Journaling for just five minutes each night before bed could be the ideal starting point for leading a life filled with passion and purpose.

This is one of the routines I've consistently practiced for years to intentionally enhance my life.

While it's true there have been times when I've skipped this practice for days or even weeks, returning to it always immediately reminds me of the significant positive impact it has on my life.

And that's exactly why I want to share with you a simple journaling exercise today that you can easily incorporate into your nightly routine.

Instead of spending those last few minutes before sleep scrolling through social media, I encourage you to grab your journal and dedicate just five minutes to this reflective practice.

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In this journaling exercise, the task is straightforward: simply jot down 3 wins from your day.

You can list them in bullet points for ease, but the key lies in the act of reflecting on your day and identifying three positive aspects.

These wins can be any actual events that occurred, encompassing anything you experienced, learned, or any progress you made toward your goals…

In my case, yesterday one of the things I wrote in my wins was that I spent a very beautiful afternoon outdoors in our backyard with my kids, Marc and Brianna, they are 5 and 4, and we had a lot of fun making a Santa Sleigh with some pieces of wood and imagining that we were in the North Pole, and so on… a lot of creativity!

It was for me a WIN because I got to be REALLY PRESENT with them and playing actively and enjoying the moment.

For me, this is a big win because sometimes I'm with them but not fully present, thinking about other things.

Being present with my kids is something I've identified as important in my life vision, specifically in my parenting goals. I aim for this consistency, and though I'm sometimes more successful than others, yesterday I managed it well and felt really good about it. So, I counted it as a major WIN.

So it is really about making a list of the things that went well on that day. The key is that EVEN if you got a day where everything seemed to fall apart, we all have days like that…. You can still use this journaling exercise to write about what it is that you learned from that day, framing it in a positive and constructive way. 

So you get to see, and you’re actually teaching your brain the progress that you’ve made even though that day didn’t go the way you expected.

You train yourself to see the GAIN. What is it that you GAINED from that situation instead of focusing on the negative parts and what is it that you lost, right?

There’s a very interesting book on this subject, that I recently read, it’s called: “The Gap and the Gain” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy, they have a whole chapter dedicated to all the benefits that this reflection exercise that I just described, has for your brain.

And the second part, is something my husband, Marc, started doing a few months ago, and I find it incredibly powerful, and that is right after having written down your 3 wins for the day, write down 3 PRE-GAINS for the next day,  3 WINS you’d like to accomplish the next day. 

Thomas Edison once said: “Never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious.” 

Because our brain when sleeping is trying to figure out solutions for whatever we have in our mind… if you proactively do something like writing down specifically what is it that you want to accomplish the next day… and you ask yourself how could I make it happen? Your brain will start, while sleeping, to find solutions and ways to achieve those wins.

And the key for those 3 PRE-GAINS is for them to be IMPORTANT THINGS you want to achieve, NOT URGENT. Important things are those ones that will move you forward in your life towards your desired life vision, your desired future self.

Normally, these important things are THE THINGS that if you are not INTENTIONAL about them and you proactively MAKE THE TIME, you’ll end up not doing them. For example, start that novel you want to write, start composing that piece of music, learn to play an instrument, start that business, take that course on that specific subject that lights you up, etc. It can be whatever it is for you. Whatever it is that moves you towards your life vision.

So intentionally writing them down in your journal at night, will help you gain that proactiveness that you’re going to NEED every day to put first those IMPORTANT THINGS… that are going to move the needle for you.

So that’s it.

By doing this journaling exercise before going to bed, you’re quantifying and making your past more concrete.

By giving it structure and narrative, you make sense of it and you frame it powerfully and positively by focusing on the WINS that you got from your day.

 If you continuously do this you learn, and you get better at defining your past and also your future.

On the other hand, it allows you to be more intentional in your day-to-day, because you’re proactively creating those PRE-GAINS for the following day… and that helps you be less reactive because you are regaining your POWER of INTENTIONALLY deciding where to put your attention and focus on and that’s going to have a very positive compounding effect in your life.

I could not stress this enough, I encourage you to do it. Try it out and just spend 5 minutes at night journaling, writing down 3 wins for the day and your 3 pre-gains for the following day, and you’ll easily see the positive effect that it has in your life. I know that firsthand.

That’s all from me today.

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