You change your life whenever you want (you’re just lazy!)
I want you to keep a daily journal.
It is not just for your feelings.
It is not just for women.
It is not for “manifesting”.
It is for planning: fail to plan, plan to fail.
Here is how you use a journal to unlock your potential:
Every one has dreams. Every one has thoughts. Every one has goals.
No one writes them down.
Talk about the things you cannot talk about.
You keep them locked in your mind and dwell on them quite a lot.
When you dwell on these things, it is easy to get anxious about what the future holds.
When you dwell on these things, it is easy to worry about regrets of the past and whether you are able to move forward.
Thinking without action makes it easy to trap yourself in all the ideas floating in your head.
The act of writing solves the mysteries of your mind.
Take on a journal practice and realize the freedom that it provides.
Journaling forces you to think, so it is commonly thought of as difficult.
Social media is easy to consume, so it is easy to fall into the routine.
Picking up your phone is a relatively new phenomenon. Be wary of that.
We have been writing since time immemorial.
Journal suffers from bad advertising.
It is too wishy washy and commercialized.
The idea is simple, but the execution is made to be complex.
Most people on social media will offer you:
- the glitz and glam
- productivity templates
- flashy guides to "change your life"
The action is to write → not to watch tutorials.
Most people will not end up sticking to it because there is no routine, only a short-term dopamine rush.
Consistency with a journal practice is made to look more difficult than it is. All you need is to lower the barrier of entry.
Engage in the lead action → just write something
No limits. No holds barred.
Write about what bothers you.
The outside world always places expectations on you:
- Society has its status quo to keep people in line.
- Your parents claim to know exactly what is best for you.
- You might soon find yourself doing things you do not want to do.
Try this:
Your journal entry is your opportunity to think and write to your heart's content.
No filter.
What is that thing that you could go absolutely “off” on?
What is your unpopular opinion?
What are the things that you find that you cannot talk about easily with others?
You wake up in the morning and think about it.
You cannot go to sleep without thinking about it.
"F*ck those people..." Excuse my french.
But, we all know those people we wish we could tell off if things were different.
Your journal is the opportunity to have no filter.
Weaponize your anger on the page.
Take out the stress from focusing on other people.
Arm yourself with that energy.
As soon as you externalize that energy, it ceases to have power over you.
Line up a stream of consciousness
Write your life story.
Write your vision.
Write your greatest ideas.
Write the things you would do if you knew you could not fail.
There is power in the pen, just as there is power in the tongue
💎 Proverbs 21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and tongue keeps his soul from troubles
Keep yourself as unbothered from the external environment by strengthening your internal dialogue.
Free your mind for creativity
Writing has helped me a lot this year to take more leaps in my confidence and creativity.
The biggest barrier to creativity is thinking you are not creative.
We think of creativity as being limited to the vital few greats in literature (Shakespeare, Wilde, Dostoyevsky).
We get it trained out of us over the course of schooling in the modern education system.
It is within us, nonetheless, to be creative if we simply engage the empty page!
Embrace boredom
A big sticking point is the high level of cheap dopamine addiction:
- social media
- substance use
- latest gossip in your social circle
- Etc.
Be bored.
Boredom begets reflection.
Reflection begets creativity.
Creativity begets freedom.
Dive into the deepest depths of your brain with some quiet time.
Free your mind. Engage the empty page!
Document Your Life
Life is a mystery. Go figure 🤷🏽
We spend a lot of it listening to other people, in the hopes that they are better able to lead us in our life journey.
We listen to our parents.
We listen to our teachers.
We listen to the celebrities and the famous success stories.
We listen to literally anyone with enough volume.
Most of the time, the people around you have good intentions for you.
It is just limited by their own life experience.
They can never know all that you think about. They can never truly know.
And in the end, none of these people have it figured out either.
They ran their own race and are still solving their own problems.
Do not sacrifice your self-direction out of fear for uncertainty.
You need agency. You need internal control.
You can make your decisions. You can always do better.
How often should I journal?
When you catch yourself doing more thinking than anything else.
Put those thoughts on paper.
Do not let them stay locked up in your head.
You take away the power of anxiety once you take the power of pen to paper.
The thoughts become real.
Now, you can confront those thoughts for what they are.
Free your mind. Live your life. Be great. ✌🏿