November 2021

How I Start My Day

Every morning I use a basic journaling routine to start my day.

When I fire up my computer, the first thing I do is open my note-taking tool and copy/paste in my daily template.

That template looks like this:

***

Today’s Date – November 30th, 2021

Gratitudes

  1. The first thing I’m grateful for today. This could be something small like..
  2. I’m grateful for this hot cup of coffee to start my day, or something bigger like..
  3. I’m grateful to be able to celebrate the holidays in-person with my friends and family after a lousy year with Covid-19. It doesn’t matter if it’s big or small. This routine just helps to build the gratitude muscle and grounds myself with positivity and healthy perspective to start the day.

To Do List

  • What’s the next action I need to do? I update that here
  • and here
  • and here
  • and sometimes, it adds to the to-do list from days before and reminds me that I need to get focused and burn down my to-do list. Sometimes I also realize I had to-dos that weren’t in fact important or just resolved themselves on their own.

Idea Of The Day

  • Is there any stroke of genius or ridiculous idea I want to write down and revisit later? If so, I’ll jot it down here.
  • Or maybe it’s some quote I heard or read, that just seems like a great idea to ponder and think about.

Notes

  • Throughout the day, I’ll just log my notes in this section. If I have a call, I’ll add a bullet point like…
  • Call with Batman to discuss the new Gotham City Building
    • And then I’ll add notes about that call here

***

I use Roam Research and templates to make it easy to link and group ideas together over time, but really any note-taking tool should work here. You can see a snapshot of that below. Another new one to look at is called Reflect App.

I’ve found this to be a pretty simple and effective way to start my day.

The Power of Perspective

This is one of my favorite times of the year.

When people start asking questions like, “what are you doing for New Years?” it brings into focus the fact that the year is almost over.

And then, inevitably, I think…..How did the year go? How do I feel about the year ahead?

Whenever I zoom out and ask those more macro questions…I keep zooming out…I think about my life and my work compared to other parts of life, to other people, and other situations…

I think about the homeless person living on the corner of 30th and park, a few feet away from our NYC office…

I think about my grandfather that had to drive 2 hours each way from southern New Jersey to New York City, seven days a week to sell eggs from his farm…just a few short years after fleeing the Holocaust and war in Europe…

I think about the headlines in the news…people losing their kids to gun violence…

I think about people being silenced and “disappeared” for sharing their thoughts publicly…

I think about the people that thought they’d have a wonderful morning out skiing with friends but don’t ever make it home…

At times it can be hard to see all that we are thankful for and to appreciate all of the good things happening in our lives. This can be especially hard when scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter and comparing your life to the few glorious minutes someone spent perfecting their ‘gram’ and public display for the world.

Or it can feel depressing when reading posts on LinkedIn about how people are crushing it with record-breaking numbers, promotions, and everything in between.

We’re all guilty of this and it could lead us to some dark and interesting thought exercises.

I’ve been there. I get it.

But the reality is this…

Whatever you may be going through or feeling, just try to have the perspective that no matter the situation you’re in, things can likely be a lot worse.

The power of this perspective has been one of the most important and impactful mental models for me throughout my life.

Maybe it can be helpful to you too.

Happy thanksgiving.

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