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This is an article summary of To Become Happier, Ask Yourself These Two Questions Every Night by Alexander M. Combstrong via. Forge:
The 2 Questions
- On a scale of 1–10, how happy are you with your life today?
- If your first answer was [your answer plus one], what would be different?
The first question gets you thinking about how your day went.
The second question gets you thinking about how you could have made your day just a tiny bit better.
- If you answered 6, what would have made your day a 7? What would you do differently? Is there something you wished you hadn’t done?
The wording is important. The question “What would be different?” sends your brain on a mission to search for small, achievable changes you can implement to make your life just a little bit better the next day. Maybe you’ll decide to get outdoors for 20 minutes, or call an old friend for a quick catch-up session. Do this consistently over the weeks and months and those changes will start to add up.
If you’ve never tried self-reflection, this can be a great place to start because of how simple it is; this can be done mentally in one minute or used as a routine journaling prompt.