxes, having collected almost a closet full of memories.

Even so, Hirayama isn’t opposed to the occasional change that comes his way, such as Takashi’s dead-end love life or a tic-tac-toe game a faceless stranger plays with him over the course of a few days. Yet, his niece, Niko’s sudden arrival at his house, remains the biggest change in his life. Niko surprisingly fits into his life, accompanying him to his job and showcasing a similar interest in nature photography. However, her presence also brings questions about Hirayama’s departure from his past family and lifestyle in favor of pursuing a career as a janitor with an unadventurous life.

Perfect Days Ending: Hirayama and The Barkeeper’s Ex-Husband

As it would turn out, Niko only remains a temporary fixture in Hirayama’s life. The young girl ran away from her home to visit her uncle, who had cut off all contact with his family. For the same reason, she wanted to seek out answers about him and his complications with her mother and the rest of the family. Yet, Hirayama can’t provide any such answers to her. Instead, he can only showcase how satisfied he feels in the new life he has built for himself.

Hirayama’s house isn’t big enough to provide comfortable space for two people— causing the man to set up his bed inside a closet. His work, cleaning toilets, earns him no appreciation from the public, who benefits from his services. And lastly, his life remains cyclic, filled with the same morning drives with rock music cassettes, lunch breaks, and midnight reads. Still, Hirayama has found happiness within this cycle.

After Niko’s mother and Hirayama’s sister arrive at his door to take her daughter back, the woman realizes the same, much to her astonishment. The siblings ’ brief reunion remains civil, with his sister’s recollection of his favorite chocolates suggesting she never forgot about him. Nonetheless, Hirayama turns down her invitation to visit their father as he lies on his deathbed, suggesting a taut history behind the same.

Likewise, the following sequence, wherein Hirayama runs into the local barkeeper’s ex-husband, hints subtly at a similar horror from Hirayama’s past. The weekend after Niko’s return, after a tough few days at work, Hirayama pays the local bar a visit for some comfort. However, during the same, he accidentally witnesses a tender moment between the barkeeper and a man, who hug each other in earnest.

Afterward, the man seeks Hirayama out once the latter arrives at the river bank in the evening to drink a few beer cans in solitude. During their unexpected meeting, the stranger reveals he’s the barkeeper’s ex-husband. Although the two had an amicable divorce, with the man having remarried already, he still wanted to visit her after learning about his cancer diagnosis.

As the stranger stares into the face of inevitable death with no choice but to resort to his fate, Hirayama is able to provide a few moments of whimsy to the man by encouraging him to engage in a game of shadow tag with him. The moment showcases a startling sense of honesty within Hirayama’s character. Despite the horrors that life has thrown at the other man, Hirayama finds a way to present a moment of respite for him.

As such, one can’t help but wonder if Hirayama learned this lesson— of finding happiness when faced with a hopeless dead-end— from a personal experience. Due to Niko’s visit, we know that Hirayama’s family is financially well-off. For the same reason, the question arises as to why exactly Hirayama lives a life of solitude as a janitor, keeping track of coins in dishes.

Still, Hirayama’s satisfaction with his current life remains blatantly evident. He may be saddened to see his sister leave again, with Niko in tow, but he’s happy to spend his days as a janitor, free to live in life’s bylines and soak in existence’s quiet beauty. Even though we don’t know what compelled him to trade an SUV for a custodian’s van— be it a disease, familial complications, or something darker— the fact remains that he overcame his past and lives a content life now. Thus, once confronted with a man living on borrowed time, Hirayama knows how to instill a moment of hope within him— through shadows on a riverside pavement that remains reminiscent of Komorebi on a park floor.

Is Hirayama Happy? Why Did He Laugh and Cry In The End?

Putting Hirayama’s interaction with his family and the cancer-diagnosed stranger into perspective shines a different light upon the man’s life. He may live a life of tedium, but his elusive past suggests tumultuous and possibly traumatic experiences that came before this quiet life for Hirayama. As such, everything— from his photography hobby to his extensive rock music collection— holds a piece of his past life.

Therefore, as the film comes to an end, with the narrative choosing to stop documenting Hirayama’s life on his drive to work, it showcases how his days have evolved. Whatever his past may have held, he’s living a happier life, free to indulge in monotony— or stability, in other words. Yet, he hasn’t erased his past. The experiences he underwent before choosing a better life for himself still cling to him. Thus, he has created a bittersweet reality for himself.

Ultimately, the ending scene is open to the viewers’ interpretation, allowing others to project their experiences on Hirayama’s story. Still, the underlying message of life’s juxtaposing nuance remains. Perhaps actor Koji Yakusho, who portrays Hirayama’s central character, explained it best in an interview with Movie Web .

“[But] One thing I can say for sure is that humans don’t laugh or cry just when they’re feeling happy or when they’re feeling sad,” said Yakusho. “It can be the other way around. In that moment, he might have been laughing because he didn’t know why he was crying. But in another way, I think he was going to have a very happy future. A happy life. And for me, it was a very hopeful moment.”

Read More: Is Perfect Days Based on a True Story?

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