16. Leadership: Effective Journaling Tips

Hey, my friend. Welcome back to Leadership in a Nutshell, where we're cracking the code of the driven mind. I'm your host, Kenny Chapman. Today I want to talk to you about journaling, effective journaling tips. Journaling. Oh, my gosh, would I not want to talk to you about this? As little as a year ago, I have started and stopped more journals than I can even put my, my head around. You might be a little bit like me. You know, we're cracking the code of the driven mind here in this podcast together. And this is a code that was very challenging for me to crack, very difficult for me to find my rhythm, find my groove, find a routine that truly worked. Here's the thing, everybody just take a deep breath right now and let it out and relax. It's okay. It doesn't matter what's happened in the past. I. I am living proof that you can find a journaling strategy that will work for you. But here's the challenge. They are not one size fits all. What works for some people will not work for other people. We live in this technology world now where, you know, there's an app for that, there's a software program for that. There's probably some sort of technology out now that. What's it going to do? It's probably going to read my mind and transcribe it automatically for me, what I'm thinking. And in order to journal, let's take a step back and let's remember why I want to journal in the first place. So today I'm going to share four things with you around tips to help you create your own journal strategy, to really have a methodology that serves you. And obviously hit me up@kennychapman.com Join us in the great conversation to have in our leadership community, kennychapman.com group and get involved in that group where we want to talk about things just like this. Because I know I'm not alone when I say journaling can be very challenging. However, I will tell you it is one of the most simple things that has completely changed my mindset, my perspective, my awareness, how I process, challenge, how I embrace opportunity to become the leader that I become today. I can't imagine being who I am now when I without getting up and going to this tool, using the tips that I've now learned and the tactics and the strategies that help me. Why? Because this right here, my friend, this mind that you have is incredible. And the subconscious is unbelievably powerful and it is doing the very best job that it knows how to do and when it's doing a very effective job. If it is not being consistently retrained and and reprogrammed, it will make you and I crazy because we have a driven mind. I know I'm not alone. I can't shut it off. I can't sleep good at night. I have a hard time. Oh, I've got this going on. I've got that going. Your mind is running. And part of my whole goal and the reason and the purpose of our podcast here together and sharing this time together is to simply slow things down. And we can do that through protecting our mind, which is another episode that we've got here. We but today it's really about how do I get better at journaling. So I'm going to share at the end of this what I personally kind of my walk and my path to get here. But let's just break down four things. First and foremost, number one is medium. There are all different types of mediums that you can use. I already mentioned there's probably an app that you could find that might work for you. You can do things in Google Docs or Word. You can type, you can dictate. I've got some friends and clients that like to voice, journal and write. I personally, I think it's important to use your hands and to slow your mind down rather than just talking. However, anything to get you started. This is your journal practice. Kind of like yoga. They call it practice for a reason. You're never going to master journaling. You might get a routine, you might be very effective, but it's going to be a work in progress for you. So that's where I want to set you free today. So what's going to be the medium that you want? Is it going to be a notebook? Is it going to be an app? Is it going to be some sort of a program? If it is a notebook, is it going to be a small notebook? Is it going to be a bigger notebook? Is it full 8.5 x 11 how much will you write every day in this said workbook? Will it have lined paper? Will it have blank paper? Will it have the ability for me to cut out stickers? And you know, some super creative people like to have stickers and pictures and all kinds of different things. Whatever it is, you know, whether it's your Some people do that with their calendar, some people do it with their journal. Again, doesn't matter. But you need to pick a medium that you're comfortable with. For me, I write in a blank Notebook as super basic as you can get. But I write in the same notebook every single day. So more on that in a moment. Second thing, time. You have got to commit the time this journaling is not about. Well, it's Wednesday and I've got early meetings on Wednesday, so I don't generally journal on Wednesday. Again, it's your practice. Do what you want. But I am telling you, you will mainly get the benefits if you commit to it every single day. And I'm talking about 10 minutes or less. I'm not talking about sitting down writing a book. Yes, I'm an author. Yes, I write. Yes, I write blogs, I write posts, I write emails, I write books, I write program content. I write all kinds of different things that take longer periods of time. I'm talking about downloading my brain onto paper to get it out of my subconscious and onto paper. Why? Because it's powerful. As soon as it's out of my subconscious now, it's become real. We have a thing in business we call, if it's not written, it's not real. The same is true when it comes to you and your own subconscious. As soon as I write down how I felt yesterday, where I was served really well, where I could have done much better, it's now real. I felt that and I wrote it down. Now I stop my subconscious from playing a game over and over and trying to justify and trying to reframe and trying to retweak different types of things. Okay? So commit that time. Third thing, what is the methodology that you will use? I've got my medium picked out. Personally. I use a simple journal. I've got my time picked out. I block time first thing in the morning after I meditate, I wake up in the morning, I do a little bit of meditation, I work out, then I journal. It's always in the first hour and a half of my day that I sit down and I journal. And so for me, I've gone through a different process, some different things. For you, I want you to pick. I'll share what I do in a moment. Well, for you, just, you know, you can freestyle and just write about anything that you want every day. You can do gratitude journaling, and you can write, you know, two things, three things, five things, 10 things. You can write everything you can think of that you're grateful for. You can do goal journaling, where you're just writing every day about your goals. And as you kind of think about, as you're getting closer, what that looks like, you can do dream journaling, and really get your head around what your dreams are going to be when it comes to, you know, making these future things manifest and become real in your life. You can do what some people call one line daily, where just every day you just write one line, whatever it is, pick the method that works best for you and commit to it and stick to it. Okay, so we've got medium, we got the time commitment, we got the method. Now probably the most important thing, while I remain committed to the outcome, is allow evolution. You've got to allow this process to grow and change as you grow and change as a person. So my personal coach had me start out doing what he calls four by fours. Four things that I'm proud of, that I'm grateful for. That went really well today or yesterday, I should say, because I journal in the morning. Some people journal in the evening. I should have said that around the time commitment. Morning works for me. Perhaps evening works for you, whatever it is that fits you best. So for me, I'm journaling about the day before because I'm doing it first thing in the morning. So in this case, it was. What are four things that went amazing? Four things that I'm super proud of that I'm super grateful for, that are, you know, really. I showed up amazing in that capacity. I just rocked that. And then what are four things where I went, damn, that sucks, man. I can't believe so and so said that to me. I can't believe this happened. I can't believe somebody wronged me. I can't believe that a client did me that way. I can't believe that somebody turned on their word. I can't believe that I showed up that way. I can't believe I lost my temper. I can't believe I just, you know, whatever it is, where could I have shown up a little bit better? And, you know, that could be an easy place for you to start as well. Of what are four things really? Well, really grateful for. Four things you want to improve on, things that you want to kind of get better on. For me, that has evolved into. Now I write a paragraph, it's just. I couldn't tell you word count. It's a healthy paragraph. If you're watching on YouTube, it's about this long. And if you're not, it's probably eight and a half by 11. It's about 12, 13, you know, about a third of an eight and a half page. I hand write it myself. While I'll say I print it. I don't do cursive Handwriting, right? But whatever that is, that's been kind of what I've found. Some days I'll write a full page, some days I write a half page. But every day I write about a third of a page. And now I just reflect and I go, man, yesterday was really cool when we did this, this or this. Man, I really feel great about how I showed up in this particular scenario. I was really challenged when somebody said this to me. And, man, as I look back on it, I could have handled that a little bit differently. I could have handled that better. You know, I didn't show up as my best self in the communication that I had with whoever it is, whatever it was. Insert relationship, insert situation. There are always things. As you evolve as a human being, as you continue to morph into your greatest self, you are here for a reason. As you continue to understand that, commit to that, apply more and more, you will grow and change. And part of growth is challenge. Part of growth is resistance. Part of growth is being aware of where you're not just growing, where you need to continue to grow, and capturing it, getting it out of your subconscious onto paper, into the world, into the universe. Now we have something that is incredibly powerful, my friend. You can do this. Let me repeat. Yes, you can become very effective at journaling, just like I did. Somehow, some way, I don't know how. Let me know if I'm hitting the nail on the head. It takes two seconds to click a rating. Give us a five star rating if you can. Would love to have a review if you're into doing reviews. That really helps us grow our community here. As far as community goes, please join us at kennychapman.com group. Kennychapman.com group would love to have you join us in our leadership, community. And my friend, take a step back. Go, man. Maybe I've journaled in the past, but I'm going to commit and utilize effective journaling tips. This is leadership in a nutshell. I am your host, Kenny Chapman. Until we talk, make it a better than fantastic.