How To Journal For Results
4 Oct 2021 · 21 min
Dean Graziosi shares his outcome journaling system, which uses a specific page layout with sections for today, this week, this month, and someday, plus a "not to do" box and "needle movers." He credits the method with generating decades of creative ideas and major projects, and recommends weekly reviews that move items between time horizons to stay focused.
Questions this episode answers
The Better Life Journal (promotional URL: deansjournal.com).
"At least 30 years."
15,000 people.
"A decade worth of journals."
Chapters
We never give ourselves blue ribbons. You guys have come so far. You've already taken uncomfortable action. That you didn't listen to your inner self doubt that you didn't listen to the inner villain, that you didn't listen to the imposter syndrome version of you that lives inside of you. But when's the last time you looked in the mirror and said, we're doing good? Welcome to the Dean Graziosi Show. All success starts right. A planner is amazing, and we should plan our day. I'm not saying don't plan your day. Not at all. But a planner is just planning activities. For me, the way I love to journal is I want a combination of what I have to get done. I want the opportunity. When I'm feeling flow, I get out of the shower and have an idea about a course or a product or a book I'm writing. I want to have my journal there to write my notes. I have a decade worth of journals, literally. Someday my family will probably go through it, or maybe not, but I hope they do. But I have a decade worth of journals in there. Is the idea for kbb, the idea to partner with Tony, the idea for Mastermind, the ideas for the World Summit, the ideas of when I went through a divorce and I said, I want to be a better version of myself, I journaled on what are the things where I could be a better man, be a better human, who I was looking to attract, how could I be a better father? And I'd write, what books am I writing? All of this cumulatively goes into my journal, and then what comes out of it is the ingredients for my next level. So I want to encourage you to not just plan your day, but how can you journal? And I don't mean journal in the traditional fashion. I don't go to bed at night and journal about my day. And some people do. I'd be lying if I said I did. But I write in my journal every single day about what I'm going to accomplish, what my thoughts are. Wait till you see our next evolution of mastermind.com it is ridiculous of what we come up with. A lot of those start in my journal about ideas. Then I meet with my team and I fine tune my ideas in my journal. And before I used journals, I used to use a yellow pad, just like a professional yellow pad. The only thing with the yellow pad is the top. The top pages always get all crinkled and then eventually roll up and then you rip them off and throw it away. And you might have thrown something you want to keep forever. But I want to show you something. I'm just going to emulate and replicate what I have in the journal here. So across the top I have an X for needle movers. And then I have a check for most important. And this will just become. Then what I used to do on a yellow pad is I would literally go like this and I would draw three lines and I would put today, this week, this month. And I want you to think about. And then I used to make. I used to put a little box down here in the journal. I have it across the whole bottom. But I literally used to make a list down here and I'd put not to do. Okay. And I'd write the things that I want to stop doing. So this was something I did on a weekly basis. And let me tell you why this works so well. In fact, I teach how to outcome journal. That's what I call this outcome journaling rather than just planning your day. And what I do is. So today, today I had the self education revolution. I went live for 10 minutes DIC and implementation. And then I have some meetings with the team. I have some creative meetings. I go down my list. Today I literally am having a call on laying out the high level pieces of my next book, right? Of my next book. I have a call with Tony Robbins tonight, right? So these are my things for today. There's not a million of them, right? Because there's a million things you do, but then there's things I gotta get done this week. So this week I'm going to anchor in. We have about 40 things that we came up with for the next evolution of mastermind.com we're going to narrow that down to about 10 that we want to get done over the next 60 to 90 days, right? So this week we have a meeting to narrow that down. Right. And I can just. The laundry list goes on. Some are tactical. Some are. Some are tactical. Some are things like planning, right. But some are innovation. Like I have scheduled time this week to just sit and think through my book, think through next level training, right. I have my Wednesday training for if you're in Project Next Level. There's so many things. The lists go on and on and on. And then I have things I'm going to tell you about my secret little box that goes down here too. Then there's things I want to get done this month, right? And then there's these like big, like big goals and I write those in here. Things that like seem crazy. The next thing I'M creating the next big thing, things I'm partnering with Tony and all this cool stuff going