The activities you perform have a strong impact on your mood and how you feel. When you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it can seem hard — or even impossible — to do the things that bring joy and meaning to your life.
However, engaging in enjoyable activities is a powerful way to boost your mood and make you feel better. Reflecting on the activities you already do and do not perform is a great step towards making a positive change.
Low mood or high stress can lead you towards feeling less motivated and less able to engage in the activities you enjoy. This can further lower your mood, energy, and motivation — repeating the cycle.
Activity monitoring involves tracking your daily activities and noticing how each one affects your mood. For example:
- You can use a calendar, a notes app on your phone, or a worksheet like this one to list all the activities you do during your day. After each activity, reflect on whether it improved or worsened your mood. Give it a score ranging from 1 (worst mood) to 10 (best mood).
- Track your activities for a full week to create a snapshot of your daily life. At the end of that week, take a close look at your records:
- Which activities led you towards positive moods (6–10)?
- Which activities led you towards negative moods (1–5)?
- Were there any days with few or no activities that made you feel happy or gave you a sense of accomplishment?
- Can you see any gaps in your schedule where adding enjoyable activities might improve your moods?
- Try to notice patterns in the data.
- Based on what you’ve just learned, plan a few short activities for your upcoming week to support your well-being and mood.
- Choose activities that you find enjoyable and/or help you feel a sense of accomplishment and pride.
- For example, if you observe that your Monday evenings are often gloomy, schedule 15 minutes of self-care, such as going for a walk, listening to music, or participating in a hobby you enjoy.
- These scheduled activities don’t need to be lengthy — but they should be intentional, so you can build consistent engagement with positive experiences into your daily life.
- Stick to the schedule you’ve created for the new week. Pay attention to how the added positive activities make you feel.
- Lastly, give yourself credit each time you follow your new schedule.
Regularly participating in enjoyable and meaningful activities can boost your mood and overall well-being. In turn, this increase in energy and motivation can help you stay engaged with those activities.