There is a particular kind of happiness that arrives before anything has actually happened.

A trip is on the calendar.

Friends are coming over Saturday.

There's a bike ride tomorrow morning.

You're meeting someone for coffee.

Something good is ahead.

Nothing about today has changed.

And yet today somehow feels a little different.

Because you're looking forward to tomorrow.

I've come to believe anticipation is one of life's underrated pleasures.

Sometimes the experience begins long before we actually arrive.

The Experience Before the Experience

Think about planning a trip.

The trip itself might last a week.

But the experience can begin months earlier.

You choose where you're going.

You look at pictures.

You read about the places you'll visit.

You imagine what it might feel like to be there.

You talk about it with the people going with you.

You count down the weeks.

Then the days.

By the time you leave, you've already spent months enjoying something that hasn't happened yet.

That's the interesting thing about anticipation.

A good experience can enrich your life before it even begins.

It Doesn't Have to Be Something Big

And it doesn't require a plane ticket.

Some of the things I look forward to most are remarkably ordinary.

A bike ride.

A fitness class.

Coffee afterward.

Seeing people I enjoy being around.

A beautiful morning outside.

None of those things would make anyone's bucket list.

They don't need to.

I've learned that a good life doesn't require every day to be extraordinary.

It needs ordinary days with things in them that matter to us.

And sometimes it simply needs something good waiting a few days ahead.

The Calendar Tells a Story

Look at your calendar.

What do you see?

Appointments.

Meetings.

Deadlines.

Things that need to get done.

Places you have to be.

Our calendars are very good at organizing our obligations.

But I've started to think they should do something else too.

Maybe your calendar shouldn't only tell you where you have to be.

Maybe it should occasionally remind you where you can't wait to be.

A dinner with friends.

A Saturday morning ride.

A weekend away.

A class you've wanted to try.

Something that makes you smile when you see it sitting there a few weeks away.

That's not wasting time.

That's remembering what some of our time is for.

I've Seen This Happen on a Bicycle

Some of my favourite examples happen with cycling.

We'll plan a ride several days ahead.

Almost immediately, the experience begins.

Someone asks about the route.

Someone checks the weather.

Someone wants to know who's coming.

Messages start going back and forth.

By the morning of the ride, we've already been talking about it for days.

Then we ride.

We laugh.

Someone complains about the hill.

Someone inevitably asks how much farther.

We stop for coffee.

And afterward, pictures appear and the stories continue.

The ride itself may have lasted a few hours.

But the experience occupied a much larger part of our lives.

Before it happened, we anticipated it.

While it happened, we lived it.

Afterward, we remembered it.

That's a pretty good return on a Saturday morning.

Life Can Become Efficient Without Becoming Interesting

There is nothing wrong with routine.

Routine helps us get things done.

It keeps life organized.

It gives our days structure.

But there's a difference between having a routine and allowing life to become nothing but routine.

Wake up.

Do what needs doing.

Take care of responsibilities.

Go to bed.

Repeat.

You can become extremely efficient at living without necessarily feeling very engaged with your life.

That's why I think we need things that interrupt the ordinary every once in a while.

Not necessarily dramatic things.

Just something that makes us feel a little more awake to our own lives.

Something that makes Tuesday feel different because Saturday is coming.

Stay Interested in Your Own Future

I think this is the deeper idea.

Having something to look forward to isn't really about keeping ourselves entertained.

It's about remaining interested in what comes next.

There are still places you want to go.

People you want to see.

Things you want to learn.

Experiences you want to have.

Ideas you want to explore.

And somewhere in all of that is a quiet but powerful statement:

I'm still interested in my own future.

I think that matters.

I don't need every month to contain a major adventure.

But I do want to be able to look ahead and see something that makes me think:

I'm looking forward to that.

Don't Wait for the Big Trip

Travel is wonderful.

I love knowing that somewhere I've never been is waiting for me.

But if the only things we look forward to are vacations, we may spend too much of life waiting.

The spaces between the big experiences matter too.

That's where most of life happens.

So give yourself smaller things to anticipate.

Dinner with a friend.

A ride.

A day somewhere new.

An afternoon with no agenda.

Something doesn't have to be expensive or impressive to deserve a place on your calendar.

Often the best things on it are simply new. A class, a route, a skill you have never tried. There is a particular pleasure in being a beginner again.

It simply has to matter to you.

Sometimes We Can Create Anticipation for Someone Else

This is something I've come to appreciate through organizing activities and bringing people together.

When you plan something people enjoy, you're giving them more than the experience itself.

You're giving them something to anticipate.

A group ride might only last a morning.

A community event might only last an afternoon.

A trip might only last a week.

But people can enjoy thinking about those experiences long before they happen.

And sometimes the anticipation brings people together before the event ever begins.

They talk.

They plan.

They laugh.

They imagine.

They connect.

You're not simply putting something on a calendar.

You're putting something good in someone's future.

You Don't Need a Bucket List

Living fully doesn't require racing through a giant checklist.

A meaningful life isn't measured by how spectacular it looks from the outside.

Sometimes it's much quieter.

People you enjoy seeing.

Activities that make you feel alive.

Places you still want to explore.

Ideas that still make you curious.

And a few dates on the calendar you're genuinely happy are coming.

What's Next?

Maybe that's the question worth asking every once in a while.

What's the next thing you're genuinely looking forward to?

Maybe something comes to mind immediately.

And if it doesn't, that's okay.

Maybe that's simply worth changing.

Call someone.

Plan the dinner.

Choose the trail.

Sign up for the class.

Organize the ride.

Start planning the trip.

Put something good on the calendar.

Not because every moment of life needs to be exciting.

It doesn't.

But because your future deserves more than obligations.

Give yourself somewhere you're excited to arrive.

Keep Looking Forward

One of the ideas at the heart of Design Yourself is that life is something we continue participating in.

There is still more to learn.

More to build.

More to contribute.

More to experience.

We don't need to know exactly what the next chapter holds.

Maybe we simply need to remain interested enough to turn the page.

So put something good on the calendar.

Something next week.

Something next month.

Maybe something next year.

Because sometimes anticipation is part of the experience.

And one of the simplest ways to keep living fully may be this:

Stay interested in your own future.