on. So this might seem complicated, but for me, I get to journal, journal, journal, journal. And like once a week, so say I'm writing in all these pages and I'm doing, just writing down my thoughts, writing down a meeting I have, writing down what I'm sharing with you today, all these things come in and then once a week I go over to this type of page and I fill them all out. So then my vision, me being in flow, all the different things I did now gets clarified and I need to do that today, I need to do that this week, I need to do it this month or I need to do it someday. And these are the things I should stop doing. But here's why I believe this is so powerful. Not only does it mix kind of the left and right brain, the actual things I have to do, the to do lists, the planning with the innovation, right? But also I want you to think of this as moving from right to left, right? Meaning as things go, human nature is we get done with a busy day and we're like, I don't think I got anything done today. Oh my God, I got nothing accomplished last month. It's the biggest lie you've ever told yourself. You do way more than you tell yourself. Like literally we get stuff done and then we're like, oh, I'm pathetic, I'm not getting crap done. So such a lie and you're hurting yourself. What I love about this is that I get to cross off. I went live at 10 o'. Clock. I did the inner circle and implementation for World Summit. I know exactly what I'm going to lay out in my next book. I mean, I had that meeting with Tony and there's a lot going on today, but as I cross them out, I get to go, damn, you got a lot done today or this week. And then I take something from over here and it goes over to here. Or I take something from this month and it goes to this week and then it goes to today and all of a sudden you have this migra of things that continue to get done. And I love going back in my journal. Like I was looking for my backpack. In my backpack right now. I literally have four of these journals. I have the last three that I filled up and my current one. Because sometimes I go, oh, hey, did you ever do something? And you realize, man, I think I did this a month ago. I think I thought through this a month ago. You know what I do. I'm like, oh, I wonder, you know what? That was around my wife's birthday. And I go back and find my journal for that week. And I look through and go, oh, I did already think through this. Okay, here's where I was. And I take that and then I put it in my new journal. I just refine it now. I know if you're younger, you might do things online. I love pen to paper. There's something about getting something out of your head onto a piece of paper and then be able to keep it forever. I'm not kidding. You know what I'll do next time I go live? If I'm at home doing a self education training or I'll show you the stacks of my journals that I get to go through. And sometimes I'll literally go back a year and go, wow, I was thinking that same thing a year ago. Or, oh, damn, I've grown a lot since then. Right. But it allows you to have this creativity and flow. The reason I'm sharing this with you, if you have my journal, great. If you use another journal, great. If you have a piece of paper, I would love for you to try this for a couple weeks. And the cool thing is I always would write down what are my big goals? Partnering with Tony on mastermind.com kbb and project next Level. That was something that was on this list for three years prior to us doing it. Three years. And I just knew it wasn't time yet because we were both busy. But it was here and it was make self education the new norm with Tony. That's what I wrote month after month for years until it came to fruition. Right. There's a lot of things like that that we've created. World Summit was my goal to have an event with 15,000 people. I remember writing that down. 15,000 people from around the world at World Summit. It lived here for years and we got there. So now I got bigger goals. We better do 20,000 next year. Right? But it lived here. And then just by having this here, I got to tell you, most weeks I don't write anything in here anymore because I'm pretty obsessive about it. I literally only work on the things that really mean something to me. But every once in a while I'm like, wait a minute, I've been doing this for years. I don't think I want to do it anymore. I think I'd rather go to baseball or I'd rather do this or I'd rather not hang out with that person anymore. Every time I'm with them, I feel shitty about myself. I'm done. And all of a sudden that goes on here. And that's how I whittle down what I shouldn't be working on. Simultaneously stare at my big goals, get my daily list done, and I migrate this way. You guys see the power of this. This is not something I learned. This is, you know, there's a lot of things I've learned from Tony and so many incredible teachers. This outcome journaling is my gig. I've been doing it for at least 30 years and it all started on a yellow pad. So, okay, next I want to just go briefly on crushing, overwhelm. Like how do we crush overwhelm? Right? Overwhelmed stress, too much to do. Right. It all goes together. But these are just high level. But I want you to think about them. Number one, a clear outcome weekly. Right? This is just kind of bringing things together. So if you guys want to write that down, have