Tips for Daily Observation 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

Journaling nightly for ~10 minute has made me a better man. Feel free to steal my journal framework: ✔ 1 page free form brain dump of the day that just happened (What wins did I have? What would I do differently if I could live the day over again?) ✔ A quick look to the day ahead (this is a great place to prepare myself for the challenges to come.) ✔ List 3 reasons for gratitude (over time, this changes the brain to become more positive!) There is no better way to consistently set the direction for your life than daily reflection and planning (plus it's fun the laugh at the entries from a decade ago!)

Feeling stuck? Give these three actions a try for a week (all backed by science): 1. Daily walks outside (30 mins) Being in nature lowers stress hormones and improves blood pressure and heart rates. Best practice is to do these walks without your cell phone.  __ 2. Morning and evening journaling (10 minutes per session) Morning Protocol: 1-2-3 1 - What is the one thing that will make your day a success? 2 - What are two things you are looking forward to about your day? 3 - What are three things you are grateful for? Evening Protocol: 3-2-1 3 - What are three emotions or experiences you had today?  2 - What are two things you learned today? 1 - What is one area of growth for you to focus on tomorrow? Journaling forces us into metacognition (thinking about thinking). The more we do it the better we get at identifying emotions and patterns in our lives.   __ 3. Reach out and connect to someone you trust and enjoy. Text is good. Phone is better. In person is best. Quality relationships are a key driver in our happiness. Don’t go it alone. __ Simple concepts can sometimes be difficult in execution. Just keep chopping wood. Show up everyday and you’ll be surprised at where you are in a week. ⬳   Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this, please repost ♻️ and follow me for more ideas like this in the future.