Follow this formula and you could have the best day ever

We all know what a good day feels like. The coffee’s hot, your inbox is kind, and even the dog seems to wag in time with your mood.

But what if you could engineer the perfect day? Not by luck, or with crystals, but with actual science? A new study published by researchers at the University of British Columbia analysed data from the American Time Use Survey, which recorded how thousands of people spent their time across more than 100 activities.

By comparing these patterns with whether participants rated their day as “better than typical,” they were able to pinpoint the building blocks of a good day.

Their conclusion? There’s a formula for a truly joyful day.

BDE = 6h family + 2h friends + 1.5h socializing + 2h exercise + 1h eating/drinking – work >6h – TV >1h – commuting >15min

OR

BDE = FAM₆ + FR₂ + SOC₁.₅ + EX₂ + EAT₁ – WRK₆ – TV₁ – CMT₀.₂₅

(All variables measured in hours or minutes. “–” denotes tipping points where enjoyment decreases.)

OR

That’s Best Day Ever = 6 hours with family + 2 hours with friends + 1.5 hours of extra socialising + 2 hours of exercise + 1 hour of eating and drinking – with less than 6 hours of work, indulging in only 1 hour of screen time, and a 15-minute commute.

Basically: be fit, fun, available, and somehow not working too much. So... early retirement?

Still, I thought I’d give it a go.

Six hours with family

Let’s begin with the near-impossible: six hours of family time. Lovely, if you live in a commune or own a toddler. Me? I live alone. My 23-year-old son Charlie moved out to go to university four years ago, and the house has been quieter than a library with a power cut.

I’d underestimated just how punchy the grief of empty nesting would feel. Turns out, I wasn’t quite ready to trade my daily dose of “Muuum, where’s my charger?” for the melancholic hum of Radio 4 and reheated soup for one.

So today, I arranged a mid-morning Zoom call, not a WhatsApp “how’s work” tap-and-go. We talked, laughed, planned an Easter escape (a cottage! With actual eye contact!). Obviously, it didn’t hit the full six hours, but it hit the heart, and that’s something. It was a proper, soul-soothing 20-minutes and the researchers were right, it brightened my mood and day.

This inspired me to visit my nephew, who had just bought his first house nearby to me. Normally I’d send a round of enthusiastic emojis on the family group chat. But in the spirit of “Better Day Energy”, I showed up in real life.

I even turned down a freelance commission to take two hours out of my day to visit – something I would never normally do. It felt weird. And also... wonderful as I saw my nephew beam as he showed me round his new home. There’s a big difference between staying in touch and truly connecting.

Two hours with friends

For my friendship quota, conveniently, my friend Lizzie from London was staying with me (I live in Northumberland), en route to a work conference in Edinburgh. So I had friendship time on tap this week.

We had kicked off the day with an early beach walk. Normally I treat dog-walking like a chore to be endured and normally stomp round the back of Aldi carpark. But reframed as soul-nourishing joy with a friend? Honestly? Game-changer. We walked a bit further to the beach and talked, laughed, solved nothing and everything and admired the view.

One and a half hours of extra socialising

The formula also recommends a bit of general chit-chat beyond your immediate circle. So I spoke to the woman at the coffee shop about the new film on at the local cinema, joked with a man in the bakery queue about his ill-shaped croissant and talked books with my local indie bookseller when I picked up a book I was supposed to be reviewing for work. None of this changed my life, but it made the day feel more human. Less tunnel-vision, more twinkly.

Two hours of exercising

Next up: exercise. The formula recommends up to four hours. FOUR. I laughed. I’ve technically joined a gym, but my usual routine is 20 minutes on a treadmill followed by a long nap in the sauna. So I made an effort: I committed to a proper hour of movement, plus add in the two beach dog walks. Total: 2+ hours. Result: smug. I won’t say I became an endorphin junkie overnight, but I did spend the day feeling less like a laptop goblin and more like a functioning human.

One hour of eating and drinking

Eating and drinking made the official shortlist for Best Day Ever activities (finally, something I’m already good at). Normally, lunch involves hovering over my laptop, half-chewing while replying to emails and accidentally liking someone’s Instagram post from 2017.

But for science, I decided to go full domestic goddess: I set the table, lit a candle (for lunch!)and actually tasted my food like some kind of civilised human. Then that evening, Lizzie and I cooked dinner together with a soundtrack of 1980s bangers and absolutely no agenda. It wasn’t gourmet – just pasta and salad – but we laughed, we stirred, we debated how much parmesan was too much (answer: that limit does not exist). The food was fine. The company was better. The vibe? Michelin-starred emotional nourishment.

Less than six hours of work

This was all going very well but the only problem was trying to fit work in. Apparently, the researchers found that working more than six hours a day is where happiness plummets.

But all this socialising, exercise and eating a candle-lit lunch was liberating but time-consuming.

Normally I work till my eyeballs twitch and my dinner’s gone cold. This day, I managed three hours and that was it. But astoundingly, I still managed to get an article filed to deadline, the sky didn’t fall and no editors chased me with pitchforks. I had closed the laptop and rejoined my life.

Just one hour of screen time

Screen time was definitely the biggest hurdle. My phone tells me I spend an average 3 hours and 22 minutes a day on it. Add Netflix and I’m basically in a committed relationship with a screen. In honour of creating my perfect day, I went cold turkey. I banned phone scrolling in bed and wrote my journal instead.

In the evening, Lizzie and I played Cards Against Humanity, (which my son had left when he came back from university). Instead of watching telly, we discovered our dark sides and laughed so hard we cried. Screen time? 53 minutes. Result!

Less than 15-minute commute

Finally, the commute. Working from home meant this was the one area I already had nailed. My “commute” is approximately 12 steps and involves no traffic, no suits, and no one breathing too loudly next to me on the Tube. I don’t know what you do if you have a long commute? But having spent years of my life on the Tube, I feel like I’ve done my time.

The results

So – did I succeed in crafting the scientifically perfect day? Did I tick every single box? No. Did I get close enough to feel the difference? 100%. My day felt fuller, softer, better-paced. The experiment taught me this: you don’t need to hit every scientific marker to feel better. You just need to choose. To swap a scroll for a stroll. To call or make the effort to hang out with the people you love. To light a candle. To close your laptop when the day is done, not when your nervous system collapses.

I won’t live like this every day. Life is chaotic. Deadlines can be deadly. But I’ll keep returning to the idea that joy isn’t something that happens to us—it’s something we can build, one small, stubborn choice at a time. And maybe the ultimate formula isn’t in a research paper at all. Maybe it’s just this:

BDE = You + A Bit More Intention + Fewer Emails + More Parmesan.

And maybe the formula isn’t just about measuring minutes. Maybe it’s about choosing presence over productivity, connection over convenience. And that, science aside, is the kind of life I want to live. Cheesy, but true.