How to Build Self-Awareness Through Journaling

I've journaled every single morning for the last 16 years. But I don't waste my time with: • Complex rules • A fancy journal • Or spend hours writing I just use a pen, paper, and 30 minutes to help focus my mind and find clarity. These are the 4 dead-simple prompts I use every day: Prompt 1: "What did I do yesterday?" The very first thing I do is reflect on the past 24 hours: • What did I do yesterday? • How did it feel? • What did I learn? I like this prompt because only the most important things come to mind. Pay attention. Prompt 2: "What am I working on?" A big part of journaling for me is repeating things I want to internalize: • Repeating goals • Repeating mindset patterns • Repeating feelings & lessons The more I repeat it in my journal, the more I think about it during the day. Prompt 3: "What's coming up?" Next, I look toward the future. 1. What's around the bend? 2. What can I start proactively processing through now? This helps prepare the mind in advance for feelings, challenges, or obstacles—and helps you not feel so "caught off guard." Prompt 4: "What am I grateful for?" I end every journaling session with a Thank You. I thank the path in front of me. I remind myself I am grateful for every opportunity to learn, whether it's difficult or not. And I welcome the day to come with open arms. I started journaling deliberately like this when I was 19 years old. I'd just gotten back from a rehab trip, and felt extremely lost & confused. I didn't know what I wanted out of life, or whether I would amount to much. So I wrote to myself about it. This has become my favorite part about journaling over long periods of time: You can literally see the progress in front of you. Things I journaled about when I was 19, I don't journal about anymore. I've grown out of them. Keeping a journal documents your growth as a human—I will keep this habit until the day I die. I attribute a significant portion of my success over the past 10 years to my daily journaling practice. There is no better way to: • Hear yourself • Become conscious of your thoughts • And take actionable steps forward — 📌 I used these prompts to start writing online, quit my ad agency job, and become a ghostwriter. Ghostwriting is how I wrote for 300+ industry leaders and made $180k/month in less than 2 years. Want to get paid to write & work with industry leaders? Get started with this free, 5-day email course: https://lnkd.in/eAz-TRE7

𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬: 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 - 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟐 To reach your desired destiny, you need to be self-aware. As you swim in turbulent currents of shifting markets, demanding customers, limited budgets, and challenging stakeholders, the one constant is you. This is the second part of a two-part series (find part 1 in the comments). “𝙐𝙣𝙩𝙞𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙢𝙖𝙠𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙪𝙣𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙨𝙘𝙞𝙤𝙪𝙨, 𝙞𝙩 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙩𝙧𝙤𝙡 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙞𝙛𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙘𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙞𝙩 𝙛𝙖𝙩𝙚.” – Carl Hume Let's explore some ways to become more self-aware. 𝘞𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨. By creating some separation, you may be more candid. Some people like to jot notes right after waking up, further removing mental filters. To understand and resolve issues, stick to the facts and focus on the impact of your actions, without making judgments.   Journaling every day can be tough, so consider a weekly reflection. 𝗣𝗿𝗼 𝗧𝗶𝗽: Keep a journal of accomplishments, too. It's a great resource during tough days and trains the mental muscle of recognizing others’ strengths. 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺. Record your essential plans and specific milestones, evaluate your priorities, and track your progress. The goal here is improvement. As you predict outcomes, create a baseline, and then compare results, you learn what best impacts future outcomes. You may hold yourself accountable or find someone who will regularly push you and check with them. 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. Seek to learn more about yourself through others. Ask open-ended questions e.g. “What’s one way I could improve next time?” Be clear that you want to improve. Share examples of how you and others have benefited from feedback. Vulnerability can be stressful, but ultimately, it shows strength. I worked at a SaaS company for 3 years. The most nervous I ever felt was the moment before clicking "send" on my first anonymous survey about myself. However, I received really helpful feedback about what more I could be doing in the role for others and the company. 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴: • Empathy. Everyone faces challenges. Strive to understand how others built their careers, handle their lives now, and why they make certain decisions. • Perspective. Gain a new perspective by exploring new places, trying different activities, and learning new skills. • Mindfulness. Many people rely on mindfulness to help them prioritize, focus, and fully engage with others in the moment. • Reflection. To prevent recurring issues, set aside time for reflection, focus objectively on the causes and effects, and seek feedback. 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗷𝗼𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺, compare your current situation to past experiences to remember how you persevered during those times. Self-awareness facilitates personal development, prevents stress, and enables you to deepen relationships, clarify options, and maintain resilience. #leaders #founder #adapt #startups

