When something goes awry, all you need to do is write it down. Classify it as a Mistake and move on. Then, weeks later, after the intensity and emotions of the moment have dissipated, you look back at it, think about it. What happened? Think about your role - recognize that mistakes and failures are owned by groups, but self-improvement is your task alone. (This is having a sense of agency.) What could you have done differently that could have affected the outcome? Next time your face a similar circumstance, how will you handle it?
Since I wrote that post, I've learned that there are many more reasons to journal - tracking accomplishments/setbacks, as a way to measure the quality of inner work life (from The Progress Principle by Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer); increasing mindfulness (Chade-Meng Tan's Search Inside Yourself); even measuring gratitude.
Dave Kaylor helped me put these ideas into a site that I've been using for more than a year to track my own progress. It's made a great difference in my outlook and day-to-day effectiveness. We've now released the tool so others can use it. It's called 3-Minute Journal and you can use it for free. If you'd like to be one of the early users of this and provide feedback so we can continue to improve the tool, please sign up here: 3-Minute Journal.
There is a startup guide available on the 3-Minute Journal blog. That's where I'll be posting on how to use the tool and things we find out through this beta process.
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