The Book of Success
This is an activity which is helpful when you need a boost of self-esteem or motivation. But this can also be used by anyone who wishes to feel good about themselves, and achieve bigger things.
All you would need for this activity is a book/notepad/word editor and 10 minutes of time before you go to sleep.
First off, title your book "The Book of Success." This book will have a collection of all your successes on a day-to-day basis.
Every night, before you go to sleep, take this book and write down all your successes in that particular day. It doesn't matter how big or small it is - a success is stil a success. It could be that you finished a work project successfully. Or studied one chapter for the coming exams. Or finished reading a book. Or resisted the temptation for that "one more cookie." Or walked by a discount store without going in and shopping. Or cleaned your room. Or organized your desk. Or did your laundry. Or asked someone out. Or helped someone. Or settled a conflict. Or reduced your caffeine consumption to just five cups per day as opposed to ten yesterday (even opposed to six yesterday is a success). Anything, small or big, trivial or significant, that counts as an achievement goes in this book.
Remember, this book is for finished jobs, not works-in-progress (although if you have broken down a big task to small chunks and finished one of those chunks, you can enter that as a success) or works-that-will-be-done-soon.
Doing this as a daily ritual helps increase your sense of self-worth, productivity and also your confidence. Having a Book of Success makes you want to finish off the tasks and not procrastinate, so you would have something to write in the book. Also it would help you resist temptations and quit bad habits, if followed regularly.
One more thing to consider is this: we all have our productive (peak) days and indulgent (valley) days. Some days, we are full of energy, raving to go, and get a tonne of work done.We are full of enthusiasm and our Book of Success is full of entries on those days.
Some other days, we need to withdraw and focus on ourselves. These are our valley days. These are important too, as we cycle through life. It may be just a random valley day where we just feel like having fun, or a time when we are down with illness. In those days, our Book of Success could contain entries like got a new haircut, spent quality time with friends, had deep conversations with family, connected with others, nurtured oneself, meditated, read a quality book, treated oneself for all the Successes of past days, contemplated the higher picture etc. In other words, these are the days when one turns one's focus inward, and nurtures ourselves, freshening us up for a Peak day.
Keep the book, read it and write down your successes. It will propel you to achieving more and putting in a better effort the next day.
If you found this article helpful and have any comments/suggestions/questions, please use the form below to submit it to me. I would love to hear from you! Alternately, you may also use the Contact page or my blog to tell me about this article.