Switching up the journaling approach this week was certainly helpful in a number of ways. Putting together a plan the night before and morning of each day laid a general structure to the day ahead. Also, getting my mind out of the past was a key to trying to make better decisions in general.
Laying the Future Foundation
By shifting my focus forward, I found myself creating rough outlines for the day. Days hardly turned out as initially planned, but having some structure to fall back on helped when I would start to feel overwhelmed. Knowing what to bring my attention to at a given time allowed me to focus on what was most important in the given moment.
Each night, I wrote down a couple of sentences about how the day went and then shift focus to tomorrow. I created a list of things I wanted to do or think about for the day helped me to get over whatever happened today and get excited for tomorrow.
Admittedly, life frequently got in the way of my perfect plan most days. I would wake up late, or some other distraction would come up. Following what I wrote down verbatim wasn’t really the intention. Planning something was. Writing down a plan was a way to think about tomorrow, and not the day that is already over with.
Putting the Past Behind
The past can be a useful tool to learn from, but getting lost in it can be dangerous. When I started journaling again for this trial, I found myself focusing on the day that just passed.
The future is like the past of course, and too much focus on either can lead one down a slippery slope. Learning from the past and planning for the future are useful practices for anyone, but in reality it’s the present that requires all of our attention.
Keeping a journal is something I want to continue, even if it’s just a few words per day. Speaking of the future, for the next few weeks I’ll be changing things up a little bit. I won’t be starting a new ongoing trial. Instead, I’ll be writing about some other experiments I’ve done that don’t have their own posts yet.
Trying Out Before Buying In 