Why is it so important to keep a journal?

Here are just a few of the benefits
a personal journal will provide you:

* A journal will remind you of your goals and the actions you are
taking towards them every day. Your are writing down your goals
for 2008, right?

* It allows you to factually track your progress as you head closer
towards your goals. Here is an example. Suppose you had
set a new goal to lose 20 lbs in the next 3 months. Record your
weight in your journal each day, you will now be able to see
trends in your weight loss that you would not have seen
without the journal.

* It provides detailed information such as dietary changes,
calorie reductions, fat reduction, and so on.

 

* It helps build your self-esteem because you are reaffirming the
positive benefits you are achieving as you get closer to your
goals.

* It helps to paint the picture every day of who you are becoming.

* When you see positive results as they happen, you will become
energized with optimism.

Here are a couple of simple journal tips:

Keep a simple, short log , it’s easy, and it usually only takes
1 minute of your time. Each day, make short entries into your
journal, list such things as your attitude, emotions, diet, weight,
responses to situations and conditions in your life.

For example, if having a healthy heart is one of your goals, you
will want to keep track of your cholesterol levels, your blood
pressure, your weight. (Obviously, all of this data would not be
recorded daily, but some entry would be recorded each day)

Try this simple little exercise.

Get out a note pad or a sheet of paper and a pencil. Look at your
watch. When the second hand hits 12, start timing yourself as you
write down the following information:

11/8/02 Fri.-Felt great all day. Started new walking habit.
Weight 135 pounds. Walked briskly for 20 minutes. Had healthy
almonds and nuts for snacks.

More then likely, you completed writing down the information in
approximately 1 minute. Yet, in that 1 minute, you created an
important snapshot of important data in your life. You now have
historical data you can refer to as time goes by, to help you track
your progress as you move towards your life goals.

You can look back and see how you reacted to issues in your life and what helped
to overcome an illness, injury or stressful period in your life.

It generally takes less then two minutes to record the log for
any day. If you have a computer, I recommend typing
just three to four lines of descriptive text into a word processing
program each day.

You already have everything you need to create a wonderful life for yourself. You know everything you need to know to be your own best friend, a gentle guide, a teacher and a helper to yourself so you can be truly happy and fulfilled.

You can learn how to become your own psychotherapist for life, and how to resolve the difficulties that stand between you and personal joy.

Be Honest With Yourself:

The starting point of becoming your own best friend is for you to be perfectly honest with yourself and your relationships. Refuse to practice self-delusion or hope for the best. For example, when something is making you unhappy, for any reason, the situation will tend to get worse rather than better. So avoid the temptation to engage in denial, to pretend that nothing is wrong, to wish and hope and pray that, whatever it is, it will go away and you won’t have to do anything. The fact is that it probably will get worse before it gets better and that ultimately you will need to face the situation and do something about it.

Deal With Your Problem at a Higher Level:

There’s an old saying that you can’t solve a problem on the level that you meet it. This means that wrestling with a persistent problem is often fruitless and frustrating. For example, if two people who are in a relationship together are constantly fighting and negotiating and looking for some way to resolve their difficulties, they may be attempting to solve the problem on the wrong level. Dealing with the problem on a higher level, those people would ask the question, “In terms of being happy, is this the right relationship for us in the first place?”

Find the Right Job For You:

Many people work very hard and experience considerable frustration trying to do a particular job. However, in terms of their own happiness, the right answer might be to do something else, or to do what they’re doing in a different place, or to do it with different people-or all three. Here are a few questions for you to answer in this arena of happiness. Write them down at the top of a sheet of paper, and then write as many answers to each one as you possibly can.

What Would It Take?

The first question is: “What would it take for me to be perfectly happy?” Write down every single thing that you can imagine would be in your life if you were perfectly happy at this very moment. Write down things such as health, happiness, prosperity, loving relationships, inner peace, travel, car, clothes, homes, money, and so on. Let your mind run freely. Imagine that you have no limitations at all.

What is Holding You Back?

The second question is a little tougher. Write down at the top of a page this question: “In what situations in my life, and with whom, am I not perfectly happy?” Force yourself to think about every part of your day, from morning to night, and write down every element that makes you unhappy or dissatisfied in any way. Remember, proper diagnosis is half the cure. Identifying the unsatisfactory situations is the first step to resolving them.

