I've been thinking about how to use thinking time. It can feel open-ended and unactionable. It's demoralizing to see that precious time drip away while I’m paralyzed in analysis.
I want my approach to be engaging (and maybe fun), encourage curiosity, and give me specific steps. I know I'm struggling when I can't stop being abstract.
I've liked the idea of giving myself questions to answer. The approach adds focus, lets me write, and easily fits into conversations with those around me as I reflect.
Here's a list of questions that I'm playing with.
Why? So many whys. Look at an occurrence around you. Ask yourself why it happens, and keep finding answers until you find peace with your investigation.
Who were all the people who helped with what happened today? Who can I thank today?
What are three useful or engaging books (or similar resources) that you've consumed? What do they have in common? If you were to explain the union and intersection of these resources to someone, what would you say?
What is a list of things that you want to change about your life? Now, what is ONE thing you can do to change all of them? (write that thing down and do it). Come back and revisit this answer.
How will you push yourself TODAY to a point that you haven't reached before?
What is one thing that you can do today to be kinder to yourself? To one other person?
What is one relationship in your life that you should invest more in? Less in?
Who do you want to be at the end of the day? The week? The month? At the end of the year?
Sit in silence for 20 minutes, doing nothing. What are the first thoughts that come to your mind?
How can you improve one of your habits in a meaningful way, today?
This isn’t a canonical list. The real juice comes in experimenting with it in life.
This list is great! Going to try it out & share back my thoughts 😌