1. Having a memo paper cube* and at least one pen in your work & relaxation spaces
Seriously.
I had about a 4-year break from having any paper notes, being all arrogant & modernized-by-the-21th-century & kind of nature-protective, then I put this thing on my desk, and it did wonders for my ability to catch ideas and remember my new microrules & microguidelines.
I started with a square block, but later switched to using two sizes: a small rectangular (close to B8 format; 2.7 x 3.5 inches) and a biggish rectangular (close to B7; 3.5 x 5.5 inches), and it's even better. Small ones are for short todo lists and bigger ones are for brainstorming or longer todo lists/instructions.
The important thing is for paper to be white (white sheet of paper = more ideas, more clarity), unruled (more freedom!), and bound together by a plastic holder or a tiny bit of sticky stuff ("gum top" / "glued top") or a paper ribbon — so that you could move swiftly or sneeze without risking the paper block's integrity.
And, by the way, you can still care about the nature. After you process your notes (say, you copy-pasted them to your relevant text file, scheduled todo items in Trello or even implemented them), you can just cross over that side of the sheet (to show the future you that it doesn't require your attention) and put the sheet to the pile of paper for your future notetaking.
(*) memo pad, scratch pad, note block, paper block, refill block or whatever it is called where you live. Looks like this (square) or this (rectangular).
2. Gratitude journaling, ~5min/day
There is plenty of scientific evidence that it's a good thing for you.
I do it as an unordered list. It can be some tiny & random stuff, some big stuff, etc. — just write down what actually lit up your day, even if just for a little bit.
This tiny exercise (takes just a few minutes!) truly rewires your brain for a more positive life attitude, for seeing opportunities instead of just judging. I noticed a strong difference after just 7 days of doing it (but of course you have to keep doing it after that, or the effect goes away).
Oh, and it works well only if you do your gratitude list in the evening of the same day — from my experience, postponing it to the next morning decreases positive effect by about 90%.
You might even combine it with the list of what you did from your "ingredients for joy and meaning" list that day (e.g., column #1 — ingredients, column #2 — gratitude list).
3. Having your "ingredients for joy and meaning" list on paper, placed as close as possible to your main workspace
For example, by your keyboard. When you are having a downtime (something is loading too slow, etc.), you can use it to reread that list and remember to do some of that stuff.
The exercise of creating and following such a list is from Brené Brown' book.
She suggests making this list, then comparing it to your "to accomplish" list (or any version of it that you have somewhere in your head) and updating this last list accordingly, because why would you strive for what you don't truly care about?
And then make enough space in your life for your "ingredients for joy and meaning".
The more things you do from that list daily, the happier you are.
