The 54321 Daily Journal Reflection

Intentional Living

Feb 7

In the name of daily reflection, I’m trying a new end-of-day journaling ritual that I hope you’ll find helpful. With rapid journaling, you can just write a couple of words per bullet point. No need for full-on Dear Diary prose.

At the end of the day, write in quick bullet points for each:

5 things on your mind
4 things to do tomorrow
3 things you’re grateful for
2 things you want less of
1 soul moment

Scroll down for the YouTube video!

The 54321 Daily Journaling Reflection Framework - Minimalist journaling

This list and countdown to sleep end up checking the boxes for a healthy journaling habit and is well-served in a bullet journal as well.

If you have a journal of strictly 54321 reflections, back-to-back, you’ll get a good sense of what was going on in your life at any given time.

The 5 things on your mind will tell you what’s going on, either out loud or under the surface.

Four things to do tomorrow help you determine what your priorities are, and pull from what you didn’t get done that day. You can also assess whether the unchecked items on your to-do list are worth tackling tomorrow, or if you can nix them.

Daily gratitude is non-negotiable, and 3 is a good number. The therapists and self-help authors in my life tell me you can’t feel both good and bad things at the same time, so by carving out space for the positive, you’ll at least have that. And it may actually help you look for the positives throughout the day so you feel more prepared for your nightly 54321 reflections.

The 2 things you want less of? This makes me so happy. If you’ve been around for a while, you know I love the quarterly subtraction exercise, where you think of things/people/events/money/etc that you can do without. It’s a great chance to test and see if you can live without something that you think is more trouble than it’s worth. This daily reflection doesn’t have to be actionable, but it can help you start to notice trends when you DO complete a quarterly subtraction exercise.

Your 1 soul moment! This is a part of your day that spoke to your identity and heart. (I didn’t come up with this on my own; I borrowed it from a friend’s planner.) How great is it that we can have time in our days that match up with what we truly stand for? If you come up empty, it might be a good opportunity to go through The Minimalism Map.