The Daily Journal Habit to Success

It’s no secret that journaling has become popular again. More and more styles and types of journals are popping up onto the market. Despite them being popular again, they are practical and can help you win at work and succeed in life.

Remember the days when girls would have those locked diaries containing their deepest secrets not even Mom should know about? If you’re a girl, you know what I’m talking about and if you’re a guy, like me, you always tried to find a way to read your sister’s notebook.

But why were they so special and popular with our sisters and girlfriends? They simply wanted a place to write down their thoughts, dreams, desires, hopes, and fears. it was a place they could retreat to focus on what’s most important in their life.

Best-selling author, Stephen Covey says this in his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Successful People‘, about journaling, “Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, experiences, insights, and learnings promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context”

Maybe you’re asking, “what can journaling do for me?” I want to give you 7 reasons you should be journaling every day and why it will help you succeed in your family, ministry, and life.

Jot down your daily wins.

This is one of the biggest reasons to journal every single day. To look at your day with a positive eye and see the good that happened or the wins you had, will help you clarify your purpose for tomorrow. When we see that we’ve succeeded today, we’ll want to replicate that feeling tomorrow.

Digging down deep to discover your daily victories help you focus on what’s ahead. Obstacles can’t stop you, problems can’t stop you, only you can say to yourself that you’re losing your daily battles. Billie Jean King said it best, “A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.”

Take a moment each day and write down your wins and see how positive your outlook on life can become.

Output what you did today.

There are several really neat journals out on the market today. One, in particular, is created to helping you write down little snippets of your day, every day, for the next 5 years. At the end of the five years, you get to look through your journal and see what you did each day.

Remember those diaries our sisters had? They usually wrote down what happened during the course of the day. It didn’t matter if it was good or bad, they recorded everything. When we take the time to reflect on our day, it’s amazing what you’ll discover and how you’ll feel when writing down your emotions.

Michael Hyatt wrote in his book, “Living Forward”, “You’ve been given a gift–your life. what will you do with it?”

Understand your goals by connecting with them daily.

A goal without a plan is just wishful thinking. Every year millions of people set out to establish their New Year’s Resolutions. The problem, most people fail within the first two weeks of the year. Why? Because they don’t focus on creating a goal worth setting.

Goals need to be identified, and if we can put a face those goals they can be visualized. The purpose of smarter goals is to make sure that we create specific goals. If we’re not specific, and we don’t take the time to figure out how to be specific, will fail every time.

But when you take the time each day to connect with your yearly goals, by writing your next steps in a journal, you’ll discover you can accomplish more than you initially thought.

Stephen Covey said, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.” If your goals matter to you, write them down and revisit them daily.

Remember what you’re grateful for and write that down.

I firmly believe in living a life of gratitude. The more we focus on what we’re thankful for, the happier and more at peace we will be. Think about the past 24-hours. What stands out to you and what can you honestly say you were grateful that happened?

It’s an exercise I practice daily. I want to make sure I’m connecting with my inner self and pulling from the deep recesses of my life and writing down what I’m truly grateful for. Doing this is hard work, but when you look back at your last year, quarter, or last month, it’s amazing how many things you were grateful that happened in your life.

Never go a day without a plan for tomorrow.

Similar to goal setting, if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow, you’ll flounder and procrastinate. This is why I love using a paper planner and paper journal. They give me the ability to connect with what I have going on and make sure I get the job done.

When I sit down to journal each night, I think through my day, pull out my “Full Focus Planner” by Michael Hyatt, and I look at what I haven’t accomplished today or the past week. I use my journal and jot down the things that need my immediate attention.

What gets planned, gets done. So take a moment and journal about tomorrow.

Affirm who you are daily.

When it comes to journaling, it’s one thing to write down the negative, that’s easy, but to write down something positive about yourself, is much harder. When we connect with ourselves we’re tapping into a hidden treasure trove of wisdom.

We need to withdraw from the cares of the day, the worry, stress, fear, and anxiety because none of those are positive and none of those will help you achieve more in this life. The question we need to ask ourselves is this, “what is my state of mind?” How you are feeling right now is not reminiscent of who you are.

Journaling an affirmation is hard work, but when you do this one task, you’ll discover who you are and you’ll begin to live the life you dream.

Limit your self-limiting beliefs.

Writing in a gratitude journal allows your mind to clear the negative thoughts and begin thinking forward toward a brighter tomorrow. It’s easy to limit what we believe about ourselves. But taking the time to think about what happens next cancels the obstacles in our life.

Michael Hyatt said, “Gratitude is where every positive attitude starts.”

How do I start?

Now that you know what journaling can do for you, it’s time to start. This is why after a year of research, I have found the most proven method of developing an attitude of gratitude. In January I launched my “Thinking Forward Journal” and 90-day journal designed with 9-powerful questions to help you connect with your day, goals, and attitude about life.

The Thinking Forward Journal will give you the tools you need to develop a mindset of gratefulness. Whether you’re journaling for personal reasons or professional reasons, this journal will help you stay focused on what’s important by helping you gain the results you want out of life.

What do you have to lose? If you want to become successful in your daily life, take up my 90-day challenge and see how much better your life is because you’ve journaled your way to thinking forward and daily affirmation.