I’m so fascinated by the correlation between journaling and success that I’ve started interviewing people about their journaling practices. One of the reasons I love journaling is that it deepens my self-awareness. And everyone I have interviewed so far expressed that deeper self-awareness has been one of the benefits of their practice as well.
It’s amazing how such a simple act, writing in a journal, can have such a profound impact on how you see yourself and the world. But when you stop and think about it…you might be shocked to realize how little most people stop and think about anything these days. We don’t, as a society, encourage thinking. We value busyness. And we’re evolving into a society that values people talking about how busy they are on social media, amplifying the time being wasted.
Thinking isn’t busy work. It’s tedious, slow and unpredictable. Seriously, you can sit down to start planning out a project, only to realize that you don’t have the bandwidth to execute on said project with it’s current scope…and that’s why giving yourself time and space to think things through is so important, so helpful, so necessary.
It’s easy to stay busy for the sake of it. But are you doing meaningful work? Is what you’re doing really getting you closer to your goals? Or are you keeping busy chasing your own tail?
Whenever I get caught in a go, go, go cycle I find it is helpful to stop and ask myself three simple questions:
What am I thinking? How am I feeling? What’s really important to me here?
These questions help me to center in the moment so I stop being in a reactionary loop and can start being proactive instead. Otherwise I might get caught up in someone else’s drama or stuck going down the wrong rabbit hole. Or worse, I might stop myself from doing something I need because I’m playing out a programmed fear response to a common trigger!
Being able to observe your own thoughts and feelings, without judgement, in any given moment is a sign of deep self-awareness. And it is a level of self-awareness anyone can cultivate by journaling your thoughts and reflections to these simple three questions. Try reflecting on these questions everyday for a week and see what you learn about yourself!
Give yourself the gift of your own time and attention for thinking more deeply about 2017. Join fellow Misfit Entrepreneur’s for the EntrepreNerds Annual Planning Workshop this year and learn how to turn your journal into the ultimate planning machine.