The Feel Good Folder & Recovery Plan
Bank the proof that you matter, so bad days can't erase it.
- Difficulty
- Starter
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 4
- Confidence
- 87%
Kalil's recovery plan is a pre-made list of things that give her energy, remind her what's important, and pull her back into action on bad days, when nobody feels productive. The feel good folder is one item on that plan: every time someone writes to tell her how her work impacted them, she saves it — physical notes in a folder, digital ones on her desktop. When a crappy day hits, she opens it and reads, which reminds her that she and her work matter and re-motivates her to act. The mechanism works because we forget the good things people say, so the folder externalizes and preserves that evidence for the moment you most need it.
Origin
Kalil built the recovery plan for herself, candidly admitting that left to her own devices a bad day means curling up on the couch with a bottle of wine — so she engineered a faster route back to action.
Core principles
- 01Everyone has crappy days when they don't feel like doing what matters.
- 02A pre-built recovery plan gets you back into action faster than willpower would.
- 03We forget the good things people say about us, so capture the evidence when it arrives.
- 04Re-reading proof of your impact re-anchors that you and your work matter.
How to run it
- 1
Build a recovery plan
Write a list of things that give you energy, remind you what's important, and motivate you — a plan you can reach for when the shit hits the fan.
- 2
Create the feel good folder
Set up a dedicated place — a physical folder and a desktop/email folder — to collect positive messages about your work.
- 3
Capture the evidence in real time
Whenever someone sends a note about how your work impacted, helped or bettered them, screenshot or save it immediately into the folder.
Pro tip It's easy to do in the moment and easy to forget later — capture it the second it arrives.
- 4
Open it on bad days
When you don't feel like doing anything productive, read the notes to remind yourself you matter and your work is necessary, then get back into action.
In the wild
On the podcast Kalil says she could pull out her physical feel good folder right then; she keeps written notes plus a desktop and email folder of messages from people her work has helped, and reads them on crappy days.
→ Reading the notes reminds her that her work matters and re-motivates her to act faster than she would left to her own devices.
Common mistakes
Believing 'nobody says nice things to me'
Without a captured record, bad-day brain distorts reality and forgets the genuine positive feedback you've received, deepening the slump.
Is it for you?
Best for
Anyone who does emotionally demanding or self-directed work and needs a reliable way to recover momentum on bad days.
Not ideal for
People experiencing clinical depression who need professional support rather than a self-help ritual.
From the transcript
“When I don't feel like it anymore, all I have to do is open my feel good folder, read those notes, and it reminds me…”
“Every time somebody gives you a compliment, take a screenshot, drop it in a folder.”
From the episode
Nicole Kalil: Overcome Imposter Syndrome and Become Confident in 60 Minutes
Nicole Kalil