JOURNALLING FOR GREATNESS…

I’ve been journalling on and off my whole life, but over the last few months I’ve started to incorporate it into my morning routine, and it’s effect has been truly incredible.

There’s a lot of talk of ‘journalling’, and I think sometimes it can seem like some magical art that only the chosen few are able to achieve – like neatly folding a fitted sheet.

But this simply isn’t the case.

There are no hard and fast rules for journalling – as long as you are writing down stuff that’s important to you on a regular basis you’re doing it right!

Journalling is all about giving yourself some space – space to reflect on yourself, your life, and your dreams. Space to think about what it is you really want, how you feel, the things and people you love.

For us stationary addicts, journalling also gives us another great opportunity to purchase a beautiful notebook! Sorry guys…I just can’t help myself!

Ofcourse it’s not actually about the notebook – any book will do, just grab some paper and a pen or your ipad or whatever, and get writing.

I’ve developed a little system for journalling so that I always write under 5 headings. For me, it’s helped really keep me focussed and start each day with an open heart and a healthy mind. that helps me live with focus and clarity.

This type of system won’t work for everyone, for many the total freedom of writing whatever comes to mind is part of the benefit to journalling, but this is what I’ve realised works for me.

Quite a few people have been asking me what I journal about, so I thought I’d share it with you here…

GRATITUDE

This is the first thing I write and it’s how I start each day. I find that first thing in the morning, blurry with sleep, my mind is free and clear to be grateful for really big stuff and really small stuff.

I just write whatever comes to mind, usually listing a few things under this heading. Stuff I’ve written lately:

• sausage sandwiches
• curiosity
• furbabies
• health

An attitude of gratitude will keep you heart open and joyful, and keep you very aware of the incredible blessings in your life.

Our natural instinct can be to focus on the negative – so journalling what you are grateful for trains your brain to flip the script and focus on the good stuff.

If there is just one thing you journal every day, gratitude is top of the list.

Life is so very precious, and so very fleeting, and I want to spend it wisely. I want to spend it being happy, feeling content, feeling real joy.

I know that when my time comes, I’ll look back with a smile on my happy life, knowing that I sought and gave joy where I could and lived my life to the absolute full.

GOALS

This is super important for me.

I’m a creative-type and my brain is like a butterfly – constantly flitting between brightly coloured flowers, no sooner do I alight on one than another catches my eye and I’m off.

This is why the structure journalling works best for me too!

Writing my goals down every day, even if they are on repeat, keeps me mega focussed.

I write down mini-goals – the stuff I want to accomplish that day, and mega-goals – the life stuff.

Goals I’ve written lately:

• tidy wardrobe
• motivate and inspire everyone I meet
• cut back the hedge
• give without expectation

AFFIRMATIONS

I have two monthly affirmations that I repeat every day, several times a day. In fact for me my monthly affirmations have stayed pretty static for the past few months and I repeat them to myself often. They are:

• I am attracting ideal clients and have a waiting list
• I am giving and sharing value with every connection

The key is to make them as specific as you can, and when I repeat them to myself I focus on how living that affirmation makes me feel. It’s feeling it that makes it real.

I also have mini-affirmations that I write down on a morning to pep-myself up and these totally depend on how I’m feeling that day. Recent mini-affs are:

• money is flowing to me
• I am abundant in everything
• I am Brene Brown (public speaking gig last week!)
• I am happy, calm and confident

THOUGHTS

This is my free thinking, brain dumping space. An opportunity each morning to capture my dream-brain thoughts without the constraints of reality.

I just write whatever comes to mind, with no objective other than to get it out of my head and onto paper. I also find that doing this kinda cleans my brain up a bit, helping me bring more focus and clarity to my day.

TRACKING

This may sound a little strange, but I track my behaviour.

I read The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy last year and he said that tracking behaviour can help you focus on areas of life you’d like to improve and also eliminate bad habits.

Tracking the small behaviours each day brings acute awareness to them, and demonstrates that it’s the small decisions we make every day that compound into long-term success or failure.

I’ve tracked loads of behaviour over the last year or so, I’ve tracked things like:

• how much money comes in
• how much alcohol I drink
• how much exercise I get
• how much time I spend on social media

I’m tracking things to get a proper handle on how much I’m doing of a certain behaviour and then thinking about the results – how that behaviour makes me feel.

It also makes me think about the compound effect, and about the little things I could change each day to bring me closer to my goals.

So that’s it, that’s how and what I journal. I’m not rigid about it – I try to do it every day but some mornings I just don’t – and that’s cool.

My journal isn’t another tool I use to beat myself up over not doing something – it’s my love letter to myself, a beautiful gift I give to myself often, my place of sanctuary and calm in what often feels like a stormy and uncertain world.

I hope you’ve found this little peek into my journalling interesting and that you make some space for yourself each day – because you deserve greatness too! xxxx

If you enjoyed reading this blog you may also like to read Crisis of Confidence.