a clear outcome of your week. Not what you're hear me on this one. Not just what you're going to do. What is the outcome? Right? What is the outcome this week? The outcome of this week is I need to dial in my website, my offer page on mastermind.com. that's the outcome. Not just I need to do the page. The outcome is when I quit on Friday at 5:00. I'm going to go mastermind.com dialed, it's up. Or whatever it is, right? So clear on your outcome? Number two, this is one that we all mess up on. You guys ready for? Number two, Create deadlines for yourself. You think that's stressful? I hope I said your name right. I saw you shaking your head. Right? We think. Let me just ask you something. Who works better under pressure? I know I do. When I have a deadline, I get shit done. Right? But what if I want to ask you a question. What if that's how entrepreneurs work? What if we only work when there's the pressure of the deadline? I know that's my gig. I get things done when I have to. When I don't, then I work on the stuff that I feel is more important. Right? So when we think about a deadline, immediately we think about. It's stressful to have a deadline. It's stressful not to have a deadline. When you keep kicking the can on your next level down. Oh, when I get time. Oh, when the kids go off to school. Oh, when my husband supports me. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. And then you turn a year later and you're like, God damn it. I've been a part of Project on the Next level for a year. I've watched all this success and I still haven't done this one thing. It's because you didn't give yourself a deadline. It's way more stressful to want and not achieve than it is to set a deadline and get it done. So set deadlines. Number three, plan your weeks. Clear on the outcome, but you have to plan your week. That's why I shared this little thing about journaling, right? Plan your week. Write down and not only plan your week, make sure that you incorporate needle movers in your week. Not just the things you're comfortable with, not just your to do list. Take at least one uncomfortable action a week towards your next level. Number four, this is kind of anchoring in what I shared with you guys, right? Number four is shut down your distractions. If you're going to say, I'm going to be selfish, I'm working for an hour on Tuesday, two hours on Tuesday. The kid's got to go outside or play with somebody else or do whatever is in your life. This is my two hours. When you do that, two hours, don't have your Instagram open or your Facebook or answering texts. Like when you're in flow, you get more done in 2 hours than many people can get done in 8. But it's got to be a concentrated 2 hours. Don't dabble for 8, go deep for 2. Make sense? Don't write that down. Don't dabble for 8, go deep for 2. Number three was plan your week. Number four, shut down distractions. Number five, give yourself blue ribbons and rewards. You know, did you ever hear the Napoleon quote that his life changed the day he realized someone would die for a blue ribbon? We never give ourselves blue ribbons. You guys have come so far. You've already taken uncomfortable action that you didn't listen to your inner self doubt that you didn't listen to the inner villain, that you didn't listen to the imposter syndro version of you that lives inside of you. But when's the last time you looked in the mirror and said, we're doing good, we're moving forward. Little slower than we'd like, but we're moving forward. I doubt you have, but I guarantee you've looked in the mirror and thought to yourself, why aren't we doing more? Why aren't we ahead? Why didn't we launch yet? Why aren't we selling yet? God, you're so pathetic. We all do that to ourselves, bs. It's time to flip that turn around and look at what you've accomplished to be here today. You're on this call. You could be doing a million other things, right? It's time to recognize and give yourself a little blue ribbon. Pour yourself a glass of chardonnay. Go get a massage, take a walk, look up, pray to God, say thank you. I don't know what it is to celebrate, but celebrate something. Give yourself a little drawing. Give yourself a blue ribbon. Nobody else needs to know but you do. You juggle being a partner, maybe a mom, a grandparent, a friend, a relative, a supporting person in someone else's life while you're juggling something that currently pays the bills, while you're transitioning into being in, in the self education industry, you're learning more, you're going through modules, you're watching all this and at the end of the week, you kick your own ass from doing nothing. Come on, stop it. Today, this moment, I'm proud of you. Be proud of yourself. Give yourself a little blue ribbon. Give yourself a little congratulatory pat on the back. Reward yourself because you're making progress and together we can do anything. We got that? Can we agree on that one? That one might be one of the most important things I shared today. Then this one I could do really quick. When I said schedule your week, what are you going to do in the next 24 hours to create momentum in your business, the business you're starting, it doesn't matter where you are on that timeline. I did the timeline when we first started, saw those lines. I don't care which one you're at. Some of you are saying, I want to go from 5 sales to 20 sales a month. Great. Some of you are saying I got to get my mindset anchored in because every time I listen to Dean, I feel good. But then I drift right back into having self doubt. Doesn't matter where you are, it matters where we're going. So what are you going to do in the next 24 hours to keep the momentum moving forward? Then what are you going to do in the next seven days? Right? You don't have to write these, you can just write down the numbers and come back and do this exercise. But next 24 hours, next seven days, next 30 days, next 60 days and next 90 days, I would do a 24 hour, a seven day, a 30 day, a 60 day and a 90 day plan of what are the outcomes? What are you going to accomplish next 24 hours? I am dedicating the time. I'm going into my journal and I am going to dedicate times. