Ask a man how his day was and he answers from a story about his life. Ask what the hour with the kids actually felt like and you get a different number.
Researchers had 909 women in Texas rebuild the previous day hour by hour and rate each part as they'd lived it. Rated that way, childcare came out near the bottom of the list, next to housework and the commute. Evidence: decent One city, one sex, self-report, and the method has been argued over since. It's also been used everywhere since.
Running it on yourself, once, is my suggestion and untested. Evidence: worth trying What you're after is the gap. The bit of the day that's better than you'd have said. The bit that's worse and that you've been calling fine. Then you know what to do more of and what to change.
I'm not asking you to track your mood. One honest look. Then put the pen down.
Same theme: Holding a good moment
Holding a good moment
End it on the high note
Put the best bit last. The film after the chores, the walk after dinner, the warm line at the end of a hard talk. Not in the middle.
no timeEvidence: worth trying
Holding a good moment
Revisit one good memory a week
Once a week, pick one good moment from the last year. Two minutes back in it. Where you were, who was there, what it sounded like.
2 minEvidence: worth trying
Holding a good moment
Say it, then write it
Once a week, tell someone what they did for you. Then write the same thing down. One line, dated.
5 minEvidence: decent