Saving the best moments

Posted on Jan 20, 2015 in English Posts | 0 comments

A combined productivity/mood thing that I’ve been doing recently is this: whenever I do something that I deem to have been worth doing, even if it’s something really small, I write down a few words that record that I’ve done it. At the end of the day I elaborate on those descriptions a bit, so that I can actually remember what they were referring to even afterwards, and save them in a file that lists everything that I’ve done on each day.

These things can be small. For example, my list of things that I’ve done today includes mentions of several messages that I’ve replied to, a link that I’ve shared on FB, and the fact that I promised a friend to give them private tutoring about some rationality techniques once they’d figure out when they’d have the time for it.

This has several benefits. Previously I would never remember, at the end of a day, what exactly I’d done: getting a record showing that I have actually been productive is nice. Furthermore, writing down accomplishments feels pleasant, and makes me look for more things that I could do, so this is a nice way to get into a productive mindset. And even if I’m feeling particularly unproductive on some given day, there’s almost always at least something that I can find and record to make me feel better.

Another thing I record in the file is all the pleasant things that happened to me during that day. If a friend tells me about something nice that’s happened and I feel happy for them, if I have a good time talking with somebody, if someone compliments me in a way that makes me feel good – all of that goes down in the file.

Afterwards I have a big file that I can read, which records and reminds me of the pleasant and productive moments that I’ve had, while letting the bad moments be swallowed by the mist of time.