Log It
When you find yourself waiting, what do you do? Are you like me and you grab your phone? Here is what I started doing instead.
I made a list of everything I had accomplished so far today. I reflected on the breakfast I ate. The meeting I led. The people I talked off the ledge. I make note of the chit chat I had. The papers I sorted through. The calendar items I got scheduled.
Seem silly to you? That I would reflect on such simple things? Then you haven’t discovered the power of logging.
When you log your day as it comes, you have great power. You have the ability to stop, to reflect, and then to shape how you characterize your day. You have the ability to say, good job, to yourself. You have the ability to create a new habit of capturing your days in ways that are quite satisfying.
Most of us plow through our days unaware. Logging allows me to bring my awareness to my day in new ways. It lets me see myself, real time, and congratulate myself for what I have done, rather than bemoaning what didn’t get done.
Logging also has this curious ability to help me stay present. To put me in the right now where all my power lies. And therein is the true secret to logging. It puts you back in the driver’s seat for life.
Feeling out of control? Log. Feeling like a victim to circumstance? Log. Feeling like you aren’t enough? Log. It solves the problems you didn’t know you had.
Feeling out of control? Log. Feeling like a victim to circumstance? Log.
When I log, I take in the days in new ways. I see myself with fresh eyes. I celebrate the done instead of lamenting the undone.
If you are inclined to give this a try, then start right now. Write the date and then list what you did with each phase of the day. Be kind and nice to yourself. Be judicious with your judgments and solicitous with your praise. Be quick and easy, and capture what happened.
Turn to your log, at the end of the day, and celebrate all you experienced. Read your log and then say, another great day. Close out your log with a prayer: I hope tomorrow is even better than today.