Every morning, writer A.J. Jacobs grabs a fresh index card and writes a list of emotions. The first five are gratitude, delight, fascination, compassion, and awe. His list includes 23 emotions in all, and he draws a check box next to each one. Throughout the day, whenever he experiences one of the emotions, he pulls the card out and checks a box with a golf pencil he keeps in his pocket. Sometimes he makes a note on the back of the card about a particularly powerful emotional experience.
In his essay on LinkedIn, A.J. describes five benefits of moodwatching, which is what he calls the activity. He says tracking his emotions helps him remember that his mood changes throughout the day. This is especially helpful when he wakes up feeling glum and has the mistaken idea that he is always feeling that way. He also said it helps him appreciate his positive emotions, which makes the emotional experience even more rewarding.
I especially liked his observation that he has become better at noticing subtleties in emotions and has developed a kind of connoisseurship around his moods:
Just as a winetasting course might teach you to discern various notes in your Chardonnay (apricot, with a smoky finish, etc.), my Moodwatching has made me better at spotting the various subtleties in emotions. The difference between fear and worry, for instance. And it's reminded me that emotions are rarely clean-cut. They're often a hodgepodge. After talking to a sick friend, I might check off happy, sad, and grateful all at the same time. Psychologists call this skill "emotional granularity."
Yesterday, I picked up my iPhone even though I didn't recognize the number. It was an elderly woman I didn't know who talked for two minutes straight about the chocolate matzoh she allegedly sent me. It turned out she had dialed the wrong number. When I hung up, I realized I wasn't feeling pure exasperation – more like 60 percent annoyance, 30 percent amusement, 10 percent compassion for her confusion.
Previously:
• Gweek 100: A.J. Jacobs, extreme self-experimenter
• What does writer and human guinea pig AJ Jacobs keep in his bag?
• Crowdsourced advice with author A.J. Jacobs
• AJ Jacobs writes about trying all the things you're not supposed to do with Google Glass
• Are you A.J. Jacob's Cousin?
• LISTEN: Author A.J. Jacob's favorite tools
• 4 ways to Nudge Yourself
