Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for a PDF version and other notes.
If you’re new to Daily Prompts, you may want to start at the beginning of the series here.
Year______ Month_______Day______Consecutive Practice Days_____Missed Days______
Day 33
Gratitude:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vision:__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Affirmations:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Present
I was stuck in a goal-setting loop, I was always living for the future, with a few moments here and there where I’d be regretting the past.
I’ve developed The Lyceum Method, which now helps direct me to the present. I’m not only achieving more than I used to, I’m happier along the way. I’m more present, patient, peaceful. Instead of waiting for some future outcome, I’m living my life now. Instead of being ripped apart between regrets, hopes, and fears that were pulling me in different directions, I now have a sense of ease.
Because I’m living now, I love all my life.
Pinning happiness to certain outcomes is a nightmarish trap. The daily action step of this journal won’t save you from it right away. The Gratitude practice is a huge improvement, but you may still find yourself thinking in terms of results. When you get to the action steps, you might default to listing a handful of things you think you should accomplish that day.
One problem with this is that sometimes what seems like a small task to complete is, in reality, a multi-step process, and sometimes it even involves the cooperation of other people. In other words, it isn’t always in your direct control, and it isn’t always attainable because the various steps needed to complete the task can turn it into a bigger project than anticipated.
You may also notice that your to-do list often includes things that are repeated day after day. Sometimes because you don’t get to them when you originally intend to, sometimes because there are many steps involved in completing that one task, and sometimes because what you’re listing as a task is really a long series of repetitive tasks.
Seeing your action steps carried over from one day to the next can feel like failure. Sometimes even the shortest of to-do lists can take days or weeks to get done. This is part of the trap in the old methods of goal setting. You don’t feel successful until you achieve some specific result.
Instead, let’s try an experiment…
Practice
This seems like such a stupid-simple thing. Insignificant even. But The Lyceum Method can have a profound impact on the way you perceive your life. The more you intentionally try to direct your thinking away from goals and toward habits and Practices, the more you’ll discover about yourself.
This simple shift has led me to discover deep concepts that I’m still learning and exploring; discoveries about learning, developing skills, adapting to change, building confidence, achieving objectives, living intentionally, developing focus, consistency, presence of mind, flow states, creativity, curiosity, gratitude, empathy, effectiveness, organization, inner calm…even love.
I have no idea how deep this rabbit hole goes, but I’m excited to share with you what I’ve discovered so far.
Let’s explore a little about what this small change can do for you.
For today’s Action step, avoid planning on a results-oriented task (I will get X done). Instead, make a commitment that you know you can stick to about the amount of time you’ll devote to progress. (Today I’ll spend 15 minutes working toward X).
Action:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Daily: (The pdf version below contains three lined pages for your daily journal)
NOTE:
The above is an excerpt from the upcoming The Lyceum Course Journal. We will be releasing it here for free as a Daily Prompt blog post. If you would like a physical copy, we will link to it here once it is released.
Suggested Use:
I realize a daily journal prompt on a blog is a little weird. This is how I would suggest using it: Open your favorite note-taking software such as Evernote, copy and paste this post into it, and write your daily entries there.
OR
Download a PDF version of this post here. Feel free to print it out, or access it through a PDF editor where you can type in your daily entry.
Collaborate With Me!
This post series is a first draft of the future book. If you have suggestions, comments, or see errors, please reach out so that I can make the final product more valuable for you and the rest of the community. Your feedback is greatly appreciated!
