Why You Need to Start Documenting Your Life’s Storyworthy Moments
A transformative journaling practice that will help you find meaning in life
Photo by Darius Bashar on Unsplash
‘’What was the most storyworthy moment of this day?’’
This is the most powerful question I’ve been asking myself every(!) day over the past year.
Why? Because our brain is wired to focus on negative experiences. It takes five positive experiences to counterbalance one negative experience.
How does our negativity bias show up in modern life? Let’s say you burst out laughing with a colleague over lunch because of a silly YouTube video featuring cats. But if your manager told you an hour later that your marketing campaign idea lacks originality, that’s all you’ll be thinking about for the rest of the day.
Of course, in the long term, you’ll cherish that silly moment with your colleague. That was the storyworthy moment of your day. That’s the moment that changed your day for the better.
Documenting storyworthy moments helps you realize what matters in life: the small moments that bring you joy. It has been a game-changer for me. I wouldn’t want to go without it anymore. I’m about one year in, and this is how it impacted my life:
I feel more present.
I feel like I know myself better by finding out what I appreciate in life.
I feel more connected to other people.
I feel like I’m living a happier and more meaningful life.
By taking a couple of minutes a day to reflect on what made your day better, you are essentially practicing gratitude. There are numerous health benefits linked to practicing gratitude, such as better sleep and lower stress levels.
Any moment can be ‘storyworthy’
While I can now reap the benefits of collecting storyworthy moments, it felt like a tedious task in the beginning.
That’s because I wasn’t doing it right. Let me explain.
You probably take tons of photos during your holidays. After all, it’s your holiday, right? You’re doing all sorts of fun activities with people you love being around. You’re indulging in your favorite food. You’re enjoying sceneries that you don’t get to see back home. Holidays are storyworthy, period. No questions were raised.
But how many photos do you take on a ‘normal’ day? My guess is — probably not that many. At least not as many compared to your holidays.
When I just started my collection, I believed that storyworthy moments could only be collections of unusual experiences. That mindset seriously limited what could go in my collection. Matthew Dicks, the creative brain behind storyworthy moments, asks himself the following question every night:
“If I had to tell a five minute story onstage about something that happened to me today, what would that be?”
Matthew’s version didn’t really click with me (fine if it works for you, of course!). I decided that I had to go with a different definition:
A storyworthy moment is a moment that changes my day for the better.
How to find storyworthy moments in your life
Every evening, sit down for just 5 minutes to review your day from the very beginning until the end. Like a movie, let it all pass by without pressing the fast-forward button. What made that day special?
There are a couple of questions I came up with to help you spot storyworthy moments on any day— regardless of whether it’s a holiday or a hectic day at work.
1. Did this moment change my day for the better?
2. Would I hit the slow down/pause button if I could?
3. Did I feel present?
If your answer to the questions above is yes, it can definitely pass as a storyworthy moment of that day.
Of course, that doesn’t have to be your one and only storyworthy moment of the day. As long as you adopt a broad definition of storyworthy, it won’t be hard to spot precious moments throughout your day.
What’s more, as you create a habit of writing down special moments, you train your brain to see more opportunities for storyworthy moments throughout the day.
Habit stacking: a powerful tool to extend your collection of storyworthy moments
It’s nice to act like you’re the main character in your life every once in a while. Let’s be honest — we all need to hype ourselves up to get tedious tasks done. Sometimes the highlight of my day is simply singing along to my favorite songs in my car (I even coined a term for it: caraoke).
But you don’t have to do extraordinary things to create more storyworthy moments in your life. You can go out and dance in the rain when it’s pouring cats and dogs, but it’s more likely that you’ll end up with a cold.
We’re creatures of habit, so why not try to look for storyworthy moments in our daily life?
Let’s say you have a habit of grabbing coffee around 10 AM in town. You notice there’s a new barista at the cafe you frequently visit. Maybe that encounter won’t be the storyworthy moment that you end up documenting for that day. But knowing that there’s an opportunity to create a special moment could change the way you interact with that person, and ultimately, with the whole world. When you actively look for storyworthy moments in your daily life, you will find opportunities all around you.
Finding patterns in your storyworthy moments
Writing down storyworthy moments will make you gain self-awareness.
You’ll discover patterns. People and places that recur often.
When you discover these patterns, the worst thing you can do is assume that this makes you a boring person. It doesn’t.
On the contrary — these moments remind you of what brings you joy in life. You’re living your life for you. So keep writing down what’s true for you. Remember that you are both the main protagonist and the author of your life. It is up to you what your story involves and how your story evolves.
Starting your own collection of storyworthy moments
Storyworthy moments are moments that you want to be able to revisit at any time. When you’re feeling blue and you could use a mood lifter. Or when you feel like reflecting on the past year.
It’s not enough to ask yourself what today’s special moment was about. It is the right way to start. But by keeping it all in your head, you deprive yourself of all the benefits that come with this journaling practice: more self-awareness, stronger memory retention, and more meaningful life.
You don’t have to update your socials with story-worthy moments every day. But you have to collect them in a way that you can easily access them. How do you go around this? It’s actually easy to get started. This could help you out:
Get a journal
The One Line a Day journal has been one of my favorites for collecting story-worthy moments. I bought it in 2022. As you fill in each page, you’ll be able to see your notes from that same date in the past years — allowing you to reflect on your journey so far. What will your 5-year overview be like? Your circumstances might be different, but you might just find that you still appreciate the same things.
Try the One Second a Day app
Would you like to capture your precious moments in photos? Then you’ll probably want to get the One Second a Day app. Simply add a photo that represents the highlight of that day for you. The app will create a video for you based on your input. With one click, you’ll have a short-life movie ready that you can return to at any time. The app is free.
Document your moments online
Downloading a template is one of the easiest ways to start this journaling practice. If you’re using Notion, you can download one of these templates based on the Storyworthy book and start right away. Matthew Dicks, the creative brain behind story-worthy moments, keeps an Excel file. All you need is two columns — one to fill in the date and one to write down your special moment of that day. Easy!
Conclusion
Honestly, there’s no reason to not collect storyworthy moments.
When you feel like you’re on top of the world, you should write down the most storyworthy moments so that you can relive them when you’re feeling down.
When your life feels mundane and meaningless, you need to start collecting storyworthy moments so that you can find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
If you’re generally not sure what you want out of life, you need to start documenting storyworthy moments so you can get to know yourself better by realizing what you truly value in life.
Taking five minutes a day to reflect on my most precious moments changed my life for the better, and it can do the same for you.
What was your storyworthy moment of the day? A comment from you would certainly make my day. :)