5 Ways to Journal Better to Change Your Thinking and Your Life
“If you’re serious about becoming a wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured, and unique individual, keep a journal.” — Jim Rohn
When asked if they journal, most people will say they have no time. Yet, journaling is the most important thing a thinker, writer, professional, and student can do. The thinking of the greatest men and women in history were forged through their journals. Journals help collect thoughts, reflections, and events. This mixture allows the individual to craft their unique insights. Insights are what changes lives. Insights are distinct changes in thought pattern and ways of thinking. So much happens in our lives nowadays. If we do not take the time to record down our thoughts, any unique ideas we may have each day can be washed away. One of those washed away ideas could be a life-changer.
“Keeping a personal journal a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them.” — Stephen R. Covey
I began the process of journaling at the end of 2017. I was inspired by historical documentaries. It struck me how the only way we knew how these individuals thought was through their journals. As well, their journals also showed how their thinking changed over time.
Here is 100 other listed benefits of journaling.
After some time writing in a journal, I thought I would share lessons I learned to enhance the quality of your journaling.
Set a time but not a time limit:
Figure out a time of day to journal consistently. Building a consistent time into your journaling will help you stick to it when you have a busy day. Setting a time does not mean setting a time limit. Journaling should be a free-flowing process. On some days, my journal entries consist of three sentences. On some days, it has three pages. A time limit will constrain your creativity. Journaling is a creative process. When the mind wanders, is when innovative ideas and thoughts come through. Journaling with a time constraint can cut off great ideas. You need time to pause and reflect while recording your entry.
Journal after your workday:
This is a personal preference. I believe there are many benefits to journaling after the workday. The key benefit is it allows you to separate the workday from the rest of the evening. What happened at work can go into your journal entry. It also allows you to analyze the workday. The good, bad, and ugly events. Journaling in the evening allows you to put to bed the bad things that happen at work. Once those things are put out, you can fully focus on working on yourself or contributing to others in the evening.
Write about one thing you learned:
According to Shawn Achor, in the Happiness Advantage, the brain can be molded to look for certain information. A common example is when you buy a new car, all of the sudden you begin to notice the same cars on the road. This is because the brain was trained to look out for those cars through your research during the purchase. This same concept can be applied to learning. In our jobs, we are trained to look for faults. Today, you probably found mistakes in spelling, punctuation or a misalignment in a presentation slide at work. This does not make people innovate and grow. We need to train our minds to look for lessons and insights. Writing down one thing that you learned during the day is something I incorporate into my journal entry every day.
Incidentally, this works well with journaling after the workday. We do not notice it, but we do learn a lot at work every day. Yet, most people do not think about what they learned at work. Doing so will also help you gain a newfound appreciation for your work. It is also a signal. If for many days in a row, you struggle to think of anything you learned at work, then it may be time to change your tasks or role.
Just. One. Sentence.
It’s as the title says, write just one sentence. If you can get one sentence onto paper, I guarantee you will want to write more. The sentence can be as simple as “I’m tired today and nothing happened that was interesting.” This one sentence will get you to think about why your day was so boring and what you need to change. This will likely get you to write more.
So if you are feeling particularly tired or overwhelmed, put just one sentence down.
Remove all obstacles to the writing process:
We massively underestimate how much small obstacles are the enemy of consistency. If you want to begin journaling on a consistent, daily basis, I suggest you remove even the smallest obstacle to your journaling process. This is another way of saying reduce the set-up time to your journal entry.
Here what a probably set-up time looks like: Get home. Sit down on a chair. Realize you need to journal. Get up. Find journal. Find pen. Flip to newest page. Begin writing.
Here is my set up process: Get home. Sit down on a chair. Begin writing.
How is this achieved? I simply removed even the smallest obstacle to journaling. I have my journal on my desk opened to the newest page with a pen placed on top of the page. All I have to do is pick up the pen and start writing.
This makes a big difference. Shawn Achor documented through learning trying to learn guitar. His goal was to play guitar consecutively for 21 days. The first time he tried he only made it four consecutive days. The second time he tried, he changed his approach. Instead of having the guitar in the closet and the sheet music tucked away, he made easy to get to. He put the guitar on its stand in the middle of his living room. He also had the sheet music right beside it. Essentially, he removed all obstacles to him playing guitar and it worked.
If you want to journal consistently at the beginning, remove even the smallest obstacle.
Summary:
These are some of the ways I picked up to help me get more out of my journaling each day. Please share any tips, tricks, or ideas you may have. I am always looking to improve my journaling process. I would really appreciate it!
