Hey, hey, hey, I am so happy to talk to you today, let us talk about journaling. I know it is one of those things that everybody aspires to, and most of us don't do enough of. It is like a theoretical good idea and one that we're like, yeah, it'd be great. I'd love to be somebody who journals. And also at the same time, we don't stick to it. And we don't have time for it. And there's all the reasons why not I have them all to I totally get it. But journaling as a business owner is different than just straight journaling. Like I am not a journal or in terms of like, I don't want to put my deep dark feelings on paper, like, that's not what I do here. Journaling for business is really about, excuse me, finding a process, to think through the things you're doing in your business, having a place to put the things you're thinking that will allow you to keep your mindset simple and clear, and make decisions. That's why we journal journaling is about sort of clearing the clutter. It's like what you know, after dinner, or in the morning, for me, it tends to be in the morning, when you sort of pick up the kitchen, and you put the things away that people have left behind. And you put this over here, and you sort of clear the space. That's what journaling is, for me. It's space clearing in my business so that I can do all the things more efficiently. So today, what I want to talk about is the really simple steps to becoming an effective business journaler. And how you can become more consistent more quickly. Right. So two things about this. The first is this podcast is coming out on April 9, on April 11, I am leading workshop and then little implementation challenge about journaling. So if you're listening to this, and it is soon, please join us, the workshop will be live in my Facebook group on the 11th, which is a Thursday, and then it's gonna get followed by an email challenge, it's going to last about a week about implementing journaling. And it's about doing the journaling but also using it to be really direct and do business things effectively. The other thing is that journaling is really about, you know, being effective as a business owner and consistent. But consistency isn't about perfection. So I would keep in mind that as you do this, being perfect at it is never going to be the goal. Okay. So if you're not in my Facebook group, come join us because we're going to start in a couple of days with this workshop. And then this challenge, if it's something you really want to get better at and use more effectively, doing it with other people is a really good way to get started. And I'll be around in the challenge and in the wraparound workshop and some other pieces that I'm putting into place with it. So it's going to be a workshop on the Thursday, an email challenge. And then on the following Wednesday, we're going to do a q&a and some other things live so that you can like get what you need. If you got stuck, or you ran into something or you're like, Oh, what do I do with this? We're going to do all that together. So to journal effectively, as a business owner, I think takes four steps. They are not actually all even steps. The first step is planning. And it is making some decisions about like what you're actually going to do when you journal as a business owner. My steps are really simple. It's taken me a long time that a long time, but it took me a little bit of fiddling with it to get it right. And I have a couple of rules. I've told you about these rules on the podcast before my I use these notebooks that are like five by eight. My rule is that I never have to write for more than one page. And I never have to write for more than seven minutes if I don't want to. So for me, it's about keeping it small. The other part of what I decided as a business owner is every day that I sit down at my desk to work, which for me right now is Monday through Friday. I write in my journal. Most of the time I do it at the start of the day, but sometimes I don't. And if I don't do it at the start of the day, it's got to happen. It's something it's like brushing my teeth, I've committed to it. And so it gets done. So for you all it gets done mostly and I'm gonna get to that in a second. For you. What are the decisions you want to make? Do you want to give yourself five minutes a day? Do you want to pick a smaller notebook? Do you want to pick a bigger notebook? Do you want to find your favorite pen? Do you want to always write you know make it three days a week or four days a week or or two days a week or only on weekends or whatever, like think first about what you're actually going to be doing here and what it looks like. That's the first step, like, what are you committing to, and then also decide how long you're committing to it. Because, you know, that matters. I am not a believer in committing to anything for less than about 60 days to start with two months is a good start 90 is even better. But you know, it's really hard to have enough data to understand how and why something's not working. Unless you've tried it for more than a couple of days, right? Sometimes we do something three times we're like, it doesn't work. But like we only did it three times, right? If you had to only have three chances to ride a bike, it would be like, okay, nobody rides a bike. Right? Like, very few people and kids get that on the first take, or the 10th take, right? It takes a lot of tries. So I think you know, 60 to 90 tries, is a good place to start or tries over 1690 days, you're going to make some kind of commitment. Then, once you make the commitment, what I want you to remember is your goal is really 65% of it. I know you're like Oh, I'm gonna commit to five days a week, every week, listen, I am committed to five days a week, every week. And inevitably, I maybe hit four, right? But I am aiming for 65. And if I hit four out of five and 80%, and