THE FUTURE MARKETACADEMY
Your classroomRoom 09 · The Commons
School of Life & Soft Skills

Wellbeing Practices: routines and reflection

Step 6 of 8 in The Commons

Next in your path: 9.3.2 Reasoning & Evidence: arguments and bias

This course is education and honest research summaries, not therapy, diagnosis or medical advice. It cannot treat any condition. If you feel low, anxious or hopeless, talk to a doctor or a licensed mental health professional. In Canada, call or text 9-8-8 (Suicide Crisis Helpline, 24/7). In the Philippines, call the NCMH Crisis Hotline 1553. For other countries, see the In your country boxes; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.

What you'll be able to do
  • Run a simple weekly check-in and read it honestly, knowing what a check-in can and cannot tell you.
  • Build a sleep routine and a movement routine from official guideline numbers (Canada's guidelines are the example used).
  • Try calming practices and read the research on mindfulness honestly.
  • Use reflection and writing as a routine, and know when it is not the right tool.
  • Look at screens and social connection with real research, not panic.
  • Put it together in one weekly plan and know exactly when to ask a professional.
Words in this course 38Open the Vocabulary Hall
01

Before this course, and your weekly check-in

In simple words

A garden needs watering on a schedule, not only when you remember. A wellbeing routine is a watering schedule for you. A weekly check-in is looking at the garden once a week to see what is growing and what is dry.

Before this course: Purpose, Gratitude & Wellbeing (course 9.14). You already know the WHO definitions of health and mental health, the links between purpose, relationships and health (and why they are links, not proof), values and a first purpose draft, gratitude and its small effect sizes, kindness, the Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines basics, and your support list. Here we turn those ideas into routines you can run every week, and we use reflection to adjust them.

Key facts
  • A routine is an action tied to a cue (a time, a place or another habit), like the habit recipes from course 9.12: "After I [cue], I will [action]."
  • A check-in is a short, regular look at how you are doing. It gives you your own pattern over time.
  • The WHO-5 Well-Being Index is a short, widely used questionnaire. It asks how often, over the last two weeks, you felt cheerful and in good spirits, calm and relaxed, active and vigorous, fresh and rested when you woke, and that daily life has things that interest you. Each item is scored 0 to 5, and the total (0 to 25) is often multiplied by 4 to give 0 to 100. A review (Topp et al., 2015) found it valid as a screening tool and as an outcome measure.
  • Honest limits: a score below about 50 (out of 100) is commonly used as a signal to talk with a professional, but different sources use slightly different cut-offs. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and it cannot replace an assessment by a health professional. This course does not score you. Use the five questions to notice your own pattern.
  • Self-ratings change day to day. Look at trends over weeks, not single numbers.
In your country
  • Call or text 988, or chat at chat.988lifeline.org. It is the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: free, confidential and open 24/7.
  • Emergency (police, fire, ambulance): call 911.
  • Source: 988 Lifeline: 988lifeline.org/
  • Source: NHTSA National 911 Program: www.911.gov/
  • The nationwide psychological assistance hotline is 12356, set up by the National Health Commission. Local health departments run it.
  • In an emergency: police 110, fire 119, ambulance 120.
  • Source: National Health Commission notice on 12356: www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202412/content_6994470.htm
Get help

If your check-in shows low mood, loss of interest, or feeling hopeless most days for more than two weeks, talk to a doctor or a licensed mental health professional. In Canada, call or text 9-8-8 (24/7). In the Philippines, call the NCMH Crisis Hotline 1553. For other countries, see the In your country boxes; elsewhere, call your local emergency number.

Step by step
  1. Write these five lines on a page or a notes app: cheerful, calm, active, rested, interested.
  2. Rate each from 0 (none of the time) to 5 (all of the time) for the last two weeks.
  3. Write the total and the date. Do not judge it. It is a starting point.
  4. Choose a fixed time each week for your check-in, for example "Sunday after dinner".
  5. Write the cue: "After I clear the table on Sunday, I fill in my five lines."
  6. Repeat the check-in next week and compare.
  7. If the numbers are low and stay low for two weeks, use the Get help box above.
  8. Check: you have a first rating, a date, a weekly cue and a support number saved.
Watch on YouTube
WHO's Science in 5: mental healthWorld Health Organization · YouTube · youtube.com

Videos by other creators on YouTube, for reference. They are not made by or affiliated with The Future Market.

