Alan Jacobs mentioned Oliver Burkeman's idea of making a 'done list' rather than a to do list. The idea is not to start the day in "productivity debt" that you feel you have to clear, begin from zero and use it as an opportunity to celebrate everything you achieve rather than risk ending the day still in debt because you didn't get something done.
I think it's a great idea – a different way of framing your activities – and sits alongside gratitude lists, in which you note everything you are grateful for during the day.
I put together a done list on my Journal last night and was pleasantly surprised by what I'd actually done. As Burkeman says, you can set the bar as high or low as you like for what makes it on the list based on your frame of mind and current needs. Just as with the gratitude list, it can serve as a gentle reminder to do the normal day-to-day things if you're down and in a rut. It can also serve as a nice historical reminder.
I think it's something I'll start to do regularly and it's given me the urge to restart my gratitude list. Ideal uses of the Journal.
@colinwalker thank you for highlighting the idea of a done list. For a lot of my blogging life I did ”˜small just and just ahead' writing (I defined it here). I am going to try the done list this week.
@colinwalker I have a mix of responsibilities and can easily end up at the end of the day feeling as though I've accomplished nothing and the log file I keep where I jot down everything I do has helped me give myself credit for the small accomplishments of the day. Adding some kind of review at the end of the day to digest it as you did in creating your done list seems like a worthwhile practice to add.