Determine Your Happiest Moment:

The third question will give you some important guidelines. Write down at the top of a sheet of paper these words: “In looking over my life, where and when have I been the happiest? Where was I, with whom was I, and what was I doing?”

Decide What to Do:

Once you have the answers to those questions, think about what you can do, starting immediately, to begin creating the kind of life that you dream of. It may take you a week, a month, or a year, but that doesn’t matter. Every single thing you do that moves you closer to your ideal vision will be rewarding in itself. You’ll become a more positive and optimistic person. You’ll feel more confident and more in charge of your life, and you’ll achieve true peace of mind.

Action Exercises:

Here are three steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, examine your business and personal relationships carefully. Is there any situation you wouldn’t get into again if you had it to do over?

Second, make a list of every single thing in your life that would make you happy and then think about what you could do to begin achieving them.

Third, allow yourself to dream and fantasize about your ideal life, what it would look like and feel like, and then do something every day to make it a reality.

Splashing, crashing, into a fluid-filled sink, Like a miniature

tsunami.

The whistling of a kettle on a heated element, Screaming from a

vapour-filled chamber, Erupting like a violent volcano.

The odour of freshly burnt toast in a toaster, Smoldering away on

a counter top, Invading every corner of the room, Like an

infectious disease.

Simplicity is a forgotten treasure, Often taken for granted and

ignored. Caught in the whirlwind of life’s demands, Our true

senses are lost.

Some people are interested in reaching their dreams and others are committed to reaching their dreams. The key to success in life is going from being interested to being committed. Once you are committed you will produce results. At the point of commitment, you mentally “burn all the bridges” and you do whatever it takes to make it happen.
THAT’S when you become unstoppable!

On the road to the Olympics, many athletes much faster than me quit along the way. There are only two reasons they quit; they either didn’t want it bad enough or they were not as committed.

Commitment is what makes success possible. If you commit to do whatever it takes (as long as it is moral, legal and ethical) to succeed, success will reveal its secrets to you. There are four different levels of commitment; I’ll try, I’ll do my best, I’ll do whatever it takes, and
it’s a done deal.

“I’ll try” is completely worthless. Whenever someone tells you they are going to try to do something, don’t count on anything ever happening. People say “I’ll try” when they are afraid to say “I won’t.” Tony Robbins says that “I’ll try” is the battle cry of wimps. Whenever you say “I’ll try,” you have just guaranteed failure. Because saying I’ll try” is in effect saying, “If there are ANY obstacles, I’ll have a way out and I’ll be able to quit.”

“I”ll do my best” is not much better than “I’ll try.” People that say “I’ll do my best” are looking for a way out. When they say they’ll do their best, they’re leaving a huge door open for excuses and justifications later. Remember when you asked your buddies to help you move to your first apartment? I know for sure that none of the ones who said “I’ll try to be there” or “I’ll do my best to be there,” showed up.

Winners say, “I’ll do whatever it takes.” If you tell someone you’ll do whatever it takes, you will produce
or else you’ll lose face. Finally, the strongest level of commitment is when you say, “It’s a done deal.” When you say “It’s a done deal,” even losing face is not an option. When I was training for the Olympics I would not dare tell my coach I was going to try to do something.
It was always, “It’s a done deal.”

Whenever we arrive at a new track, we walk the track with the coach. We make a game plan about the best way to drive the track. We visualize and mentally rehearse the ideal run, but sooner or later, we have to commit. Sooner or later, we have to hop on the sled and go down the mountain. We have to take those runs knowing that even with all the preparation, the first few times down that track are going to be pretty brutal. Is it scary? Sure, it’s scary.

But you have to pay the price if you want to enjoy the prize. You have to commit to do things that are beyond your current abilities. That’s the only way to grow. That’s how you get better and stronger. So attack your fears head on. Otherwise, you will be their servant for the
rest of your life.

Take a chance. Act on faith. Put yourself in a position where you have to stretch and fight for something. It brings out the best in you. It is good for your soul.

The Blog is all about his views on things, and realities we often skip through in life. The soul aim of the blog to help as much as we can.