Seneca did this every night. Not to punish himself. To stay honest.
Seneca described his evening review in precise terms. When the light has been removed and my wife has fallen silent, I examine my entire day and go back over what I have done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by. He asked himself three questions: what bad habit did I put right today? What fault did I resist? In what way am I better?
This was a daily practice, not a monthly or yearly accounting. The Stoics understood that character is made in small increments, and that drift happens slowly. The person who examines themselves daily notices the small deviations before they become large ones. The person who only takes stock occasionally finds they have travelled a long way from where they intended to be.
The word continued in the step is as important as inventory. This is not a one-time accounting. It is a permanent practice. You will always have something to examine. That is not a problem. It is the work.
"I examine my entire day and go back over what I've done and said, hiding nothing from myself, passing nothing by."
Seneca, On Anger
When we were wrong, promptly admitted it. The Stoics would have added: to yourself first. The pattern of rationalising, defending, and minimising your own behaviour is exactly what the daily review is designed to interrupt.
Promptly is significant. The longer the gap between the action and the accounting, the more opportunity your mind has to construct a flattering narrative around it. Seneca's practice worked partly because it was the same day. The memory was fresh. The rationalisation had not yet calcified.
This step is where recovery stops being a project with a beginning, a middle, and an end, and becomes a way of living. It is also where the Stoic tools become most daily and most personal. The specific questions you ask yourself, the specific patterns you are watching for, the specific virtues you are building: these are yours. Nobody else's inventory looks exactly like yours.
Set up your own version of Seneca's evening review. It does not have to be long. Three questions every night before sleep: what did I do today that I am glad of? Where did I fall short of who I want to be? What is the one thing I will do differently tomorrow? Write the answers down, even briefly. The writing matters.