🚽The Toilet Thankfulness Journal

👋 Hello friend

I have been keeping a Toilet Thankfulness Journal, aka. Gratitude Journal for 4 months now and already have over 200 entries. In this newsletter edition, I will show you how to never forget to be grateful again.

You hear about the great benefits of keeping a gratitude journal, buy the best new book with the right pen, and you are disciplined and enthusiastic in the first few days. But day by day, it becomes less and less until you finally forget that you have a gratitude journal.

"Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness boosts productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. And mastery inspires the world." - Robin Sharma

😊 The 3-Step Process on How to Never Forget to Be Grateful Again (while reducing smartphone screentime)

Step 1: Take any book.

Step 2: Take any pen.

Step 3: Place the book and the pen next to the toilet.

📒 The author James Clear of the bestseller Atomic Habits mentions 4 ways to create a good habit.

1. Make it obvious. 🧐
2. Make it attractive. 😍
3. Make it easy. 🤭
4. Make it satisfying. 😌

Regarding rules 1 and 3, "make it obvious" and "make it easy," I don't lock the Gratitude Journal away in some cupboard or on a shelf.

Sitting on the toilet, the Gratitude Journal should be easily reachable to take it and write down 2-3 things you are grateful for.

Eventually, you'll be so proud that you don't want to break your streak of gratitude entries (like me - over 200 entries 😉). When your roommates don't abuse your book as they did for gratitude entry number 129 or 130 or party guests complain about your handwriting, you can use the book to reflect on a few little things that brought you joy today.

For everyone (me included) who agrees with entry 128, "What a scrawl." here is a translation of points 105-130 of my Gratitude Journal.

105 Free days I have
106 New insights every day
107 Karin
108 Street Parade
109 2 Days till Vipassana
110 Being able to read
111 Warmth / Cold
112 Sleep
113 My room
114 This book
115 My body
117 Massage
118 Sauna
119 30-minutes bike ride
120 Time for myself
121 Doing what I want
122 Making decisions
123 Tony Robbins
124 Ice Chamber
125 125 (roommate being funny)
126 - 130 Guestbook entries looking for things to be thankful for

In the past, my first intuition on the toilet was to reach into my pocket and check Instagram. Now, I have a no phone policy when doing business in the morning, and I have successfully replaced scrolling with writing down things I am grateful for.

Another option is to hang a white poster beside your bed where you can write down things you are grateful for before bed or after getting up.

Have a great week! ☀️☀️

xx Lukas

🗒 Blogpost: In my 31-Day Challenge a year ago, one challenge was to list 100 Things that make me happy in one day.