Lately, most of my journaling and insight in general comes from hindsight. While it has it’s place, relying too much on hindsight leads to me frequently missing out on what’s happening around the corner. Focusing too much on the past, can leave little room to appreciate the present or plan for the future.
Hindsight Habits
My approach to journaling this time around boils down to wait until last minute of the day and then write down my thoughts. It’s definitely helped me to capture my feelings at the end of the day to wind down before bed, but it doesn’t capture the moments I’m writing about. Writing down my thoughts at the end of the day means I’m always looking back.
This tendency to write solely on the past causes me to miss out on the future ahead. With my current routines, I hardly ever take time to make plans for the future, both near and far. Sure there are events like vacations and goals, but the difficult part is the day to day that ultimately make up those things. As of now, the only foresight based activity I partake in is a weekly breakfast with friends. There we set goals for the week to come. Otherwise, all of my habits look back.
In Moderation
Looking back on events can be a great way to learn and develop, but a problem arises when everything is done retrospectively. Learning from the past is probably one of humanity’s greatest strengths, but so is planning ahead.
For the rest of this trial, I’m going to change up a little bit about how I approach the daily journal. Instead of journaling only at night, I’m going to write down my thoughts and plans for the day ahead. At the end of the day, I can look back on what was already written and see if I was successful or not. This forces me to start applying foresight in my routine.
Trying Out Before Buying In 