Here are some prompts to journal about and consider:

Relationships

• Who is in my life that I would like to still have in my life when I’m 90 years old?

• Why are they so important to me?

Health

• How active, both physically and mentally, do I want to be when I’m 90 years old?

• What types of activities do I intend to be able to do?

Finances

• Where do I expect to live when I’m 90 years old? Who will I live with?

• How comfortably do I plan to live?

All

• What am I doing today, this week, month or year, that prepares me for that future?

• What do I need to change to have that future, and when do I expect to make the change?

To get more creative with the prompt, turn it into a vignette that describes a day in the life for you at 90, or maybe what your 90th birthday looks like?

In future prompts, we can start to dig into the how’s and why’s to get there, but a clear idea of what you actually want is the most important.

Define who that future you will be so you can steer your current you in that direction.

Take 15–30 minutes and explore these questions. Be thoughtful and deliberate as you consider your writing.

In the past two weeks, think of any time when you had a more dramatic reaction than you would expect, based on the circumstances.

• Did you find yourself unexpectedly sad about your life?

• Did you get upset about something you might normally consider ‘mundane’?

• Did you find yourself swinging from excited to sad, or vice versa, over the course of the day?

In any of these circumstances, can you identify any triggers? Something that set off the emotion or put you into a mindset that evolved into the emotion?

• What time of day did it happen?

• Were you interacting with other people or working with something inanimate?

• Did you expect the emotional reaction that you had?

• How did you feel afterward? Shamed? Frustrated? Confused?

Once the emotion kicked in, how did you respond, and how did it resolve itself? Was it lengthy or short?

• Did you lash out at other people or create any unexpected conflict because of the outburst?

• Did it ruin your day, or was everything fine after a short period?

• Did you see the emotion building before it happened? Was it a slow burn, or a flash fire?

Managing emotions can be challenging when you’re ‘in the moment’ but sometimes you can either prepare yourself in advance, or even trigger a different perspective that might help you steer clear of the undesired emotional outburst when it would normally happen.

If you can start to see how you arrive at an emotion, the conditions or the environment or the people, then you can start to build systems to manage it better.

Working in quiet places. Find a way to be isolated from people or external variables. Turn off distractions.

See if you can see any patterns and how you can mitigate them.

The more emotionally intelligent you become, the more readily you can manage emotions, then they rise up and excuse yourself when you need to.

I mentioned that I need distractions that block out sounds, that can entertain me just enough to not need to seek another distraction. I also talked about things I carry with me. When do you battle your brain, are you able to spot it and are you able to create a routine that works?

Take 15 minutes per topic, spend a few thinking about it, maybe turn on your ‘good distractions’ and settle into writing.

Finding Your Distraction Buttons

When do you struggle the most to stay focused? Is it at a certain time of day? Is it a certain type of activity? Is it in a certain environment?

• Dig through your recent history, consider any recent cases where you were distracted or unable to work.

• Were you aware of it and battling it, or did you just wander away and work on something else?

• Were there repercussions for not completing the task (or will there be?)

• Was it the location? The task? The time of day?

When you encounter an “inability to engage”, are you able to work around it? Every time, or are there times when it doesn’t work? What is your hack to get yourself working?

• Are you able to spot your distractions when they happen?

• Do you have a system to overcome them?

• What do you tend to do when you get overwhelmed or distracted?

• How long does it take to recover?

The next time you get overwhelmed or distracted, how can you prepare yourself for success?

• Can you do anything in advance to reduce the distractions?

• Can you prepare your task to make it less overwhelming?

• Can you get help, either emotionally or with the task?

Spend time writing, think about the initial question, explore what as many options or perspectives as you can while you’re journaling to understand your own perspective when it happens and try to make it easier next time.

Stereotypes and generalizations make it easy to make snap decisions as we go through life, they can make you a quick thinker, they can also make you mentally lazy.

Take some time this weekend to explore what crutches you’ve picked up along the way that now restrict your growth in life.

