Michael Forest thehabit.space Copyright © 2017 Michael Forest ISBN: 9781521412411 http://thehabit.space/ All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. The author of this book is not a medical doctor, a psychologist, or a superhero. He does not dispense medical advice. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature. In the event you use the information in this book for yourself, the author assumes no responsibility for your actions. Introduction. Journal Writing Superpowers Chapter 1. What Makes Journal Writing “Intentional”? Chapter 2. “Bricolage” and the Benefits of Intentional Journal Writing Chapter 3. Writing’s Superpowers Chapter 4. Your Personal Journaling Ritual Chapter 5. Ideas for Your Personal Structure Chapter 6. Your Quick Start Checklist Conclusion. Your Super Power “Fuel Up” Three Easy Rules Exercises FAQ Linking Actions to Goals (and Vice Versa!) Stopping Self-Sabotage “Affirmation Expansions” The “What Are My Roles?” Exercise The “Power Triggers” Exercise The “Ten Ideas” Exercise The “Procrastination Buster” Exercise The “On Your Deathbed” Exercise The “Best Possible Self” Exercise The “WORST-CASE SCENARIO OMG” Exercise Prime Your Learning DIY Exercises 5-Day Success Starter Sprint 3-Day Tangible Vision Sprint 3-Day Productivity Obstacle Overhaul The DIY Sprint Framework Pre-made Template Journals Further Reading Bonus Free Downloadable Resources Journal Writing Superpowers What if a daily 10-minute journal writing routine gave you superpowers? I can’t promise you the ability shoot lasers from your eyes, but I can promise you that by using some of the frameworks and methods I’ll describe in this book, your journal writing can have a positive effect on your brain, and this will make you more productive, more focused on your goals, less distracted, and less anxious; it can even make you more energized, and better able to deal with life’s challenges and unexpected hiccups. In short, it’s like having the amazing power of “hyper focus,” or the amazing ability to “gain instant clarity.” It’s just that, well, no, you won’t be able to shoot eye lasers or something. I’m being tongue and cheek, but I’m also very serious about this because I believe strongly in it. What I call “intentional” journal writing can help you craft the kind of life you’ve always wanted. The superpower “secret” to journal writing is this: As many journal writing books will tell you, your journal is your own and it can be whatever you want it to be. However, while that often translates to “just write what you want,” if you think about it, this advice also implicitly means that you are also still allowed to embrace frameworks and structures if you think they will help. In fact, you can embrace them exactly as much or as little as you want, and you can use them in whatever manner you want. I repeat: you are allowed to dig into your journal with specific outcomes in mind. You sure don’t have to, but you are allowed to. Your journal writing does not have to be an end in itself, and you are allowed to use your journal as a tool. You can use journal writing to help you finish an important creative project (such as your novel or manuscript), even to help you lose weight or gain muscle. (such as your novel or manuscript), even to help you lose weight or gain muscle. It can help you figure out what your goals are in the first place, and what you want to do in life. Once you do figure them out, they might change, but you can use journal writing to stay the course. You can use it to gain clarity, identify your specific challenges (mental or environmental), address them, and then move forward, all the while playing to your unique strengths. It can help you stay focused on the resources at your command, instead of worrying about the “what ifs” that can otherwise hold you back. “Intentional” Journal Writing The framework I’m going to describe in this book is what I call “intentional” journal writing. Intentional journal writing just describes a method of journaling that involves a specific purpose or general outcome. You do this kind of journal writing with an end in mind. This journal writing is intentional on two levels: you journal with intention, and often that intention involves programming yourself to be more intentional throughout the rest of your day. You will always be the one to decide what that specific purpose is, although I will provide many ideas here to help get you started. I will also give recommendations for deciding how you want to begin. (I want to make getting started as easy as possible for you.) Just so you don’t get the wrong idea: intentional journaling is not intensely rigid or strict. If you already have a journal writing routine, you can absolutely keep it. You can just add in some of the ideas in this book to give yourself an added advantage. Intentional journaling balances free writing and more traditional journal writing with elements that are more focused, if for no other reason than it is very helpful in making you feel like you are actually, finally directly addressing those elements of your life you want to address. I discovered this method of journaling completely by accident. When I started doing it, I didn’t even realize I was doing what you would call journal writing. I mean, sure, I was writing in a journal, but I wasn’t describing the events of my day, or how I felt about those events; I wasn’t keeping a log, a diary, or anything like that. Simply “recording my day” and then talking about how I felt about it was what I’d always tried before with my journal writing. But, like many people, that’s why I had lots of false starts, and any journal I started always ended up collecting dust in the corner. If there are any experienced journal writers reading this—the kind of people who actually want to write in their journal, the kind of people who sing the praises of a short journal writing habit—well, those journal writers are probably shaking their heads right now, reading what I just wrote. “It’s not just a ‘log’ or a ‘diary’!” they say. “There’s so much more to it than that!” Yes, I agree! My point is that too many people