DJC#003 – The 3 Dots Method: A Simple Approach to Journaling

3 Dots Method

So after encouraging you to journal every day and write down three things you’re grateful for in my last post, I have a confession to make. Actually two. As much as I try, I don’t journal every single day. There are times where I go weeks journaling every day, and then there are times when I miss a few days in a row. This will inevitably happen and the important thing is to have some self-compassion and not be hard on yourself. You’re trying your best!

Once you’ve gotten into your groove and established practicing gratitude for a while, missing a couple days here and there is not as big of deal as it is when you’re starting to implement this into your life. As with building any new habit, to track the days your journal. Don’t break the streak, and if you do, don’t go back-to-back days not journaling.

The Prompts

My other confession, is that I don’t write down three things I’m grateful for any longer. I started that way, but my journal has evolved over time to what I call my 3 Dots Method. I begin with these three prompts:

• I am grateful…
• I get to…
• I learned…

These prompts will still capture the essence of practicing your gratitude while adding some additional layers. “I am grateful…” is just that – listing something you are grateful with the WHY behind it. The WHY is just as important, if not more important than the WHAT. It allows you to think deeply about what you’re grateful for and really reflect on the meaning behind it.

The “I get to…” is something you get to do. We’ve all hear the phrase “I have to…” since we’ve been born, and we need to start reframing this. We get to do things however mundane they may be, while there are many others who are unable to even do that. Reflect on the Confucius line, “A healthy man wants a thousand things, a sick man wants one.”

The “I learned…” prompt will allow you to timestamp something you learned and the possibilities are endless here. It can be something you learned about parenting or your child, it can be about your relationship or your partner, something new about a friend you didn’t know, a new skill or hack that you heard on a podcast.

Reflection Eternal

Now that you’ve learned the 3 Dots Method of journaling, it’s time to try it out. Maybe you need to tweak it some to fit your style, and that’s perfectly okay. You do you, Dad. Now we’re not done yet because once you’ve built the journaling muscles, then there’s one last step in the process. Reflection. Without this last step, the journaling will only take you so far. Being able to reflect back on what you were thinking and feeling when you put put pen to paper allows progress. It allows you to grow. It allows you to become a better version of yourself. It allows you to become a better Dad.