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 rate how engaged or energized you were while doing it. Rate engagement from 1 to 10, with 1 being least engaging and 10 being most engaging. Likewise, rate energy from 1 to 10, with 1 being most energy draining (negative energy) and 10 being most energizing (positive energy). Put a star in activities that induced peak experiences. For each activity with both an engagement and energy rating of 8 and above, especially those also with a star, use the aeiou method per patnaik to reflect on each deeper.

How to reflect on a good time journal

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.

To extract as much detail as possible, review the past week's activity log and look for all activities with both an engagement and energy rating of 8 and above, especially those also with a star. Then, use the AEIOU method per Patnaik to reflect on each activity more deeply. Write about any surprises.