“WILY” — A simple trick to squeeze extra value out of your every day

I’ve discovered a way to extract even more out of a great day with a simple journaling exercise you can do the next morning. This will only take a few minutes out of your day, but it’ll become a powerful tool of daily personal growth.

“WILY” — What I Learned Yesterday

I started a private journal series called “WILY” (What I learned yesterday) a couple years ago. I’d whip out my journal app and write down interesting stuff I learned, tried out or talked about first thing in the morning. Nothing fancy, just a hundred words or so.

At first glance, a typical day didn’t offer much in terms of learning stuff that would have an effect in my life. But I quickly discovered there was always something of value that I could extract if I thought about it hard enough. I began squeezing out additional value out of my days by reviewing interesting conversations I had, new work methods I tried out, stuff I read, risks I took etc.

The habit started as a look-back, but it began to have an impact on the present as well. I started to take a few extra risks, try out new things, brave new ideas just for the sake of having something interesting to write about the next day.

WILY became a sort of mentor I wanted to impress. My day wasn’t just about how much I could get done, but if I could get stuff done better, faster, using new methods. I’d wake up eager to tell WILY everything I learned after a full day filled with interesting challenges I’d devised for myself.

Squeeze every drop!

I don’t do a WILY just after great days now. I do them every morning. It’s how I start the day. Turns out, there’s interesting lessons to be squeezed out of every day to day experience. No day is useless. No experience trivial.

So don’t let a good day go to waste by leaving the orange only half squeezed. Extract all the value there is from each day by writing about it the next morning.

I recently launched a simple journal app for iOS specifically designed to quickly write down a WILY when you wake up. It’s free. You can get it here: Just Open & Type (JOT) — A new kind of journal.

🤔 Questions? —> Twitter