Take This 10-minute Habit Into 2023 and Watch Your Life Get 10% Better
Definitely a game changer for me
At a Christmas party last week, I had an interesting conversation with an insanely happy and successful couple.
I asked them about their morning routines. Why ask such a personal question?
I don’t know, I’m obsessed with morning routines. I truly believe they determine our fates and provide the ultimate competitive advantage for those who take them seriously.
They walked me through their routines and…
They both journaled.
They each took 10 minutes to write 11 affirmations and visualize the day ahead.
I’m I surprised about this couple’s health, wealth, and success?
Not one bit.
I don’t know about you, but I read books about successful people because I’m searching for common denominators.
I found one obvious common denominator—Journaling.
It’s been a part of my morning routine for 3 years, and it’s a miracle.
Here’s what I noticed.
Recording your life dramatically improves your creativity
Anyone who’s tried something creative knows the truth about creativity.
That it’s not sexy.
There’s no eureka moment.
Most of the stuff you produce won’t make sense.
You never feel like a genius. I spend most of my time alone, at my desk, picking my nose and staring out the window.
That’s facts.
Ideas flow when we finally start connecting dots, like how a quote you read in a book relates to something a friend told you.
“It isn’t necessary to leave your home. Sit at your desk and listen. Don’t even listen. Just wait. Don’t even wait, be still and alone. The whole world will offer itself to you.”
—Franz Kafka
But we’re human and we forget things.
That’s where your journal comes in.
For example, I wrote a viral article a few weeks ago about my relationship with alcohol. One morning I was journaling about some issues my family had been dealing with and I remembered a TikTok that Ryan Holiday posted 6 months ago about the consequences of having too much fun in Las Vegas.
Coincidentally, I first saw that TikTok while miserably hungover after a 3-night bachelor party in Las Vegas.
The entire entry made for great material, which I used for the article.
None of that happens without a journal.
Learn more about my journaling method with my FREE E-Book:
How to Journal Your Daily Life Using the Bujo Method
Writing makes me feel at least 10% better on crappy days
I don’t write in my journal every day. I usually write on the days I feel low, anxious, confused, or hurt.
Or days I don’t feel good enough. Those days, in particular, really suck.
Journaling is a saving grace. Like hot chocolate on a snowy night, it’s there to make you feel better.
That doesn’t make journaling easy. Like going to the gym, I often have to display some willpower and force myself to open my journal and write about all the negativity I’m feeling.
Then, like magic, my writing tone turns positive. My mood turns positive.
I’ll start writing about the good things in my life. All the things I’ve accomplished. My friends. My family. All the cool things I’m doing and have the privilege to do each day.
Sure, it might sound like hippie BS. It makes me feel 10% better than before I opened the journal—that’s all I know.
I’ll take that deal.
Flexes your self-awareness muscles
There’s a beautiful quote from Anne Frank about self-awareness.
“How noble and good everyone could be,” she wrote. “If at the end of each day they were to review their own behavior and weigh up the rights and wrongs. They would automatically try to do better at the start of each new day and after a while would certainly accomplish a great deal.”
Gary Vaynerchuk and pretty much every self-help guru out there talk about the importance of self-awareness. Or the ability to recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses and adapt accordingly.
It’s a learned skill, really.
I’m telling you right now, developing that skill is nearly impossible without a journal.
Why?
Because, let’s face it, your friends and family have biases and will usually tell you what you want to hear.
Also, our minds sway towards the extremes - either too negative or too positive. Accurate portraits of what’s going on in your life are hard to paint in your head without help.
But your mind slows down when you journal.
Everything you write leaves your mind and enters the realm of the world.
You give your thoughts and feelings an objective reality subject to review and critique, just like everything else.
Journaling is a tool used to challenge our assumptions and ask tough questions. How am I holding myself back? Why did I feel anxious before that meeting? Why do I care so much about what she thinks about me? What’s one small goal I could accomplish tomorrow?
Here’s what I observed from 2 years of journaling
After 3 weeks, I noticed my thoughts didn’t always align with reality. That’s a massive insight once it sinks in.
After 6 months, I learned to double down on my strengths and eliminate the things in my life that made little sense, like poor relationships and drinking too much.
After 2 years, I learned to focus on what I control without apologizing.
I’m not a Jedi, but life got better for me when I started journaling.
Truthful insight for a enlightened New Year! May much joy come your way in 2023!🎉