【Create a day to reread rather than write】A weekly usage that makes records start to work

For fourteen months, I wrote a daily record without fail.

Last spring I reread it all, and there was something I understood for the first time.

...This, I hadn't reread even once.

Facing a notebook almost four hundred pages, I realized that.

Writing had become a habit, but reading had not.

I will write exactly what I changed this spring, as it is.

What I changed was not the amount of writing, but deciding on a day to read.

Good evening!

This is Masashi ^^

What I decided this time is to create one day every week to read the records.

I will read not the portion of that week, but the portion from three weeks ago.

When you read after a gap, what you see changes completely.

From the day I included this one day, the written records finally began to be useful.

A story about the day I realized I had written for fourteen months without ever rereading.

✅ I read four hundred pages in two days

Since I had the chance, I started from the beginning and read in order.

In the first month, almost the same things are written.

The reflections, the resolutions, were almost the same every day.

In the second month, and the third month, it was the same.

Over fourteen months, I wrote the same reflections four hundred times.

When I read this, it was understandably exhausting.

Because I wrote every day, I felt I was making an effort.

But in reality, I only stepped in the same place four hundred times.

Moreover, there was no method by which I could notice this fact.

Looking at the page from the previous day happens occasionally.

But I had never compared it with a page from a month earlier.

You only notice repetition when you lay out distant pages side by side.

✅ Over fourteen months, I wrote the same reflection four hundred times.

You notice repetition only when you compare distant pages.

? The writing work comes with a sense of achievement

Why did I continue primarily with writing?

The reason is simple: writing gives you a sense of closure when it’s done.

As a daily wrap-up, it serves as a boundary.

Reading, on the other hand, lacks this boundary.

Even if you read, nothing increases; often it feels unpleasant.

Therefore, I would postpone it to when I had time, and I never did.

I too thought I would read it someday for fourteen months.

That day never comes.

Rather than waiting for the non-arriving day, I decided to set a weekday instead.

I choose to create reading time even if it means reducing writing time.

In practice, I have reduced writing output to about one third now.

? The “someday” did not come.

Writing has a sense of boundary, reading does not. So I fix it by day of the week.

? Even if you reread on the day, nothing will come out

In the past, I sometimes tried rereading that night.

This didn’t work at all.

On the day itself, the mood with which you wrote remains intact.

You are convinced by what you wrote yourself.

Once you’re convinced, it ends there.

If you give it some time, this conviction peels away.

The self from three weeks ago is almost another person.

When you read it as something written by another person, you notice what’s missing.

A question like, why is this here, naturally arises.

That moment you question is the place where you learn the most.

I settled within three weeks, but two weeks or even a month would also be fine.

What matters is leaving the feeling you had when you wrote it until it disappears.

? The three weeks ago self is almost another person. Therefore omissions stand out.

If you reread on the day, you convince yourself and end there.

? Decide the reading day and the range

There are only two things I decided.

Reading on Sunday morning. Reading the seven days from three weeks ago.

[Reading day: Sunday morning / Range: seven days from three weeks ago] I have this line posted.

I decided the range because if I didn’t, I would try to read everything and it would tire me.

Seven days won’t take more than fifteen minutes.

While reading, there is one thing I do: mark the same words.

Just circle words that appear more than once.

Words with many circles become the places where I stumble every week.

In my case, during the first month the circles concentrated on the words like “too early.”

Even though I knew it was early, I kept doing it every week.

When I wrote, I intended every time to reflect for the first time.

? Just circle words that appear more than once. Those are the places you stumble each week.

Example: 【Reading day: Sunday morning / Range: seven days from three weeks ago】

? How to actually use after circling

After counting the circles, choose only one word that appears most often.

Then decide one remedy for that word.

A remedy cannot be simply “be careful.” Be careful is not an action.

【This week's remedy: Say your cue aloud before you enter and confirm it】 I will adopt this form.

Speak it, write it, close it. It must be a physical action.

Once decided, practice that single remedy for a week.

Ignore the other circles for that week.

Ignoring them is hard at first, but this is essential.

If you try to remedy everything, nothing sticks.

Then on the following Sunday, read again the three weeks-ago portion.

The week you remedied will be read three weeks later, then you’ll know if it worked.

Getting a result will also come at that time.

It’s honestly frustrating when there isn’t an immediate answer.

? “Be careful” is not an action. Make it a form: speak aloud, write, or close.

Example: 【This week's remedy: Say my cue aloud before I enter and confirm it】

⚠ Do not add notes on the reading day

There is one thing I am careful about.

Do not add notes to the page from that era while reading.

When viewed with today’s perspective, it’s tempting to add more notes.

I think, I should have thought this way back then.

However, if you do that, you overwrite the page.

When you read next time, what the previous self was looking at disappears.

What you notice, you write on that day’s new page.

The old page from that time stays as it was.

This is subtle but effective later on.

If the page from a year ago remains as it was, it can be compared.

Overwritten pages become untrackable regarding when they were written.

⚠ Write down what you notice on a new page. Leave the old page as it was.

If you overwrite, you erase what the old self was looking at.

? Why I added a checklist for people who can’t put it into words

At the very end of GOLD’s formula, I added a short checklist.

It’s for people who can’t put the reasons into words.

I placed it at the end because many people stumble there.

You understand the procedure, you know what to do. But you can’t write.

Not because you haven’t thought about it, but because there is no frame to write into.

So I made it a fill-in-the-blank format and placed it at the end.

The root of today’s rereading story is the same.

With a frame you can write, and when you write you can reread.

If you can reread, you don’t have to write the same reflections four hundred times.

This is the part I wandered around for fourteen months, so I wrote it carefully.

? The reason I added: It’s not that you can’t write because you haven’t thought, but because there is no frame to write in.

Contents: Checklist for people who can’t put it into words / Key ideas for the overall approach

⭕ This habit isn’t for everyone

Finally, I’ll note that it may not suit everyone.

If you haven’t started recording yet, begin with writing first.

If there’s nothing to read on the reading day, it’s meaningless to create it.

Also, it may not suit those who write with the intention of others seeing it.

Because neat writing leaves little trace of the doubt at that time.

The教材 also isn’t something whose results change the next day after reading.

It takes the shape of reading three weeks ago, so you’ll see effects three weeks later.

It isn’t something that promises future benefits.

First, on this coming Sunday, try reading seven days from three weeks ago for fifteen minutes. If not a single circle appears, that too is a result.

If circles appear, I think that word is your current primary challenge.

⭕ If not a single circle appears, that is also a result in its own right.

Who it’s for: Those who haven’t started recording yet, those who write with the premise that others will see it

? Summary: reduce writing amount, create a reading day

I wrote daily for fourteen months, but I never reread anything.

As a result, I only wrote the same reflections four hundred times.

So now I set a reading day and a range. The actual example is 【Reading day: Sunday morning / Range: seven days from three weeks ago】.

The point to look for isn’t the content, but the words that appear more than once. Circle them and pick the most frequent one.

For the one you choose, decide a remedial action in terms of a concrete action. Because “be careful” isn’t an action; choose one of speaking aloud, writing, or closing.

At the end of the material, there is a checklist for people who can’t put it into words. It won’t change results the day after reading, and it doesn’t promise future gains either.

If your records are continuing but you feel no change, reread for fifteen minutes this coming Sunday ^^

?See details of GOLD’s formula

Thank you always for reading ^^