Tony Dye

Tony Dye

MAKING IT EASIER TO DO
THE RIGHT THINGS

Search

Subscribe

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Navigate

LINKS MAY BE MONETIZED

Gratitude Journal

Way back, in what now feels like the beginning of time, I read an interesting little “technical” book, Becoming a Technical Leader, which included a statement of, roughly, “if you want to be a real leader, start your technical journal today.” That sounded like good advice, so I got a spiral notebook and started. A page each day; sometimes more than one page. Thinking through events and thoughts and especially successes, was a great idea. But there was a flaw … it wasn’t easy searchable. In effect, I had a “deposit only” journal.

Fast forward. After many iterations through many different technologies (many of which don’t exist anymore) I settled on an easier journaling idea. I use a particular note-taking application, but the particulars don’t matter, and it is likely to change again in the future. The key is that I have one “page” for each date, January 1, January 2 … December 31. Within that page, I organize by year the notes of what I care about for that date. I include life events, historical events, and my gratitude items. I claim this to be a “one line” journal, but that’s often misleading. Some days it word-wraps to three or four lines. The key is to focus on what I’d like to remember ahead – especially things that make me smile.

Here’s the “magic” for me. Every day, near the start of the day, I review the journal page corresponding to the day’s date. Now I have, at a glance, all the interesting and good things that have happened on that date across time, not just my lifetime. What a great way to start the day, with a review of good things.

Confession: As the example shows, I keep track of birthdays and anniversaries and any other special dates in this same page-a-day journal. I’ve made it a habit to wish people happy birthday or happy anniversary or otherwise acknowledge special dates. People are often amazed at how I can remember all these things. Well, now you know, I don’t even try to remember. My system remembers for me. Does that make it less “real?” I hope not – please know that I went to the effort to put you into my system so I can be reminded. Note: I also use TimeHop to do some pictorial reinforcement of my historical notes. If I took a picture of you on a past birthday, that may be part of my birthday greeting to you this year.

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

LINKS MAY BE MONETIZED