Great Reflection Prompts for Journal Writing
Volume 23, Chapter I, Number 008
Hello!
This Week’s One Great Thing: Great Reflection Prompts for Journal Writing
I’ve been journaling on and off for the past 30 years. As a pensive child, and inspired by a tv show called Doogie Howser MD, I would write my thoughts in a notebook. I didn’t even know it was called a journal (we called it a “diary” then). During the pandemic, I resolved to take up the habit again for my sanity. I set up a digital journal on Evernote (link). But it doesn’t have to be digital. You can use one of the journals from my friends at Belle de Jour/Viviamo and the SelfMade Sunday journal from Ann Gacutan, or you can use any of the digital journal apps like Day One, or if you have an iPad, use the app GoodNotes. I have personally used Day One and GoodNotes before and I liked both of them.
Sharing below the things I personally use as prompts. I have daily prompts at the start of the day, and when I end my day. I also have prompts for my weekly review. At the start of a new month, I also do a review of the Month. These are all templates I have set up over the years on Evernote (one of the reasons why I prefer digital journalling over the offline physical one is that it’s easier to use templates).
AM Journal
- Summarise this Day (What is this day about?)
- Start your day with Gratitude! 3 Things You Are Grateful For:
- Begin your day with a clear mind! Mind Dump everything that is on your mind now
- WHO should I reach out to today? Make someone’s day brighter by sending a random positive message!
- Self-check: in a scale of 1-10, what's my energy level at this point?
My AM Journal takes around 8 mins every day. It’s a great way to spend 8 mins that sets me up for the whole day.
End of Day Journal
- Today was a good day, because…
- 🔋What did you learn today?
- 👍🏽 What did you do well?
- 🎖️What do you need to do tomorrow?
My End of Day Journal takes another 8 mins. Sometimes I am not able to do this, but I try to do it as often as I can.
Weekly Review
- Last Week’s Big Accomplishments (I usually keep it to 3)
- What worked well last week?
- What did I struggle with last week?
- Changes I will make this week to improve.
- 3 Most Important Tasks For The Coming Week
My weekly review usually takes 20mins. I do it every Friday.
Monthly Review
- The Outcome (a 3-5 sentence summary of the last month). I don’t take too much time here, but it’s a good (and short way) to put the last month into focus and prepares me for the other questions in this monthly review.
- The Wins. Top 5 Wins I’m very proud of this month.
- The Challenges. Over the past month, my biggest challenges were…
- Goals I’m Struggling to Get Progress On.
- Getting Better. I can improve in this new month by…
- New Habits I Will Foster this Month. We are creatures of habit, and what we habitually do become who we are. And so it is good to think not just of tasks that we need to do to become better, but habits and routines that we need to build.
- Goals I’m Committing To This Month. I write two or three Goals I want to achieve by the end of the Month (which also becomes the main object for #4 above).
- This New Month’s Focus Theme. This I found to be very helpful. It’s a way to summarise my intention for the new month with just one word or phrase. For example, my Focus Theme for January 2023 is START STRONG. It’s a reminder for me to use this month not just as a bridge to the next months this year, but to really make it a good and strong start to 2023.
Bonus: other prompts you can use
- Reflect on how you've grown and changed over the past 3 months.
- List five of your favorite memories in the last quarter.
- What habits do I need to break to improve my life?
- Far in the future, who will you be? What will you be doing, who will you be with, and what will be your legacy?
- Far in the future, who will you never be? What will you avoid, and what will never be said about you?
Indeed, an unexamined life is not worth living as Socrates would say. It reminds us that without taking the time to reflect on and question our lives, we are not able to experience its full value. The idea of an examined life is to look back on our experiences and consider how they have shaped us and our perspectives. It is important to reflect upon the past and ask ourselves what we have learned, how we have grown, and how we can use this knowledge to create a better future.
This concept applies to both our personal and professional lives. By reflecting on our successes and failures, we can gain understanding of what we’ve done well and what we can do better. It helps us to identify our strengths and weaknesses, which can be beneficial in both our work and relationships. By reflecting on our choices, we can become more aware of our patterns of behavior and how our actions affect others.
Examining our lives through these daily, weekly and monthly journal prompts can bring insight into our values, beliefs, and emotions, allowing us to make informed choices about our lives.
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More Great Stuff:
This infographic from many years ago. When you see a child differently, you see a different child (Dr. Stuart Shanker). Kids exhibit difficult behaviour when they are stressed, have unmet needs, or when they don’t know or are not clear about what to do.
The Commitment Inventory - The full title is a very good summary of what the article is all about: The Commitment Inventory: Get More Done by Saying NO. - Try this Inventory if you: - Are stretched too thin to make meaningful progress on anything. - Don't feel like your daily to-do list lines up with your bigger priorities. - Have a hard time saying no to new projects and commitments. - Want to be more focused and intentional in what you take on.
Ok! Now pause, get yourself to a window, look up to the sky, smile, and have a great day! Look forward to send you another letter next week!
☕ eric santillan