3 Questions to Ask Yourself Each Morning

I know so many people who have started journaling and stopped before it could make a difference.

I was one of those people.

I read articles and listened to podcasts on the benefits. It would revolutionise my life, they said. It would enable me to focus on what’s important. It sounded amazing.

I even bought a brand new note book just for this task.

The articles said that if you buy a journal that you love the look and feel of you will be many times more likely to persevere. You would find joy in opening that journal every day.

But I could never stick to it. I’d do the usual thing of keeping at it for a few days but I could never build it into a habit. It never became something I would stick at and get the benefits from.

Until now that is. What’s changed?

The thing with my previous approach was the blank page. I found it intimidating. I couldn’t gather myself to write. I was trying to force out the words but it felt aimless, pointless even. This was never going to work.

For those who don’t follow him, Rangan Chatterjee is a doctor, author and podcaster that often takes a slightly different approach to health. In his own words:

I am a medical doctor with over 20 years experience who treats you as an individual. I take a 360° approach to health by focusing on my 4 pillars of health: Food, Movement, Sleep and Relaxation.

I stumbled on his journaling article and haven’t looked back in terms of my journaling. And then a recent podcast (see link below) nudged me into writing this post.

He recommends taking tiny steps towards your journaling and focusing on three very simple questions each morning. This simplistic approach has triggered something in me - it’s finally working!

The big questions you need to start your day

What is the most important thing I need to do today?

With this one we are focusing on the big thing that is important to you. We all have huge to-do lists and we’re often worried about the day ahead.

How will we get everything done? Well, most of the time we don’t. We simply feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of “stuff” to do.

So in this question we are forced to boil it down to the one thing that will move the dial for us on that day.

What am I grateful for in my life?

The person we talk to the most in our lives? Yes, its ourselves!

So make sure you are talking to yourself in a positive way. There’s always something positive we are write here even if everything else is going down the toilet. It could be really small such as you have some food in the fridge for your breakfast.

It doesn’t really matter what it is.

The point is you shift your mind away from the potential spiral and into something positive. Good stuff can grow from that.

What quality do you want to show the world today?

As with the above question, this is about getting you into the right mindset for the day and showing yourself that you have control over how you put yourself out there.

It’s not always easy to answer this one. If we are having a tough time we can find it difficult to think positively.

On Wednesday this week I answered like this:

“I’d like to show I’m a positive person but I’m really struggling today”

Wednesday was tough for no particular reason but I was struggling. I’m pleased I set out a positive intention but I think it was also important to note how I was feeling.

Looking back on this really helps as I know now that I moved on from that position and got through that day.

So those three questions should get your day off to a good start. After doing this for a few weeks you will start to get into the swing of it and see patterns in your writing.

The key is to be specific as possible in what you write

So for things you are grateful for you could say “I am grateful for how my fridge has my favourite yogurt which I love to have with honey each morning as it tastes so sweet”

So how should you close out your day?

Well, here are three bonus questions that can help you there too.

What went well today?

Now then, you can always find something. It could be that you filled in your journal!

What did I do for someone else today?

This gets us thinking about what we gave the world.

It’s amazing when we think back through our day that we can start to piece together how we made a positive impact on other people. This immediately gives us meaning beyond ourselves.

Again, it could be really small. Maybe you bought someone a coffee. Or helped them talk through a tricky problem at work.

What can I do differently tomorrow?

And finally, we have tomorrow to be better still.

Setting that intention as we end our day can set us up to be better people. There’s a saying that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others but we should seek to improve on ourselves compared to yesterday.

This is our chance to set that out.

Happy journaling!

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Never Stop Learning | Martin Prior | Substack