DUE FRIDAY

1. Complete one or more of the following “Support Your Choices” exercises:

 Exercise: My Day Replay

 Exercise: Adopt a Coach 

 Exercise: What I’m Grateful For 

  

2. Using MS Word or WordPad, answer the following question: How might this exercise 

help you to succeed? (2 pages double-spaced size 12 Arial font)

  

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO ACTUALLY COMPLETE STEP 1. IT IS JUST FOR REFERENCE.

  

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Support for Building Your Support System

Exercise: Adopt a Coach
For this exercise, you’re going to identify an ally and ask them to be your coach (or any other term you prefer).
Once you’ve thought of someone, write their name below. Then, consider how this person could help sup-
port you in reaching your goals. For instance, you may need someone to check in with you every week to see if
you’ve fulfilled your action steps, or to meet once a month to talk about your progress and any challenges you’ve
had over the month with regards to your goals. Write down whatever you feel this person could offer you, mak-
ing sure that what you’re asking for is reasonable. Then, think about how you might approach person, how you
would you describe what you’re looking to accomplish, and how you could benefit from their support.

How this coach could support my efforts to reach my goals:

How I’ll describe what I’m looking to accomplish, and how I could benefit from their support:

My Coach:

1. Name: Name
2. 1:
3. 2:
4. 3:

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Support for Managing Your Emotions

Exercise: My Day Replay
Looking back over our day is a great way to get insight into what did and didn’t work about our choices, and to
give us a better perspective on what actually took place. For instance, we may go to bed feeling like we’ve had
an awful day, but when we do a mental review of it in our minds, we may find that there were actually a number
of positive points, and that we could manage at least some of the things that weren’t so good differently for a
better outcome in the future. Doing this helps us to keep the difficult or unpleasant things manageable, and gives
more weight to all that is good about our lives. NOTE: If possible, make copies of this exercise for future use.

Part

1:

The Good Stuff
You’ll want to do this exercise just before going to bed; it helps to start off doing it as a written exercise, then,
if you’re comfortable, simply doing it in your head. First, mentally travel back to this morning and slowly walk
through your day, looking for anything at all that felt good—whether it was a significant accomplishment or just
a small happy moment. Whenever you come upon something positive, either that you did for yourself or for
someone else (e.g. I handled that situation well, I volunteered at the animal shelter), write it in the It felt good that
I… box. Then, in the I was glad that… box, write in anything else that gave you a good feeling over the course of
your day; it can be something that came from a person or other sources (e.g. a nice conversation with a cowork-
er, a beautiful sunny day).

It felt good that I… I was glad that…

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Part

2:

The Tough Stuff

This part of the exercise will help you to look at your day with constructive eyes in order to draw helpful informa-
tion from any challenging experiences you had, and as a reminder that you have a good deal of control over your
emotions and moods. Going back through your day, either forward, backwards or in any way that works, take
note of anything that happened that you didn’t feel good about and write it out. If any of these was a situation
you handled less well than you would have liked, write down how you could have handled things differently for a
better outcome.

NOTE: This exercise can be done in any order. If, as you review your day, you find that the negative things stand out
more, it’s best to address those first by starting with The Tough Stuff; if not, begin instead with The Good Stuff.

What I didn’t feel good about:

What, if anything, I could have done differently in that/those situation(s):

1. Name: Name

1:
2:

2. 3:
3. 4:

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Exercise: What I’m Grateful For

What I’m grateful to myself for:

What I’m grateful to other people for:

What I’m grateful to the forces at work in the universe for:

Support for Staying Motivated

The purpose of this exercise is not to ignore all the hard stuff or to try to see the world through rose-colored
glasses, but simply to acknowledge everything—big and small—that makes your world a better place to live.
It can be done at the end of the day or any time you’re feeling down or discouraged, and as with the My Day
Replay exercise, can be done on paper or in your head. If you choose to write it out, you can either make copies
of this page and leave them by your bed, or buy a blank book/journal to use for this purpose.

Simply, write out (or think about) anything you feel grateful to yourself for, to other people for, or to the forces of
the universe for. It might be an advancement you made toward a goal, a kindness someone showed you, your
health, living in a democratic country, a smile you got from a stranger today, anything at all that has made your
life a little better. If you’re not feeling a strong sense of gratitude at this moment, try to imagine what you would
feel grateful for if you could, and write that.

1. Name: Name
2. 1:
3. 2:
4. 3: