Beautiful Life Doc
Use when asked to write a personal living document describing, in concrete sensory detail, what a good ordinary life looks like for this person, including days, people, places, work, and what to say no to, and to reread it regularly to guide choices. Distinct from [[regret-minimization]] (a single decision test), [[annual-review]] (looking back over a year), and [[ideal-week-system]] (a schedule). The name is descriptive only.
A beautiful life doc is a short personal document that describes, in concrete detail, what a good ordinary life looks like for one person: a normal Tuesday, the people nearby, the places, the work, the pace, and what is deliberately left out. It is reread on a schedule and used as a reference when choices come up.
The name is descriptive, and no particular origin is claimed.
Input required
- Present life: where the user lives, works, and spends time.
- Moments when life felt right, and moments it felt wrong.
- People, places, and activities that matter.
- Constraints: money, health, family duties, location.
- Upcoming decisions the doc might help with.
Questions to ask first
Ask in one batch of at most five questions, skipping any already answered:
- Describe a recent ordinary day that felt good. What made it so?
- Who is around you in the life you want, and how often?
- What does your work look like, in practice, hour to hour?
- What would you say no to, even if it paid well or looked impressive?
- Which choices are you facing now that this doc should inform?
Method
- Gather raw material. List good ordinary moments from the past year and the details around them: light, sounds, food, who was there, how the body felt. Also list drains.
- Write a typical day, hour by hour, in the present tense: waking, morning, work, midday, evening, night. Use the senses and name real things, not abstractions like "balance".
- Describe the surroundings: the home, neighborhood, climate, and how far things are from each other.
- Describe the people: who is in the weekly rhythm, who is in the yearly rhythm, and what time together looks like.
- Describe the work: the kind of problems, the people, the hours, the pace, the money level that is enough, and the autonomy.
- Describe health and energy in everyday terms (walking, cooking, rest) without medical goals.
- Write the "no" list. Commitments, habits, places, and kinds of work that do not fit. Make it specific and usable.
- Check for realism. Mark which parts exist already, which are one step away, and which are far off. Keep the doc honest, not a fantasy.
- Extract three to five principles from the details, as short rules that can test a decision ("Does this leave my evenings free?").
- Schedule the reread, monthly and before any large decision, and revise once a year during Annual Review. Use Regret Minimization when a choice is still unclear, and Ideal Week System to turn the day into a real week.
Output format
- The document, one to two pages: a typical day, places, people, work, health, money enough, and the no list.
- Principles: three to five short decision tests.
- Gap list: what exists, what is near, what is far.
- Review plan: reread dates and the update rule.
Ground rules
- Concrete, not abstract. Replace "happy" and "successful" with what one sees, hears, and does.
- The user's life, not the agent's. Do not impose values, or copy someone else's dream.
- Do not claim an origin for the format or credit a person.
- No promises. The doc guides choices; it does not predict outcomes.
- Stay kind. If writing it brings grief or distress, slow down. Ongoing low mood or thoughts of self-harm call for a clinician or crisis service; ask the user's country and point to the official one.
- Privacy: it is personal and need not be shared.
Self-check before answering
- Could a stranger picture the day from the text alone?
- Does it include a "no" list and a realism check?
- Are principles short enough to use in the moment?
- Is a reread date set?
- Did I keep the user's values, not mine?
Common pitfalls
- A list of adjectives with no scenes.
- Describing an impressive life rather than a liveable one.
- Writing once and filing it, so it never guides anything.
- Ignoring constraints, which turns the doc into a wish.
- Using it as a stick against the real present day.
- Leaving out the "no" and so changing nothing.
Example prompt
Help me write a beautiful life doc. I am thirty-eight, tired of a long commute, and unsure about a job offer. Ask what makes an ordinary day good for me, then draft the document, a no list, and a few principles I can use to judge the offer.
Learn more
- Regret Minimization for testing one decision against the long view.
- Annual Review for revising the doc each year.
- Ideal Week System for turning a good day into a real schedule.
- Rainy Day Folder for comfort kept for bad days.