I know that I have a hard time writing some of these things down, so consider deleting your entry or throwing it away if it will help you be honest. The goal is self awareness of these mental constructs so you can learn from them.

Identify at least three (3) stereotypes or generalizations you have about people, either individuals or some ‘cohort.’

Consider the generalizations you have about people, either intentionally or unintentionally, maybe you’re unintentionally racist or sexist, maybe. Maybe you’re ableist (discriminating against those with disabilities.) Recognize that it might not be that you’re mean, just that you treat them differently than other people.

Consider any knee-jerk responses or strong opinions you have about certain situations, people or anything that you involuntarily react to, write about those reactions and explore them.

If I say “Donald Trump” or “Vladimir Putin” you likely have an immediate response. Consider something closer to home that gets a negative response, maybe when someone says “I’m a writer” or “I earn my money online.” If you react negatively to something, look for your why, see if you can learn something. Similarly, if you have a favorable bias, allowing someone to behave ‘conventionally’ bad without repercussion.

Think about your “I can’t” or “I wouldn’t” list, things that you think are unattainable for you. Write down a list of as many as you can think of in 5 minutes, then explore them.

Try re-writing an “I can’t” by adding “yet” to the end. Say it out loud and see if you feel anything. Re-write any “I wouldn’t” statements with an “unless” and again see how that changes your feelings. Consider your statements against other people, can they do it? Why can they and not you? Is there a condition that, if changed, would allow you to do it? How?

Take 15 minutes each on these, really explore them and get in touch with yourself and appreciate these things as you explore them.

A great way to explore your self awareness and build mindfulness is to be able to see the good in your life and be thankful for it.

There are only a few ways to ask what you’re grateful for, and it’s pretty easy to just write a sentence. Try to dig deeper than that.

What are you grateful for in your ‘physical’ life?

Whether it’s your health, your strengths or something about your body, what are you glad to have? (Even if you’re not the picture of health, try to find something that you’re grateful about.)

What are you grateful for in your ‘mental’ life?

It may be your gifts, your skills, your outlook, something else?

What are you grateful for in your ‘metaphysical’ life?

This might mean spiritual, or it might mean emotional. What are you grateful to have in your heart and in your life?

Take 15 minutes each on these, really explore them and get in touch with yourself and appreciate these things as you explore them.

Self Awareness is Mindfulness but less temporal.

Self-Awareness is your knowledge of your trends and behaviors and empowers you to become mindful.

If you’re dealing with ADHD, becoming self-aware (which I think it’s intrinsic to those with ADHD) empowers you to change and to improve.

Prime Your Brain - Inspirational Quotes

This is worthy as a prompt on its own. Knowing your struggles, your limitations, your behaviors and your reactions gives perspective and lets you plan and respond to life as it comes.

When you’re reacting to what someone says, it reflects your own perceptions of your self. If you find yourself strongly reacting to someone’s behavior, consider why it bothers you and if you see or fear that you see it in yourself.

Our perception of ourselves drives our behaviors. If you react mindlessly, you’re controlled by some aspect of yourself that you don’t even know. By learning yourself, truly, you are free to act of your own free will.

Promptly Prompting

This weekend, take 15–20 minutes to write on each of these prompts below. Let them feed on each other, or break them down into different sessions if that works better.

1. Describe your daily routine in detail. What habits serve you well? Which ones hinder your progress or well-being? How can you adjust your routine to better support your goals and values?

2. List three things you are grateful for today. How do these things contribute to your overall well-being and happiness? Reflect on how focusing on gratitude can shift your perspective and improve your self-awareness.

3. Write about a time this past week when you felt a strong emotion (anger, joy, sadness, etc.). What triggered this emotion? How did you react, and why? What can this teach you about yourself?

With self awareness and perspective, we can change who we are and who we become.

Your willingness to face yourself honestly and directly can give you strength and help you define a clear path.

Remember, it’s only your journal, you don’t have to lie to your journal.