5 Minutes for a Happier & More Productive Life

Some new friends have been raving about The Five-Minute Journal. Five minutes a day to improve your life: accomplishing more and feeling better, too.

01-02 Oz Helps with Journaling
Oz watches over my journal. Being a cat, he’s asleep on the job.

Having kept a journal for a very long time, I set out to investigate.

It turns out that you can buy this journal directly from the authors or read the whole book online, which is great, because Amazon.com is out of stock as I write this post. There’s an iOS app, too, where you can add photos to your entries.

Tim Ferris (of The 4-Hour Workweek fame) made a YouTube video in which he enthusiastically endorses the journal.

I’ve found this to dramatically improve the quality of my life. Both in terms of achievement and actual results—measurable, quantifiable results—and … not just achievement, but appreciation, in terms of my subjective sense of well-being, and calm, and happiness.
—Tim Ferris

In addition to that great testimonial from Tim Ferris, I’m happy to say that the authors describe the research they used to create the five simple writing prompts for each day. They didn’t just “make stuff up,” instead, there’s some useful evidence supporting this approach.

01-02 Journal Screenshot

As far as the journaling, there’s a page for each day. You write for a few minutes first thing in the morning and last thing at night. Here are the prompts….

Morning

I am grateful for…
What would make today great?
Daily affirmations. I am…

Night

List 3 amazing things that happened today…
How could I have made today better?

Before you start, it’s useful to read the suggestions for getting the most benefit from your writing. In addition, there are inspirational quotations for six days out of seven, and a weekly challenge (for example, “Call an old friend.”).

I like it that the pages are not dated. That way, if you skip a day or a week or longer, you can just pick it up and start again.

There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that journaling is good for our health, well-being, and productivity. If you journal already, this 5-minute practice could be a good addition, and if you don’t, this might be a great way to start.