This 1 Question Can Turn Your Day Around

I learnt this question from reading Ali Abdaal’s book Feel Good Productivity, and it’s really helped me.

Especially on those days where it just feels like a constant uphill battle, or maybe those days when you just feel incredibly overwhelmed and can’t cut through the noise.

It has the ability to flip your day around.

“What would you be most proud of to finish by the end of today?”

Why this worked for me:

1. You’re reframing the task into something positive, pride
2. You’re only asking yourself to do one thing
3. You’re more likely to feel better/accomplished once you complete it
4. You’re prioritising what’s most important
5. It highlights what is important to you, not to other people

Maybe you have far more than one important thing to do today, but what would you be most proud of? You can learn a lot when you realise that it’s not necessarily a stereotypical complex task, but maybe something much more subtle. For me, it’s often sending out emails, because I’m a socially anxious person, and this task takes up way more brain space for me.

You can even take this a step further and ask yourself this every morning. Learn more about morning manifesto’s (which is also another Ali Abdaal idea)

Everyone deserves to feel pride in what they’ve accomplished at the end of their day (yes, even those days when you don’t get much done).

I wrote this on a sticky note when I first heard it and put it in my notebook. Where could you write down this question and leave it as a good reminder?

Lots of love,
Will