The ideal day: making every 1440 minutes count

This is my submission for the BlogBlog Party - March 2026. This month’s theme is “The ideal day,” hosted by me. Only 4 days left to join!

I had two selfish reasons for choosing “The Ideal Day” as this month’s theme:

• I hadn’t figured out what my ideal day actually looks like, and there was real resistance around it. I wanted to read how other people think about theirs to refine my own. (60 submissions so far. Incredible.)
• I built a time management app last year over two weeks, then abandoned it at 60%. I wanted this theme to motivate me to finish it.

My fleeting interest this month clearly landed elsewhere (writing my new book The Rabbit Playbook). I kept putting off this post until the very end.

But writing this post reignited my app-building energy, so it worked? Or maybe I just want to abandon the 70%-done Rabbit Playbook?

I was going to use screenshots from my unfinished app to show my ideal day. But as I wrote, I wasn’t happy with it. So I spent a whole day building a minimal web version of the daily time planner. No time tracking, no habit building, no pomodoro timer. Just saving and sharing your ideal day. OK, I also added comparison and analysis features.

The next section uses an interactive component. If you’re reading via RSS, visit my website for the full experience.

I think the ideal day should be “having so much money that no worries can touch me.” I even wrote a song about it. But this post is just about how to allocate time.

Daily life is a time allocation game. If viewing 76 years as 4,000 weeks triggers reflection, then viewing 24 hours as 1,440 minutes does the same.

I first thought tracking every single minute would make me better. But 15 minutes turned out to be the right balance. Less than that wastes time on tracking itself and breeds anxiety. And 30 minutes lets me procrastinate with pretty number syndrome (“it’s not half past yet, I’ll start then”).

Of course I can’t do this every day, but having three or four days like this while the kids are at school would be enough.

Comparing reality to the ideal, I can see:

• Clearly not enough sleep, and I need long naps in the afternoon
• Not nearly enough exercise
• Too much time just drifting. I don’t know where it goes. Mostly binge-watching, scrolling reddit, YouTube, phone, gaming. But I don’t actually feel like I’m “playing” or “resting”

I think I’m actually close to my ideal day. I just need better dopamine management. My new book will dive deep into this.

For rabbits, dopamine management IS time management. The Rabbit Playbook

What I want to improve is being clearly aware of what I’m doing. Whether I’m playing, spending time with family, or doing something else. Instead of mindlessly staring at my phone and computer while time slips away.

Most importantly, I need to fix my sleep. Stop being sleep-deprived every day, which leads to afternoon naps. No entertainment or scrolling before bed. Read a novel instead.

Better sleep, more exercise, earn more money, be more mindful. Let’s go.

Try out my daily time planner too.

P.S. There’s also a text copy mode:

Alex的理想日常

00-02 😴😴😴😴😴😴
03-05 😴😴😴😴😴😴
06-08 😴😴🏋️‍♂️✏️🍽️💪
09-11 💪💪💪💪💪💪
12-14 💪🍽️💪💪🧘🚀
15-17 🚀🏋️‍♂️🏋️‍♂️🎮🎮🏠
18-20 🍽️🍽️🏠🏠📦✏️
21-23 📖📖😴😴😴😴

😴 Sleep 9h • 💪 Work 5h • 🍽️ Eat 2h • 🏋️‍♂️ Exercise 1h 30m • 🏠 Family 1h 30m • ✏️ Writing 1h • 🚀 Side project 1h • 🎮 Play 1h • 📖 Reading 1h • 🧘 Self-care 30m • 📦 Idle 30m

Alex Hsu

Indie developer, AI music miner, and aspiring writer.
Documenting my journey of personal growth and the pursuit of simplicity.