I see a lot of posts on this subreddit looking for a one-size fits all answer to complex questions that there’s simply not a one-size fits all answer for. While this is the case most of the time, there are posts sometimes out there that give genuinely good advice. You are being equipped with tools to succeed, it's a matter of now taking advantage of these tools through experience and then reflecting on those experiences to improve. This post will be about how writing and self reflection can help optimize your interactions and help you become happier.

Learn about yourself through self reflection

The first thing I do every morning when I open up my laptop at work is start spilling out my thoughts. What’s currently bothering me and why, what’s been making me feel good, what’s been making me feel bad, potential business ideas, short term goals, long term goals literally anything that’s on my mind at that moment. While feeling like a chore at first this has quickly become one of my favorite things to do everyday.

What’s Currently bothering me and why:

This has helped me a lot. Remember that paper you had to write, presentation you had to give, or deadline you had to make? Want to know who cares about those things 1 month later? Nobody

Remember that girl you walked up to who told you to fuck off and never talk to her again? Want to know who cares about that anymore? Nobody(besides maybe you but that’s why we are writing about it to help us realize it really doesn’t matter)

When you can go back and read about the things that were bothering you and realize that in the big picture this stuff that bothers you typically in your daily lives really doesn’t matter anymore it helps free yourself of the chains that your mind is using to hold you back. This will help reduce your stress levels immensely because now that you have a better perspective on various situations you will now be more relaxed when similar situations come to face you again.

What makes me feel good

This could be anything. It could be an interaction I had with a random person waiting for the elevator. It could be a food I liked. It could be a quote in a book that you read that you felt you connected with. It could be a successful approach with a hot girl you saw at a grocery store. The point is here you once you are able to store these thoughts somewhere you can more easily analyze about them WHY they make you feel good. You can then be able to recognize common links between positive feelings in your life and why they occur and then more easily make these things repeatable.

What makes you feel bad

Like what “makes you feel good” this is pretty much the same thing. Figure out WHY things make you feel bad. Recognize similarities between these situations and avoid making the same mistakes over again. This helps target areas of improvement to become better. One of my favorite things to do is look at something that made me feel bad a few months ago and target an area of improvement then looking at where I am today and seeing me overcome that thing that is making me feel bad. Those struggling with motivation I would really suggest doing something like this.

Short term/long term goals

These are pretty self-explanatory. Having your goals written down somewhere will help you reach them. Why? Because you can more easily hold yourself accountable for them since you now have a record of it somewhere.

Advice on this subreddit

I talked about this a little bit earlier in my post. If I see something in the subreddit that I find interesting/may be helpful I make a note of it most of the times. I then try to apply whatever that is to MY life and put my own personal flavor into it. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We are all different people, with different levels of experience and backgrounds. The best we can do mostly is offer advice, not answers. If something works in your interactions make a note of it and keep using it. If there’s something that works a lot for you write it down and contribute something back to the subreddit.

That’s all I got for now. Thanks for reading.