If you’re new to Daily Prompts, you may want to start at the beginning of the series here.
Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for a PDF version and other notes.
Year______ Month_______Day______Consecutive Practice Days_____Missed Days______
Day 58
Gratitude: (Spend a few moments writing about the things you’re grateful for. Lined pages are on the PDF below)
Vision: (Write out your vision for the future you want to live. Lined pages are on the PDF below)
Affirmations: (Write out 1-5 affirmations of who you want to be. Lined pages are on the PDF below)
Action: (Write out one simple action step you can take today that brings you closer to your vision Lined pages are on the PDF below)
For most of my life, consistency has equated to boredom.
Part of my apprehension of school was my rebellion against authority. But, part of it was just the fact that it started at 7:50 am, five days per week, for months at a time. I hated the repetitive, machine-like nature of it all.
As an adult, jobs took on the same distasteful repetition. I’ve always owned my own business of some kind. Sometimes it was a side-gig, sometimes it was my only gig, but since the age of about 6 years old I’ve been trying out one business idea or another. But there’s the dilemma; I know that consistent practice is needed for mastery of anything. Even complex things like business and relationships require some consistent practice and awareness in order to thrive.
So for those of us with lots of varying interests, who may get bored easily, or struggle with consistency, how do we break through the monotony in order to get to the other side of victory?
One method I’ve had some success with is to vary up the approach to each practice. Consistently varied practices, if you will. For instance, in my fitness routine, I rarely do the exact same workout twice, but though the format may change, the focus is on the essential movements: Squats, Clean & Jerks, Push-ups, Pull-ups, etc… The same ideas can be used for all sorts of skills and projects.
When we go logging, sometimes we just fall trees and limb them up. Sometimes we just cut them into rounds and haul them back for splitting at the house. Sometimes we take the splitter out to the forest and do all of the steps on the same day.
When I’m studying Hebrew, I use the Duolingo app on my phone most days. But, I’ve also spent time on YouTube or with Hebrew learning podcasts.
For my Keystone Practice of writing, some days I just write a handful of Daily Prompts. Some days I write in my current book project. Some days I write blog posts for LoveAllYourLife.com. My practice is consistent, but also varied enough to avoid it feeling like a chore.
Even this journal practice could be varied quite a lot without departing from The Lyceum Method. Perhaps you can challenge yourself once in a while to come up with 5 things you’re grateful for that have been neglected. Or 5 things about your own body that you’re grateful for. Be creative, make it a game, and you’ll probably be stronger for it. Then on mornings where you might feel pressed for time, or “just not feeling it”, you’ll be better practiced to come up with your gratitude practice more easily.
Try doing the Daily Practices in a different order: Affirmations, Gratitude, Action, Vision. Try journaling in a different style or about different things than you normally do.
Keep the Practice consistent, but the stimulus interesting.
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!
