One Habit That Will Change Your Life
Here’s a habit that has changed my life, and it can change yours too. Document your life as much and as often as you can. Trust me—start this as soon as possible, and you’ll thank me later.
Before we get into why this is such a life-altering habit, let’s talk about the three ways you can document your life: written word, spoken word, or photo/video. All three have their advantages and disadvantages, but I personally believe that even doing just one will suffice. In my own life, I write and do “audio logs,” as I call them. The purpose is to capture as much of the present moment as possible—just like I’m doing here with Financial Gecko. As I have mentioned previously, I like doing a combination of both because I feel that the spoken word conveys feelings and thoughts more easily than writing does.
I have been writing about my life since 2009 when I was nine years old. However, my mother started writing about me before I was born and continued until I was 15. That gives me the ability to say that my entire life has been documented to some degree, as I have continued writing to this day. In 2023, I added audio logs because I felt my writings weren’t conveying everything I wanted to express.
To be clear, I am not suggesting you document your life every day or even every week if you don’t want to. I personally feel a healthy medium is at least once a month for both a written journal and a spoken one. Once a month, I always have things to talk about since the last entry, and I don’t feel like it’s stale. If I have topics I want to discuss, I will do two, three, or even four per month. It all depends on what’s going on at the time. Don’t feel pressured to log if you don’t have anything to say; however, if you go more than a month without documenting, you’ll start to have big gaps in your life story.
Your Life is a Story Worth Remembering
I don’t get into a lot of woo-woo stuff, but your life really is like a personal movie. I try to picture being older, say 80 or 85 in a nursing home, and think: what would that man like to remember about his life? If you have documented it from a young age, the memories will come flowing back to you as you read, watch, or listen. I find it quite amazing how quickly we can forget things—sometimes even things that were very important to us at one point. However, even a slight mention of something in your documentation may bring all those memories rushing back. It’s like when a friend brings up a story you totally forgot, and it all suddenly comes back to you, except in this case, you’re being a good friend to your future self. Don’t you think you’d want to remember all these times? I know I sure will when all my days consist of TV and pudding.
Be Your Own Therapist
This is one of the most unexpected benefits of this habit. There’s a high likelihood that at some point in your life, you will have to make major and difficult decisions. Of course, talking to a friend, family member, or therapist might be helpful, but there’s one thing they don’t know: the real you. Sure, they might have some knowledge about you and your life, maybe even a very intimate perspective, but at the end of the day, they’re still not you.
Have you ever tried to tell someone something, but in order for them to understand, you have to spend time explaining all the backstory and little details? It’s like that, except no one could ever truly understand 100% because they’re simply not you. They see the world differently. So who do you think is the most qualified person to make the best decisions about your life? The answer should be you, obviously (assuming you know some level of right from wrong).
You may have heard of the Solomon Paradox before. In short, it suggests that we generally offer better advice to others than we do for ourselves. How does that apply here? You can use your documentation as a method for giving advice to yourself. I do this all the time, and it works great. Let’s say you have a major decision to make but can’t decide what to do. Record or write down the issue, your feelings, and some possible solutions. Come back the next day and pretend you’re looking at someone else’s problem. The answer may seem obvious. I often laugh at myself for how much time I spend struggling over a decision, only to return the next day and realize the answer was clear all along.
Documentation Can Help Others
Not only does documentation help you, but it can also help others. Documenting your problems, challenges, and solutions can be valuable if you’re willing to share them. It doesn’t cost much to start a blog, website, or social media page. If you’ve overcome challenges, chances are others are facing the same ones. If you could help them for free, why wouldn’t you?
In my personal experience with gecko breeding, I documented many specific challenges I faced and shared them publicly. As it turned out, not only did other people appreciate seeing the videos, but it also helped many of them and created tremendous goodwill. That’s why I created this blog, to document my journey and help others along the way.
Final Thoughts
To summarize, the biggest advantages are preserving your life story, helping yourself through challenges, and using your experiences to support others. I hope you will consider starting some type of documentation of your life if you haven’t already. Even a written journal once a month with a few photos mixed in is a great place to start.