LESSON 01Before this course, and your weekly check-in
LESSON 01 / ANIMATED LESSON / AI VOICE00:00 / 01:00
Read the video script
[Host] "A routine is a watering schedule for you."
[Text on screen: Check-in once a week] "Pick a time, rate five simple lines, and look at the pattern over weeks, not one day."
[Text on screen: A screen, not a diagnosis] "A well-being questionnaire can tell you when to talk to someone. It cannot diagnose anything."
[Host] "If you feel low most days for two weeks, talk to a professional. Canada: 9-8-8. Philippines: 1553."
Try it now

Do your first check-in today with the five lines. Set a weekly cue and write it down. Save one support number in your phone.

ClaudeStuck? Copy a ready-made prompt for Claude

Copy this, open Claude, paste it, and Claude will walk you through the lesson step by step.

For a grown-up: Claude is for adults (18+). Copy this, paste it into Claude, and use the answer to explain the lesson to your child.

I'm learning "Wellbeing Practices: routines and reflection" on The Future Market. Lesson 1: "Before this course, and your weekly check-in".

What the lesson teaches:
- A routine is an action tied to a cue (a time, a place or another habit), like the habit recipes from course 9.12: "After I [cue], I will [action]."
- A check-in is a short, regular look at how you are doing. It gives you your own pattern over time.
- The WHO-5 Well-Being Index is a short, widely used questionnaire. It asks how often, over the last two weeks, you felt cheerful and in good spirits, calm and relaxed, active and vigorous, fresh and rested when you woke, and that daily life has things that interest you. Each item is scored 0 to 5, and the total (0 to 25) is often multiplied by 4 to give 0 to 100. A review (Topp et al., 2015) found it valid as a screening tool and as an outcome measure.
- Honest limits: a score below about 50 (out of 100) is commonly used as a signal to talk with a professional, but different sources use slightly different cut-offs. It is a screen, not a diagnosis, and it cannot replace an assessment by a health professional. This course does not score you. Use the five questions to notice your own pattern.
- Self-ratings change day to day. Look at trends over weeks, not single numbers.

The exercise I'm working on:
Do your first check-in today with the five lines. Set a weekly cue and write it down. Save one support number in your phone.

I'm stuck. Please:
1. Explain the main idea in plain, simple words with one everyday example.
2. Walk me through the exercise one small step at a time. Ask me what I've done so far before giving the next step.
3. Don't just give me the final answer. Help me do it myself, and check my work when I share it.
I'm a parent helping my child (about 8 years old) with a lesson called "Before this course, and your weekly check-in" from the course "Wellbeing Practices: routines and reflection".

Here's what the lesson says:
A garden needs watering on a schedule, not only when you remember. A wellbeing routine is a watering schedule for you. A weekly check-in is looking at the garden once a week to see what is growing and what is dry.

The activity:
Do your first check-in today with the five lines. Set a weekly cue and write it down. Save one support number in your phone.

Please explain this so an 8-year-old understands: short sentences, a fun everyday example, and no hard words.
Then give me 3 simple questions I can ask my child to check they understood, and a way to do the activity together, one tiny step at a time.
Open Claude
Sources
My notes
02

A sleep routine

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

03

A movement routine

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

04

Calming practices, honestly

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

05

Reflection and writing

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

06

Screens and connection

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

07

Your weekly plan, and when to get help

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

++

Final project

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

??

Quiz

  1. What is the WHO-5 used for?

  2. How much sleep do adult health guidelines recommend for adults 18 to 64?

  3. How long before bed does the CDC suggest turning off devices?

  4. How much aerobic activity do adult guidelines recommend for adults 18 to 64?

  5. How confident were the authors in the 2024 exercise and depression review?

  6. What did the Goyal (2014) review find about mindfulness?

  7. What did the MYRIAD trial find?

  8. What did Frattaroli's review of 146 studies find about expressive writing?

  9. How much of the differences in teen wellbeing did technology use explain at most in Orben and Przybylski?

  10. What did the Hunt (2018) experiment find?

  11. When are mood symptoms of concern, according to CAMH?

  12. What should someone do in a crisis or immediate danger?

EX

Final exam

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.

CE

Certificate

This lesson is part of full access: every course and every level for one payment.