The power of self-reflection is a transformative force that allows us to delve deep into our thoughts, feelings, and experiences, fostering personal growth and development. Furthermore, self-reflection fosters empathy and understanding towards other’s perspectives and experiences.   Some tips that have helped me on this journey:   Set Aside Time: Carving out dedicated time for self-reflection – Whether it's a few minutes each day or a longer period once a week, I try and commit to this practice regularly.   Create a Quiet Space: For me it’s in my backyard, but this could be a peaceful corner of your home, a park, or anywhere else that allows you to focus without interruption.   Ask Yourself Questions: I believe in using open-ended questions to guide my reflection process. Questions such as "What are my strengths and opportunity areas?" "What did I learn from recent experiences?" "What are my long-term goals?" These questions can help stimulate deeper introspection; I also make sure I revisit them on a regular basis.   Writing down thoughts and feelings: This can be a powerful tool for self-reflection which I personally found most difficult to follow, but I keep trying to get better at it, most recently I have started writing for 15 – 30 mins daily using journal on my phone/iPad. Initially I feel my writings didn’t make much sense, but I am getting better at it 😊   Practice Mindfulness: Deep breathing with my eyes closed help me focus on the present moment and observe my thoughts and emotions without judgment. Mindfulness can help develop a deeper understanding of ourselves and our experiences.   Seek Feedback: I strongly believe “Feedback is a Gift”, that being said I filter some of it to keep focus on what aligns to my purpose and goal (not forgetting the other feedback but just stacking them in order of what aligns more with my person purpose and goal). Being open to constructive criticism and using it as an opportunity for growth has helped me immensely and continues to do so.   Set Clear Goals: Using self-reflection to set meaningful goals for myself, considering what I want to achieve in various aspects of life and outline actionable steps to work towards those goals. This helps me break my larger goals into actionable items.     Celebrate Progress: Most of us enjoy being recognized and rewarded. Coming up with self-incentive plans and pausing to celebrate achievements keeps me moving ahead. My family constantly help me come up with creative ways to celebrate success and enjoy every small achievement with me, also keeping me honest on what I can do better to continue growing and evolving.   Remember, self-reflection is a journey, and it takes time and dedication to develop self-awareness and insight. Be patient with yourself and approach the process with kindness and compassion.

Having trouble with being consistent in your daily journaling? Ever since I was in the 9th grade, journaling has been an integral part of my daily routine. What's the secret to my consistency? Over the past two decades, I've extensively explored productivity... My mentor ingrained one truth in me: "The best system is the one you'll actually use." So here’s the breakdown: Daily Task Prioritization... Instead of a broad spectrum of tasks, list down the three to five most crucial tasks each morning. The aim? To have them completed by 11 AM. Ticking off these major tasks instills a sense of accomplishment, making the rest of the day’s undertakings feel like added achievements. Reflective Questioning... Every evening, ask yourself and write the answer to the question, "What could I have done better today?" Such self-awareness nudges will drive self-improvement, even if it’s incrementally. Mental Clarity... Either first thing in the morning or before you go to bed, simply write down your thoughts... What went right during the day (or day before), what did you learn, or what is something you accomplished... Simple thoughts on paper will help you be consistent. In essence, if you accomplish these three things in your daily journaling, it will become an necessity, guiding your daily life with clarity, gratitude, and purpose each day. I created my own journal with my exact styling for those looking to be more consistent or wanting to jump into journaling for my guys and am now offering it for everyone due to request... https://lnkd.in/gGrF8vrS Embrace the secret sauce that’s kept me dedicated to journaling since the 9th grade, and embark on a journey of daily gratitude and intention.