The Daily Stoic - Do This For Your Future Self

Episode Date: April 26, 2019

The musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, TED speaker, and author, Derek Sivers, recently wrote an article that began, “You know those people whose lives are transformed by meditation or yoga or something like that? For me, it’s writing in my diary and journals. It’s made all the difference in the world for my learning, reflecting, and peace of mind.”He’s kept a journaling habit for over 20 years. Every night, he takes just a couple minutes to jot down a few sentences to recap his day, how he felt, and thoughts he had. What’s so transformational about that? As Sivers explains:“We so often make big decisions in life based on predictions of how we think we’ll feel in the future, or what we’ll want. Your past self is your best indicator of how you actually felt in similar situations. So it helps to have an accurate picture of your past.You can’t trust distant memories, but you can trust your daily diary. It’s the best indicator to your future self (and maybe descendants) of what was really going on in your life at this time.If you’re feeling you don’t have the time or it’s not interesting enough, remember: You’re doing this for your future self. Future you will want to look back at this time in your life, and find out what you were actually doing, day-to-day, and how you really felt back then. It will help you make better decisions.”Compare that to Seneca:“I will keep constant watch over myself and—most usefully—will put each day up for review. For this is what makes us evil—that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do. And yet our plans for the future descend from the past.”How often do you consult your past self to make decisions? Could you do so even if you wanted to? Or have most days, most experiences, most feelings, most thoughts vanished from memory? Journaling is a memory bank with unlimited storage. It’s an archive, a reference manual, an unmatched tool for learning from today to inform tomorrow. That’s why journaling is so transformational. If you still haven’t, start journaling today. Start compiling your archive.Do it for your future self.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoke podcast early and add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Welcome to the Daily Stoke. For each day, we read a short passage designed to help you cultivate the strength, insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. insight, wisdom necessary for living good life. Each one of these passages is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy that has guided some of history's greatest men and women. For more, you can visit us at dailystoic.com. Do this for your future self. The musician, producer, circus performer, entrepreneur, Ted Speaker, and author, Derek Sivers recently wrote an article that began, you know those people whose lives are transformed

by meditation or yoga or something like that? For me, it's writing in my diary and journals. It's made all the difference in the world for my learning, reflecting, and peace of mind. Derek kept a journaling habit for over 20 years. Every night he takes just a couple minutes to jot down a few sentences to recap his day, how we felt, thoughts he had.

What's so transformational about that? As Sivir's explains, we so often make big decisions in life based on predictions of how we think will feel in the future or what we want. Your past self is your best indicator of how we think we'll feel in the future or what we want. Your past self is your best indicator of how you actually felt in similar situations, so it helps to have an accurate picture of your past. You can't trust distant memories, but you can trust your daily diary. It's the best indicator to your future self and maybe descendants of what's really going

on in your life at this time. If you're feeling you don't have time or it's not interesting enough, remember you are doing this for your future self. Future you will want to look back at this time in your life and find out what you are actually doing day-to-day and how you really felt back then. It will help you make better decisions. and how you really felt back then, it will help you make better decisions. Now compare that to Seneca. He said, I will keep constant watch over myself and most usefully, will put up each day for review.

For this is what makes us evil, that none of us looks back upon our own lives. We reflect upon only that which we are about to do and yet our plans for the future to send from the past. How often do you consult your past self to make decisions? Could you do so even if you wanted to? Or have most days most experiences, most feelings, most thoughts banished from memory? Journaling is a memory bank with unlimited storage. It's an archive, a reference manual, an unmatched tool for learning from today to inform tomorrow. That's why journaling is so transformational. If you haven't started, start journaling today. Start compiling your archive.

Do it for your future self. archive, do it for your future self. If you like this email, I hope you'll check out the Daily Stoke Journal, which is the journal we designed based on Seneca's exercises and based on one from Marcus Realis and one from Epipetus that gives you a prompt to reflect on each morning and then to review each evening. I think you'll love it. You can get it anywhere books are sold. Definitely get it on Amazon. The daily stoic journal goes along a page per day with the daily stoic book as well. So check it out. I do it every morning. I think you'll love it. Give it a shot. Hey, prime members, you can listen to the Daily Stoic early and ad-free on Amazon Music,

download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts.