photo by Taylor Loewen
Three Reasons to Journal Daily
written by: Ben Haenning
It’s Saturday morning, I’m up early, and the first thing I do when I sit down with my coffee is pull out my journal. I begin to write. Creating change is difficult, and building a routine to journal daily is tough and takes energy, but it’s worth every minute invested.
Background on my journaling habits
I wasn’t always someone who journaled. I think traditionally, it was because the fact that I never was taught the benefits, and the people around me didn’t do it either. It wasn’t until I started to research successful people and found out that they journal daily. I think I always had a negative viewpoint of journaling – it was corny, it was a waste of time, etc. The reality was that when I dedicated time to learning about journaling and its benefits, it was a no brainer to make a change.
My journaling habits today
When I started to journal a little over a year ago, I noticed a shift in my success. The more research I did, the more I realized “journaling” takes on many different forms. There are many things you can do that are considered journaling:
- Writing your goals down daily
- Planning out your day
- Reflecting on lessons learned
- Reflecting on wins
- Writing about the best things that happened to you that day
- Describing what you’re grateful for
- Or… simply writing
The morning
My process every morning and every night is a combination of some of the above. In the morning I map out my entire day, hour-by-hour. I write my goals day everyday because I believe it’s important that your goals are always at the top of your mind. Then, I write down three things I need to do every day to make the day successful. Lastly, I reflect on what I’m grateful for.
It’s my firm belief that if I start the day off with the above habit, the day will be a success. My day is planned, I started it off on a positive note, and my goals are at the top of my mind. Here is my actual morning routine.
The evening
At night, the journal comes out again. I reflect on the day as a whole. Did I accomplish what I needed to? Did I have any lessons that I learned from the day? I write those down, every day. What were my wins for the day? And, lastly, I again reflect on what I’m grateful for.
I believe that if I finish my day out this way, I go to sleep with a good “close” on the day. I reflect on things that make me happy, and I put time and effort into what made the day good and bad.
Journaling takes time, but it has taken me to a level that I wasn’t at before. It takes dedication, but once you build the habit, it’s easy. It’s important to my planning mechanisms, and there are three specific reasons why I personally do it every day.
Three reasons to journal daily
After studying successful people – people in positions of power, leadership, authority, and success – I noticed that there were three reasons (sure, there are more, but these are the most important to me) on why they journal daily.
1. Goals stay top of mind
This is the most important. Grant Cardone suggests that everyone should write their goals down every morning. He even created a 10X daily planner that gives you the opportunity to do so. Why? If you start your day with writing your goals down, every decision you make will be tied to those goals. Every decision will drive towards the success of those goals.
If you start your day writing your goals down, you can plan your day around tactics and actions to achieve those goals. This was a game changer for me. When I started to understand my goals, get clarity around my goals, and plan my days around my goals, I started to see more success and goal achievement.
2. It starts the day on a positive note and gets your mind right
This is important – you need to start your day out positive. I have found that the more I journal in the morning, the more I accomplish what I need to, and the more I reflect on my life as a whole.
I stated earlier that I write down what I’m grateful for every morning. The folks at Best Self have this down to a science. In their journal, they have built it in to every days schedule. I suggest you check it out.
Reflecting on what makes me grateful, and starting the day off positive helps me get my mind right and straight in the morning.
3. Reflection and accountability
Lastly, and I may argue, most important, reflection and accountability. Let me explain.
Every night, I give myself the opportunity to reflect on the day. What went wrong? What did I learn? More importantly, what went right? Reflection time is critically important. If you don’t spend time on yourself and reflecting on what you did, you never learn from your actions. Dedicate time to reflect.
Secondly, it holds myself accountable. Every morning I write down three things to make the day a win. Did I complete those? And why did I, or why did I not? This certainly ties in to reflecting, but holding myself accountable places importance on my actions and my plans. Not only do I hold myself accountable daily, but I also hold myself accountable weekly and quarterly. These checkpoints allow me to adjust if needed, and continue to progress to my overall goals.
You get out what you put in
Whether you journal now, or if you’re looking to build it into your journaling habits, my advice is to just start. Doing some journal is better than none. And doing more is better than some. I firmly believe that a lot of my success is tied to the fact that I have clear goals, tactics to achieve those goals, and journal every day to create the map for the goals. You will get out of journaling what you put in to it.
Cheers – be great.
Ben Haenning is a coach on goal planning, setting, and achievement. Follow the concept of The Opportunity Cost of Time he ties in how your decision making and goal clarity have an impact on overall goal achievement. Ben offers individual, group, and corporate coaching on goals, planning, living a healthy lifestyle, vision mapping, and more. Find out more at https://benhaenning.com/