Good time journal

A good time journal has two parts:

1. Activity log. Where you could record how engaged and energized you are while doing an activity.
2. Reflections. Where you review your activity log and write trends, insights, surprises, and clues about what does and doesn't work for you concerning the activity.

How to accomplish a good time journal

A good time journal project should span a minimum of three weeks.

Ideally, the activity log should be accomplished daily to really capture lots of information. Meanwhile, reflections should be done once a week to allow more days to accumulate for comparison.

To accomplish the activity log, write the activity then, beside it, write how engaged or energized you were while doing it.

How to reflect on a good time journal

To reflect, review the past week's activity log then identify which activities were engaging and energizing. Write about any surprises. Apply the AEIOU method to deepen your reflection.

What you are aspiring for both the activity log and the reflections is detail—the more precise you can pinpoint to the things that energize and engage you, the better.

Closely analyze your good time journal using the AEIOU method

Making a detailed and accurate observation of your current life is important for design. To do this, use the AEIOU method.

Activities.

• What were you doing?
• Was this a structured or an unstructured activity?
• Did you have a specific role to play or were you just a participant?

Environment.

• What kind of place was the environment you were in when you were doing the activity?
• How did the place make you feel?

Interactions

• What were you interacting with while doing the activity—people or machines?
• Was it a new kind of interaction or one you are familiar with?
• Was it formal or informal?

Objects

• Were you interacting with any objects or devices?
• What were the objects that created or supported your feeling engaged?

Users

• Who else was there, and what role did they play in making it either a positive or a negative experience?

Related

• my good time journal