Every evening, I do a reflection on what went well and what could’ve been better (which I refer to as the ‘meh’ part of my day). I added ‘Support’ to note how I received support that day as a reminder that I’m not going through life alone, ‘Joy’ on what brought me joy (since what went well isn’t necessarily something that brings me joy), and ‘Draining’ so I can be aware of my energy management and not continuing things that deplete me.
Now that it’s August, I’ve decided to surface the themes in my evening reflection of what went well and how to continue it. In addition, knowing how to improve what was not as great.
Well themes:
texting a new friend x4
date x3
comedy show x2
drinks with friends x2
meal with a friend x2
Better how themes:
make plans to see friends x15
take PTO x2
‘Meh’ themes:
sleepy x5
little/poor communication from a new friend x5
a poor or nonexistent meal x3
ineffective work meetings x3
Better how themes:
sleep early x4
don't overload schedule x2
The overwhelming evidence says that I need to make more plans to see friends and that I need to get to sleep earlier. Fascinating how day to day I can know that I’m sleepy but not see the pattern until I look at it in aggregate. I really love the process of collecting self-reflection data on myself and using that to alter future behavior. Highly recommend!
I’m interested to see how next month changes (or not) with these insights!
