This week you have a short writing exercise in which you’ll explore some struggles or worries, but with a twist. We suggest finding time to write at night, though feel free to choose a time that works best for you. Set a time each day when you’d like to perform the exercise.

When you sit down each day this week, set a timer for 5 minutes and write about one of two topics: either a problem you encountered that day, or a worry you have about the next day. Choose whatever is most on your mind. If the day went well and you’re not worried about tomorrow, choose a past issue to work with.

Each day, write about what you feel in response to the problem or worry and brainstorm possible ways to handle it, but from a different perspective. Instead of writing in the first person, use second-person pronouns or your name to give yourself advice. For example, instead of writing “I feel nervous about . . .” start by writing “You feel nervous about . . .” Write until the timer goes off.

When Robert did this exercise, he chose to do it each night at 9:00 pm, since he already sets aside alone time for himself every night. At that time, he sat down at his desk and thought about his day, which had been quite hectic. And the following day wasn’t looking any better; dreadful, in fact. Robert caught that thought and decided to make it the focus of his writing exercise. Here’s some of what he wrote.

I know you feel overwhelmed at work right now, Rob. You’re juggling a lot of projects at once, and there are a bunch of things competing for your attention. It’s no wonder you feel stressed. But it’s not like this is anything new. You’ve felt this way in the past, and, yeah, it’s unpleasant. But you’re still at your job, and things are going well overall. This week will be unpleasant, but you get through it every time, and do your job well—or at least well enough! So, get some sleep now. It’ll do you good!

Robert found that giving himself advice and words of comfort by using the second-person perspective worked well for him. See how well it works for you by writing about a problem or worry and then offering yourself some advice from the outside perspective each night this week.

To print a blank version of this prompt, please go to our web page for the book: theexperimentpublishing.com/?isbn=9781615195336.

By stepping back a little, you can take the emotional sting out of hurtful situations and will be able to see them more clearly. You are a better guide to yourself by offering self-sympathy than by magnifying internal turmoil through self-empathy. This type of exercise has modern scientific evidence behind it, too, but the Stoics were 2,000 years ahead of their time.⁴ If you browse Marcus Aurelius’s personal journal Meditations, you will notice that he almost always writes to himself in the second person.

On the Sunday after you’ve practiced taking the outside view, set a timer for 5 to 10 minutes and write your impressions of this exercise down. Was it useful to you? Did writing in the second person help you gain perspective? Did the writing prompts spontaneously carry over to your thinking throughout the day?