Upgrading Your Daily Review, Slightly

The habit of reviewing your day is known to be good, but when you actually try it, it tends to end with "nothing much happened today". That is because there is no format for the review. Without questions, memory flows only to the most recent thing.

Five minutes before bed, throw out three questions in order. First, one thing that went well today. Second, one thing you regret. Third, one action you will try to change slightly tomorrow. These three questions light the day from different angles.

Why to start with what went well

If you start with what you regret, the review easily turns into self-criticism. Starting with what went well gives you balance. The good thing does not have to be big: something finished as planned, a call that went through safely, a lunch you took on time. If you look, there is at least one every day.

Leave what you regret for second. What matters there is not digging for causes but writing the fact only. Not "I got angry", but "my replies got shorter at the second request". Written as a scene, the action to fix tomorrow becomes visible.

One action to try changing

The last question is the most practical. The action you try tomorrow should be as small as possible. "Send one line of summary before the meeting starts", "drink one glass of water at two in the afternoon". A grand resolution is forgotten by next week, but a small action can be checked tomorrow.

A review is not judging the day. It is greeting the day. Five minutes is enough, and three hundred and sixty-five of them make a map of a year.