• What do you value in life?

  • If I repeat this week’s actions for 1 year, 5 years, 10 years, where does it lead, and is that where I want to be?

  • What activities, people, habits in the last 2 weeks have energised me and drained me?

  • What would you like people to say at your funeral?

  • How is your wheel of life? Rate each out of 10.

  • How much do your current goals reflect who you are vs someone else’s?

  • What’s your definition of success in life? How successful do you want to be?

  • If I knew I was going to die 2 years from now, how would I spend my time?

  • What is something you have had a hard time being honest about, even to yourself?

  • It is 1 year from now, you are having dinner with a friend. What are you celebrating? (Write this in the present tense).

JOURNALING PROMPTS

FEAR SETTING EXERCISE

Journaling has always been my way of slowing down to see what I’m actually thinking. I’ve moved away from structured daily routines in favour of journaling periodically where I find it’s far more powerful - whenever I need clarity, navigating emotions or feel a nudge to explore.

Collected here are the prompts I’ve picked up from various books and thinkers that have helped me find my own internal compass. Hopefully it will help you too.

Quick tip: The more fun and honest the process is, the more you actually learn, writing purely for yourself, with no ego and audience.

DAILY PRACTICES

MY TOP 10

JOURNALING PROMPTS

MY TOP 10

WHEN “BAD”
THINGS HAPPEN

DAILY PRACTICES

Morning

  • What's 1 thing I'm grateful for?

  • What's 1 thing I'm excited about?

  • What's 1 virtue I want to exhibit?

  • What's 1 thing I'm avoiding?

  • What's the 1 thing I need to do?

Evening

  • What were my biggest wins of the day?

  • Did I have any major realisations?

  • What's on the agenda for tomorrow?

WHEN “BAD” THINGS HAPPEN

  • What happened objectively?

  • What did I make it mean?

  • How would I comfort a friend I loved if this happened to them?

  • How is this the best thing that has ever happened to me?

FEAR SETTING EXERCISES

  • What is the worst thing that will happen if I… [the thing that you fear doing]?

  • Here, you want to catastrophise and make a list of 10 things that you think could go wrong.

  • What can I do to prevent each of the worst things from happening?

  • If the worst case scenario happened, what can I do to repair it?

  • What are the benefits of an attempt or partial success?

  • If I don’t do the thing that scares me, what will my life look like in 6 months, 1 year, and 3 years?