To Be Alone or Not to Be Alone?
Your Enjoyment Evaluation
PAGE 2
Step Two: Enjoyment Evaluation
On Day One of your experiment, you'll have only your list of planned activities to consider. But on Day Two (and every day thereafter), you'll be able to look back and evaluate how much you actually enjoyed an activity, once you were in the middle of it. Each night, after listing your schedule for the next day and assigning your Index of Dread scores, go back to the previous page. You will now add a second number next to the Index of Dread score. This is your Enjoyment Evaluation. An EE score of zero means you got no pleasure at all from an experience, while a ten means you could have danced all night—or bowled or plucked chickens or whatever—and still have begged for more.
Again, avoid blaming or shaming. You may have to admit you hated things you were supposed to love (Mom's birthday party, time with your spouse) but derived huge joy from things you think are wrong (reading tabloids to children, flirting with priests). No judgment here: We are simply social scientists examining data.
On Day One of your experiment, you'll have only your list of planned activities to consider. But on Day Two (and every day thereafter), you'll be able to look back and evaluate how much you actually enjoyed an activity, once you were in the middle of it. Each night, after listing your schedule for the next day and assigning your Index of Dread scores, go back to the previous page. You will now add a second number next to the Index of Dread score. This is your Enjoyment Evaluation. An EE score of zero means you got no pleasure at all from an experience, while a ten means you could have danced all night—or bowled or plucked chickens or whatever—and still have begged for more.
Again, avoid blaming or shaming. You may have to admit you hated things you were supposed to love (Mom's birthday party, time with your spouse) but derived huge joy from things you think are wrong (reading tabloids to children, flirting with priests). No judgment here: We are simply social scientists examining data.
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