I’ve previously written about Marcus Aurelius’ tactic of journalling in the second person—how it can help distance us from our situation, and allow us to look at our opportunities and challenges with objectivity.
Here is another tactic you may find helpful: ask yourself hard questions, then give yourself time and space before putting pen to paper.
The time and space is important, because our first thoughts are often knee-jerk, emotional responses.
Some examples are:
- If money was no longer an obstacle, what would you spend your time doing?
- If you had all the attention in the world, what would you choose to do then?
- What’s the biggest lie you’ve told yourself recently?
- When was the last time you were wrong? What happened?
- Why are you doing what you’re doing?