never get the chance to discover this. Journal writing is sold to them as though it’s “just” a log, and so they get nothing out of it. Alternatively, they hear the suggestion that there is more to it than that, but they also get advice like, “Listen, don’t worry, it’s all about self-exploration,” or “Just start free writing, and you’ll get it!” or “Structure? No, there are no rules! Have fun!” That can sound “freeing,” but for many people they just feel lost. The idea of journal writing with some outcome in mind is heresy. Ironically, after I discovered the kind of intentional journaling I’m describing, I did start integrating some of that more traditional “recording of daily events” later on. I found it extremely helpful, but only after I’d learned to balance it with other kinds and uses of journal writing. A daily recording of events can absolutely be a part of intentional journaling, depending on your personal preferences. It just doesn’t have to be a part of it — certainly not every day — and you don’t have to fall back on that sort of thing just because you’re staring at the blank page and wondering what the heck to write about. How I Discovered These Methods I had tried journal writing before, but it never seemed to stick. Things only clicked for me when I stumbled upon some of these extra frameworks by accident, and then started working with a few of them, bit by bit and through trial and error, to create something more coherent and workable. trial and error, to create something more coherent and workable. I was reading a book on self-development (I read way too many of these) when I decided I would actually do those pesky exercises those self-help gurus are always yammering on about. If you’re anything like me, you usually never do those exercises, because even on those occasions when you can see some value to them, life just seems to get in the way, but this time, for whatever reason, I realized ten minutes wasn’t so much to ask, so I made some time and gave them a shot. And… I used a journal to do them. I opened it up to the last completed page— dated months ago (*cough cough*)—and on the next, instead of a journal entry similar to what I’d been doing, I just threw in some of the exercises I was supposed to do. This means the so-called “journal writing” I started doing this time was actually very, very directed. There were specific prompts, and they all centered around a single topic; in fact, each one built on the previous one. On one day I answered a few questions here; on the next day, I answered a few questions there. I had specific outcomes in mind, related to my own productivity and focus. (For the curious: I was trying to clarify my very, very long-term goals, and then at the same time I was trying to identify areas of nagging doubts and potential self-sabotage.) To make a long story short: I found it crazy helpful. Naturally, I wanted to do more, but you can’t just do exercises like these over and over again and expect to get the same value from them. Also, I had this idea that the value wasn’t just in the specific exercises I did; a good chunk of the value came simply from writing in my journal in this intentional, directed way. It did things to my thinking and my focus that I really liked. I started digging into older books just sitting there on my shelf collecting dust. These were ones I’d read before, so I knew they had similar exercises I’d just never completed or even tried. I finally gave them a shot. I also started to find it more helpful to use audiobooks, so that I could literally follow along, listening to the exercises as I wrote. I found tons and tons of value in this kind of thing, but then I ran into a problem: the audiobook I was listening to would end, and I would run out of exercises. I could redo the exercises, sure, or listen to the audiobook over again (and I did do that, occasionally), but that can get old pretty fast. I looked for more audiobooks and more programs that would provide a similar experience, but that was a little frustrating, for three reasons. First, you usually have to listen to almost the whole darn book before you get to any exercises. If it’s a book you’ve already read and you want to skip the re- read, it’s also hard to find the bit of the audiobook with the exercises. (Sometimes there’s a PDF or something you can download, but not always.) I wished I could just skip this difficulty. Second, as you might expect, the exercises in many books aren’t narrated in such a way that it is easy to write as you listen to them. You have to stop the book, then write for a period of time, then start the book up again, then stop it, then write, then start the book again, and so on and so forth. This isn’t the worst thing in the world, but it was frustrating. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I found the exercises from existing books were only a starting point. I had done them over and over, several times, and I was ready for more, except there were no more, not for what I needed. Sure, there were different books, with completely different sets of exercises in them, but that’s not what I needed. I wanted and needed depth, not breadth. I wanted to keep building, and building, and building. I didn’t want to start from scratch on some other topic. I found I would get started on a set of exercises, and I would want to continue on a specific path I was on, but then—whoops, the end. I didn’t need a completely different set of exercises; I needed to keep going on what I was already working on. (Hint: This is one reason why I have “mini sprints,” and why you are free to keep using specific prompts, or even “categories” of prompts, every day.) The next major step forward came when I tried those increasingly popular journals with pre-written templates or prompts for each day, with pre-set questions and sections that you fill out. These were quite good, and there is a lot of value in journals like these. Here are some examples of what I mean: The Five-Minute Journal and The Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change The Freedom Journal and The Mastery Journal by John Lee Dumas