A few weeks ago, I came across Ali Abdaal’s newsletter which talked about a reflective practice one can do at the end of each day. The idea came from a book called Storyworthy and the practice is essentially asking ourselves, “What’s the most story-worthy thing that happened today?” Then we should make a spreadsheet of these story-worthy moments and over time, we’ll build a bank of stories we can develop and share with others.

As someone who’s been journaling for a while and open to trying new things, this idea excited me a lot. So, every day for the last few weeks, I’ve been filling in a spreadsheet on Notion that’s titled, “what’s the most story-worthy thing that happened today?”. Looking back, this practice has been a lot more valuable than I initially thought it would be. Here’s two reasons why.

1. Looking back on past moments is fun.

Sometimes, it can be easy to reach a point where you sit up and realise you can’t remember what you did over the last few days, like you’ve just woken up from a coma. It tends to happen at the start of a new month or a new year (“man, where did 2019 go?”) and when it does, I find it very frustrating.

From the few autobiographies I’ve read and from the advice of others, recording down the present moment’s events can be incredibly valuable to look back on in the future. It can serve as a delightful reminder of a forgotten experience and remind us what we used to find interesting. The potency of these reflections is comparable to that of Ego in Ratatouille, when he tastes a special dish from his childhood and feels a palpable emotional rollercoaster. The stories that seem mundane now can be incredibly precious later.

2. A reflective practice forces you to find magic in the mundane.

In finding story-worthy moments throughout each day, we must look for moments of magic when none might appear to be. This pushes one to develop a higher level of awareness, looking out for moments throughout the day that are story-worthy. It’s essentially a variation of a daily gratitude journal where constantly reflecting on your blessings is supposed to make you more grateful and less anxious. Through doing this story-worthy moments exercise, I’ve begun to notice my mind unconsciously searching for interesting things in the moment and often, something comes up which makes bad days a little better and good days a little brighter.

There are very few restrictions to this practice: simply write something down each day that was story-worthy. Some moments I’ve written about have been during a run, doing groceries or simply while studying in my room. This practice requires very little effort, seems to be valuable and I’ll be continuing this practice for the foreseeable future. It’s pretty amazing how magical things pop up if you simply look out for them, even in the most unexpected of places.