When I was in high school, I kept a journal at my English teacher’s request. I thought this would be another boring exercise in writing, but I grew to love journaling. I started writing so fast that my penmanship ultimately suffered (see my photo below for an example!). I pledged to myself that I would continue journaling as a way to remember what I was thinking over the years.
Unfortunately, time and life happened, and I failed to keep a journal for many years. When I started my business, I wanted to keep track of my thoughts, feelings, and ideas. When I was on vacation with my family in June 2012, I decided to start journaling again.
Journaling is one of my day’s real highlights! I take time away from the demands on me and let my thoughts flow. I do not think. I just start writing. I sometimes write two or three times a day if I get particularly interesting thoughts. I do not write for long periods of time, but I make sure I take at least 15 minutes every day to journal.
I will discuss different ways to journal in an upcoming blog post. I want to take this post to highlight the four benefits I’ve found through my new journaling.
- Writing gets ideas out of your head – Your mind is a dangerous tool. The mind can do so many great things for us, but we tend to trust it too much. The average human attention span is only eight seconds. A goldfish’s average attention span is nine seconds! If we do not capture our ideas in written form, we will lose them. Writing a journal helps you move your ideas out of your head and onto paper.
- You must think about what is going on around you – Michael Hyatt wrote a fantastic blog post on why journaling is important to him. I love his idea of how journaling provides context to your life. When I sit down to journal, I think about my life as whole. I do not just write about business topics or family topics. My journal contains everything from political rants I don’t want to share on Facebook to what I observe about my children. My journal provides me with a sense of context.
- You can “connect the dots” of your life – This point is related to point #2 above. Our best ideas often come when we take two seemingly unconnected events and join them together. I scan my journals to identify patterns in my writing. These ideas may result in a new product or book idea. You must understand a topic deeply to be an expert, but the best ideas come from connecting the dots that don’t seem to relate.
- It creates a system of generating and recording ideas – I am always looking to simplify how I generate and record ideas. I try a lot of tools and apps to keep me organized, but a journal is one place I can always go when I need a new idea. Depending on my mood and location, I use a Ecosystem notebook (affiliate link) for handwritten journaling. I use the DayOne app (Mac App Store and iTunes links) when I want to type my journals. In any case, my journals end up in an Evernote notebook simply called Journals. This way, I eventually have my journaling in one location.
Journaling is a great way to record your ideas, thoughts, and feelings as you go through life. I only wish I had kept journaling as I finished high school and continued life. It is a great investment of time for my life. How can you use journaling to make things happen in your business and life?
Photo from Curt Fleenor via Flickr Creative Commons
Z5TJXFZSB8ZK
Do you want to know which half of your marketing REALLY works? Check out a webinar AJ Perisho and I will deliver on Monday, July 30. If you want to learn how to change your marketing to make your business happen, join us on July 30th!
Pingback: Friday Favorites – July 27, 2012 — Business coach and accelerator, helping you make your business happen! Whiteboard Business Partners