7 Days, 7 Journals

To get the most out of keeping a journal, I've started to keep SEVEN journals.  One for each day of the week.

Why?  I write in journals to make myself happier and more successful.  There is overwhelming evidence that positive emotions increase when we write/think about our dreams for the future and when we write about the things we are grateful for now.  But there is also evidence that this type of journaling is most effective when we mix it up. In her book, The How of Happiness, psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky describes her research into behaviors that gave college students sustained, measurable improvements in their reported satisfaction with their lives compared to control groups.  She found that writing in a gratitude journal  increases happiness.  So does imagining the best possible future outcomes in one or more areas of your life.

None of this is surprising, but I was shocked to learn that gratitude journals were MORE effective when the students wrote just once per week versus when they wrote every day!!!  Lyubomirsky concluded that subjects just weren't as engaged in the activity when they wrote in their gratitude journals every day.  It was much more effective to write just once per week AND REALLY MEAN IT!

Similarly, the author's research showed that a few weeks of writing about the best possible, realistic outcomes in your life in the next few months measurably increased how satisfied students reported feeling about their lives.  But, again, the effect was more pronounced if this visioning happened weekly rather than daily.

To start creating these weekly habits, I'm now writing in seven journals.  I'm using "Google Docs" files so that I can log into these journals from any computer or iPad.  My "Journals" folder includes "Thanksgiving Thursday" for Gratitude Journaling.  When it comes to imagining the "Best Possible Outcomes"  in the next few months and beyond, I've broken this up into journaling about work on Tuesdays, my healthy lifestyle vision on Wednesdays, and my personal/family/spiritual life on Saturdays.

That leaves 3 more days.  I use one for brainstorming things I need to do at home, another for things to do at work, and the last is a completely open ended traditional journal in which I write about whatever comes to mind.