# The VOMIT System The VOMIT System is a framework for journalling I gleaned [[Highlights - The Journaling System That Changed My Life|from a youtube video]] ## Vent This phase is a basically a braindump - a transfer of feelings/emotions/thoughts/anything from the mind to the journal. It's useful to just get everything out but can also be an effective way to start the process of writing things out ## Obligations This phase is similar to the Vent phase except that it's more geared towards all the things that need to actually get done/worked on. This undergoes several sub-stages as well. 1. **Obligations Dump** Just do a brain dump of all the things that need to get done 2. **Organise** Organise those tasks into categories/buckets 3. **Prioritise** Prioritise the tasks. Use a guiding questions to help with identifying if a task will contribute to the immediate priorities or not >[!note ] **Guiding Question** >"Which thing on this list, if done, will make everything else easier?" 4. **Bare Minimum vs Stretch Goals** Identify 3-5 items that are the bare minimum to be able to say that 'today was achieved' and let everything else be stretch goals. This would allow flexibility in terms of dealing with the ebbs and flows of various days (some days will be more productive than others) ## Mindset Journalling can be an opportunity to train one's mindset by practicing looking at things differently. Some ways it can help with this: - **Reframing** "How is this the best thing that has happened to me?" Allows you to see things in a more productive and positive light - **Possibility** Useful to combat limiting beliefs and doubts Use "Because..." statements I am *\<the thing you want to be\>* Because *\<reasons\>* It's a way to gather evidence that we are what we say we want to be. This can be powerful because, when in doubt, it makes it clearer that we are what we say we are. And if we aren't, it makes that clear too. In some cases, it might also motivate us to go 'create evidence' to help us be more aligned with who we want to be - **Inversion** This is to practice a reaction to problems of everyday life by looking at the opposite solution to things. It helps bring clarity what the solutions look like and also what the anti-solution looks like as well. >[!example] > If you wanted to draw more, I can ask both "how can I draw more?" and "How can I draw less?" > > The answers to both questions make it much clearer what are the right actions to take vs the wrong ones - **Perspective** "If you were a friend giving you advice, what advice would you give?" - **Discipline** This is less about a journalling prompt and more about putting things into action on a consistent basis to build up evidence to yourself that you are the kind of person you're trying to be - **Gratitude** - What is something mundane that you're grateful for? - What is something that happened by chance that you're grateful for? - What is something that you made happen that you're grateful for? ## Ideation Journalling can be an opportunity to brainstorm/ideate Some ways to go about this: - If you're trying to come up with a solution, try coming up with 30 different solutions in 5-10mins. The eventual 'solution' could be an amalgamation of several of those ideas. The goal is to get as much stuff out as possible so don't edit the list before completing the list. - Other ways might be to ask "How would \_\_\_ solve the problem?" - Open the loop: Come up with open loop questions as the brain will try to find answers for them subconsciously. Might be useful to set these questions before bed, let the subconscious take over while sleeping and maybe get closer to an answer the next day. ## Trajectory What's most important is to know if we're moving in the right direction on both a longer term basis as well as on a day-to-day basis ### Checking for longer term trajectory Am I going towards or away from the goal and what evidence do I have? ### Checking for Day-to-Day trajectory Visible metrics would be easy to measure. Things like finance spending, books read, etc. But it's equally important to check on hidden metrics - things like happiness, value alignments, etc. Hence, it's important to make the hidden metrics visible through journalling prompts such as: - "What excited me today?" - "What drained me of energy?" - "What did I learn?" --- Date Created: [[ 2024-04-04 |4th April 2024 ]] @ 2.47pm related: