MBA1463 Must Read: The Five Minute Journal by Alex Ikonn

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Hey oh. Welcome to the Hundred Doll RMBA Show. Because when you get better, so does your business. That's why we deliver daily 10 minute business lessons for the real world. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher Omar Zenholm. I'm also the co founder of the $100 MBA, a complete business training and community online and today's episode is a must read episode. On our Must Read Episodes, I share with you a book that I've read that has influenced me as an entrepreneur. I share with you its takeaways, its.

Insights and why you should read it too.

Today's must read is the five Minute Journal by Alex Icahn. Now this is not your typical must read book because there is a lot of writing you'll be doing instead of reading, but it is a book that I highly recommend and that's why I wanted to cover it in today's episode. The five Minute Journal is actually an app, but they also make it in a hardcover book which I actually prefer. In today's episode I'll be telling you why the 5 Minute Journal is a must have book. What are the benefits of it? What are you gonna get out of this experience of doing the five Minute Journal and why, if you've never got into journaling, why this one will work Focusing on The right things at the right time will allow you to really perform at the highest levels in your business. And believe it or not, that's what this book is all about. Can't wait to get into it. So let's get into it. Let's get down to business. The 5 Minute Journal is not your typical must read book that you'd hear on our must read episodes because it's an interactive book. It's a book that you actually write in every day. And it's more writing than reading, but nevertheless, it's a book that you should have. You can check it out@5minutejournal.com and I have the hardcover and I absolutely love it. Now why do I love it?

Why?

You're going to get a ton out of this journal. That's what I'm going to cover in today's episode. I want to start by saying that I've never been good at journaling, at writing in a diary, at. At putting down my thoughts. I've tried so many times when I travel, I tried to journal a little bit. I would do it for a day or two and then I would drop off. I tried to do it in my daily life, but I just never kept it going. One of the reasons why is because I didn't have a structure. I didn't know what to do or what to write about or how long to write for. I didn't have a focus. And when you don't have that, you don't have kind of a finish line. You don't know what you need to do every day. I knew from all the things I've heard about journaling that it's really beneficial, that it allows you to focus, allows you to have clearer thoughts, make better decisions, and really be really intentional in your day. Before I get into the benefits, I want to talk to you about what exactly is the five Minute Journal? Well, it's what it sounds like. You're going to spend five minutes a day writing in a journal. And sometimes it's actually less than five minutes and it's broken down in morning and evening. So at the start of your day, you'd spend about three minutes answering some questions. And then at the end of the day or the end of maybe your workday, you can spend two minutes answering some questions. So in total, it's five minutes. It's pretty simple and it focuses on tapping into what you're grateful for every day, also setting intentions for the day. What are you going to do today to make it a great day and also a Short daily affirmation. Some people are not big fans of affirmations where you kind of tell yourself who you are and what you want to do. But the reason why I'm a fan of affirmations is that you already have affirmations in your head. You have some sort of storyline in your head about what you can and cannot do. Things that you've adopted in your brain because of experiences in your life, because of things you've told yourself, because of disappointment, because of failure. And in order for you to break free from those stories that you have in your brain about yourself, you need to kind of create new ones and you need to kind of tell yourself a new story. And that's really what an affirmation is, saying, hey, I can do this. I am capable of X, Y, Z or whatever I want to achieve. In the evening, you're going to focus on three amazing things that happened today, things that you did or accomplished. I like this because it kind of is a review of the day, reminds you of your accomplishments. It gives you confidence. It also holds you accountable. Like, hey, did you actually do the things you set out to do today? And then lastly, you're just going to answer a question, how could I have made today a better day? And again, this helps you improve upon the next day. There's something about the repetition of this question that holds you accountable and makes you think, hmm, am I getting better? And my habits getting better? Sometimes the best way to improve yourself is just asking yourself the right questions. And I feel like this journal really does that. And what I love about it is that it's short and snappy and you're done in five minutes a day. Now, there's a few reasons why I recommend the 5 Minute Journal. And the first reason is that it's a very simple task. It's going to take you five minutes. We all have five minutes. We can wake up five minutes earlier and get this done. But it's a very simple task that can actually make you happier. What is happiness really? It's the feeling of you being happy with yourself, feeling that you are doing the right things in life, that you are actually making for progress. This journal is really well designed to do that. So you actually start to feel happier every day you journal. Second, it really distills what works in a short format. They've studied proven concepts from psychology on what works when it comes to reminding yourself of the right things. So I like the fact that they took the best of the best and just condensed it into five minutes. The third Thing I love about the five Minute Journal is that it was designed for those who don't write journals. So that really resonates with me. I've tried so many times, and this one really works. The fourth thing that I love about this and what I wanted out of journaling that I couldn't get before because it was so daunting and so hard, is that it gives you a snapshot of your past days, weeks, even years. And it allows you to see your personal growth. When you journal, you get to see that you actually are recording your progress. And when you don't journal, you really can't. You're left to your memories. And your memories could be foggy. There's a sense of personal development, nostalgia that you have that, that you just can't get if you don't journal. And number five, it's great because you can commit to five minutes. It allows you to stick to a commitment. Five minutes is not a lot of time. In fact, I say that you can get this done in three minutes. But sometimes you need to spend a little time pondering, thinking, reflecting, to get your answers down on paper. Now, there's some other hidden benefits that I discovered with the 5 Minute Journal is that it's a short one. Pager. I don't have particularly good handwriting. I can force myself to have good handwriting if I slow down. But usually I'm in a rush and I'm writing notes really quickly, but this allows me to slow down. This allows me to really just focus on the answers, the short answers. Write them slowly and give my brain a little bit of a break, right?

To slow down a little bit.

The other thing I love about this book is that it's so well designed, it's clean, it's minimalist. They actually remind you when you have two weeks left in your journal, to order your next journal, which is awesome. And what you could do is you could stack your journals in your bookshelf and you can basically have an archive of your thoughts every year, your progress, the things that you've achieved, the things that you have sought out to achieve. And it's an embodiment of what you can do with little increments of improvement. Just five minutes a day.

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One of my other favorite things about the five Minute Journal is that it starts with a really thought, provocative quote. So you read the quote as you start your day and it allows you to reflect. It allows you to get in the mindset of hey, this is a thinking time. There's quotes from famous people in history to Italian proverbs to modern day comedians, so it really keeps it fresh every day. Also, if you're wondering, the five Minute Journal also gives you detailed instructions on how to stick to this journal, how to use it, the benefits of it, and how to stick to this routine. It also gives you tips like hey, even if you had a long day, stick to your journal. Even if you have a pounding headache, do your nighttime journaling. You have an early morning tomorrow, get up three minutes early and do your morning journaling. The point here is that no matter what, you got to stick to this. Just like you're washing your face or brushing your teeth, you wouldn't miss it, right? And the fact that it's so short, you should have no excuse. There's a quote on one of the pages of this book that I want to share with you that really encapsulates what why the five Minute Journal is so powerful. And this is a quote by Thomas Edison and he says never go to sleep without a request to your subconscious. Meaning, frame your state of mind before you go to bed. Start your day and end your day on your terms. One of the things I learned over the years is that you have to take control of the thoughts that go in your head. Don't let outside forces dictate the ideas that get inside your brain right? Whether it's pressure from outside or a text message you get or something on social media. No, you are the person who's responsible to make sure that you start your day right and you end your day right. And this journal will help you do that. I highly recommend you pick up the five Minute Journal by Alex Icahn. You can get it@5minutejournal.com if you love today's must read. Let me know an iTunes rating and review. I'd love to hear from you. Also, make sure you hit subscribe on whatever you use to listen to podcasts. If you're listening on a podcast app, just hit that subscribe button and you have access to over 1400 episodes in our archives. If you're listening on SoundCloud, move over to a podcast player. Whether it's Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Radio, Overcast, this is going to give you the best experience possible. Also, as a special announcement, if you're looking to grow your business, get more leads, get more sales, I'm doing a special live workshop on how to do that with webinars. Go to webinar ninja.comworkshop to sign up for free for this live training. I will be teaching it personally, so I hope to see you there over@webinarninja.com workshop. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. There's a quote I love by Jim Rohn and it's Stand guard at the gates of your mind. Meaning you have to be super vigilant about what you think about, how you think about it, when you think about it. And that's what I love about the five Minute Journal. It trains this muscle, being conscious of the thoughts you allow in your mind when you start your day, when you end your day. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in tomorrow's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

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