The Evening Review
It was Seneca who said that each evening, after his wife had turned in, he tried to put each day up for review. This is where the Stoic art of journaling comes in (and what we designed The Daily Stoic Journal around), where you ask yourself tough questions about your performance and your standards.
Churchill for his part once wrote to a friend that he followed a similar habit. He said that every night he tried himself “by court martial to see if I have done anything effective during the day.” Churchill wanted to know, as a leader, as a writer, as a family man, as a steward of an estate, whether he’d simply pawed at the ground or done something really effective. “Anyone can go through the motions,” he said, and that wasn’t enough.
So think about that this morning: What are you really hoping to do today? As a person? As a professional? Have strong and clear goals for what that is—put it on a list, talk it through with your team or your spouse. Put your best effort towards completing it. And then at the end of the day, put it all up for review. How did you do? How could you have done better? Don’t cut yourself any favors either—this is a court martial, as Churchill put it. You have to stand up to scrutiny. Your behavior does too.
Today’s just starting, let’s see how you do tonight.