Why?
- A daily record of your achievements and your fatigue levels allows you to accu- rately keep track of progress. Progress can be gradual and easily missed!
- It helps set, and remind you of daily goals.
- It will help you discuss your progress with the group. Discussion of your homework forms is an important part of your treatment, so remember to bring records of progress to each session!
Keeping up with your diaries may seem a bit overwhelming at first. Filling them in as you go along (e.g. mid-day, late afternoon and before bed) can make it easier.
Keeping yourself going
- Remember that progress may seem slow at first, but it gets easier. Also, change may be more obvious to other people than you at first - ask other's opinions!
- Try to balance things so that you do enjoyable and not so enjoyable activities on the same day. If you can, begin and end the day with an enjoyable activity.
- Reward yourself: don't downplay your efforts: give yourself a pat on the back when you have achieved even small goals!
- Unexpected events can stop you from being able to follow your programme. That's ok, just start again with your programme the next day.
- Use cues to remind yourself to do specific tasks; e.g. asking someone to remind you of important tasks, putting up signs around the house, setting an alarm or kitchen timer to remind you of the time to begin or end an activity.
When to move on
You need to understand the importance of keeping things manageable, and resisting the temptation to do too much too soon. For this reason you should be careful not to move on to the next set of tasks until the first set can be carried with little or no difficulty. Generally, you will need to practice goals for at least a week before increasing them.