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I am absolutely working on this. That's all I need to do. That's 24 hours. What am I going to do in the next seven days? I'm going to dial in my dot and I'm going to start laying out my modules. Okay, what are you going to do in the next 30 days? I'm going to record it, I'm going to film it. The next 60 days. I'm going to be up on mastermind.com the next 90 days. I'm going to start building my Facebook group. I don't know what it is, but take the uncomfortable action to commit yourself to these. Put a deadline and let's do the work and make this happen. You need to take uncomfortable action. You need to know that there's nobody coming to save us. No one coming to save you. No one coming to do it for you. Doesn't matter if you're liberal, conservative, Republican, Democrat in the middle, the right, the left, super religious, super Christian, super spiritual. Don't believe it all. It doesn't matter where you are in all the spectrums. There is nobody coming into our home and saying, I know it's been a little shaky, but I got this. Don't worry about it. It's on us. And how liberating is it when we know it's on us? Even if you have disabilities, even if you're looked at like anything that you have that you feel is a negative, it doesn't matter. Anything you feel is a positive, it doesn't matter. We are still the ones that make the decisions and we're the ones that move the needle because no one's doing it for us. We want to change the world. We decide we're going to change it. We want to change the economy in our home. We have to decide. We want to change the amount of time we spend with family or live into our true purpose or be the woman or God or man God designed us to be. No one else is doing it for us. But what we can do is what you're doing. Gain capabilities from people who have already been there. Be a part of a group bigger than yourself. You have all the ingredients, so what's left? You? You have to decide that. I'm going all in. And what I would say is when you do your 24, 7, 30, 60 and 90 day breakdown, what you should do is add two things I would love for you to add. So let's Just say you did 24, 7, 30, 90, and you make a list of these things. Underneath. I would say, how will it feel when you accomplish it? How will it feel when you accomplish what you put your mind to? On a scale of 1 to 10, how does it feel when you accomplish something you put your mind to? It's a 10. Right? Okay, but then I want you to do one more thing. After you say, how will I feel? I'll feel confident. I'll feel courageous. I'll feel fulfilled. I'll feel I can do anything. Right. You write down how you feel. But underneath that, I want you to write down how it'll feel if you don't. Because you don't want to go another month, another two months just talking about it. I mean, I love spending time with you, but you got to get sick of just hearing me and not actually put it into play, right? You know, you're cool, Dean, but I really just want to sell some courses, impact some lives, make more money. Come on. I want to take my coaching business to another level. Come on. Let's do it. Okay. So how will you feel once you accomplish it? How will you feel if you don't? Because some of you are. It's way more. Some of you are more excited by where you could go. Some of you are more. You will be disturbed with where you could stay, Right? So whatever one fires you up, why not just do both of them? Hey, it's Dean. I want to jump in here real quick. I'm guessing if you're listening or watching me, you would love that unfair advantage, that competitive edge, to go faster, quicker towards who you're meant to be, that next level of success. And I want to give you a little secret. One thing I've used for over 20 years is journaling. I call it outcome journaling. It's a specific way. It's not a daily planner. It's not a to do list. It's a process to accomplish the things in your life you're meant to do. In fact, I created the Better Life Journal. People go nuts over this because it's not just blank pages. It's a process. It even comes with a video to show you how to outcome journal. And I'd love for you to get a copy and see for yourself how much more productive you can be, how much more you can accomplish. And we created a really special price. Go to deansjournal.com that's deansjournal.com. check out the page. It shares all the details of the Journal, all the bonuses you get, and see for yourself why people are going nuts over the Better Life Journal.
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