I'm killing it, right, I sometimes I'll even write on a Saturday if I'm feeling crazy. But my job as a journaler is not to ask myself to do it perfectly. That's the antithesis of the purpose of journaling. As a business owner, journaling as a business owner is about getting out of the imperfect into paper, right. So if I'm asking myself to do that imperfect, don't perfectly like it's crazy. That doesn't work. So for you, whatever you're going to commit to decide. And then remember that the win is doing it, you know, slightly more than half the time. That's what you're aiming for. So you do not have to commit to five days, and then actually hit five days, it'd be great if you did high fives like bonus credit. But if you don't you didn't like if you did three days a week instead of five. It's like, Alright, great. You're there. You're 60% This is your you're right where you want to be? That's normal. Right? We don't no one does anything 100% 100% of the time. So asking yourself to do that. And then giving up when you don't? Well, yeah, that's gonna happen. Right? Because perfect isn't what we do. So that's step one, make your commitment. Aim for 65% of it. Step two, step three, and step four are all actually things you're going to write about. So they all are in the writing step, there are just three kinds of things, I think, go into a journal that make it effective. So the first kind of thing is noticing. I often just sit with my pen in my hand, and I think like, what is the thing in my brain right now playing on repeat? This week, it's, I need to do more and faster. Like that is literally the thought I've written in my journal four days in a row. And when I wrote it down, again this morning, I was like, Oh, my God, really? Again? Are we here? That's what I wrote next. I was like, Oh, this one again? Great. But that's the first thing. It's like noticing what you're, like icky about what's bothering you. What are you telling yourself? It's not going to help you? What are the ways you're beating yourself up? Right? Pick one of those. Notice it be like, I don't think I should be making money. I don't think this is gonna work. I don't believe anybody wants what I have. I don't, I don't know. It could be all kinds of things. I get all kinds of things. When I asked that question like, What do I want to notice right now? Notice whatever it is, and then ask yourself if it's true, it might feel true, but that your logical brain kick in and be like, Brian, is this actually real? So, you know, this morning, it was, I need to do more faster. And I was like, okay, is that true? Well, no. course it's not. Because I'm doing plenty. And faster just means it's panicked. Right, like, Okay, are there things I want to be more intentional about? Yeah. But that's not the same as more faster. My brain wants me to spend 12 hours, where,
you know, like, sitting at my desk more isn't actually going to help me. I'm here plenty more time at my desk is just going to be me being mean to myself. That's not going to make my business more effective. So it's like whatever thing you're thinking it's people don't want what I have. Is that actually true? Right. Do you have evidence that says yes, everybody, I've talked to you. So this is a dumb idea? Of course not. You have have evidence that people do want it. You have people are like, Oh, that's a great idea. Oh, you have people that have bought from you, if people that tell you, they follow you of all the things. So use that evidence that you have. That's the first kind of thing. And if whatever you're thinking isn't serving you that thought that you notice, like, do more faster, which is when my brain is offering. Pick something else. That's a part of what I do in my noticing step. So today, I wrote down that I want to, I think it was something like, everything works better when I choose intentionally what I'm going to do next. Right, like, I know that it's not about more, it's about intention. And so it was like, oh, okay, here I am, I feel more centered and grounded, because I remembered that, which leads me to the next step. The next kind of writing you do is about remembering. And so for me, this noticing thing is like a third of my page of my small page, like five sentences, and then I move on to remembering, I want to remember things about myself. One of my favorite things to write is that I am a powerful creator, I write that down every single time, I trust myself, I trust my business, I trust my timing, and always choose the right thing to do next, everybody's got some affirmations, these are my little affirmations. And it really serves me to remember them, like their affirmations, if we know they exist, but if we forget, they exist, they're not affirming anything. So this is where I take a minute, and sometimes I write two. And sometimes I write 12. It's different every day. But I'll write down some affirmations, some like, things I want to remember about myself, I help somebody every day, every time I show up, I make a difference. One of my favorites is that more time, energy and money are always flowing to and through me. Like they're always coming, I'm just here to receive, I am open to receive. So it's about remembering. And that's usually like the middle third of my page, right? They all fit on the same page. And then the last thing I write about the last step is about becoming. So I start with the sentence. Today I am becoming someone who, and then I whatever falls out is what falls out. It happened today to be somebody I was ended up what fell out was that I am someone who learned has is learning to use rest to my advantage. Which sounds crazy, but it's like, resting helps me get more done. Like I am still internally as someone who likes to do doo doo doo doo, trying to wrap my head around the idea that doing less sometimes is doing more. And that is like so foreign in my brain, but I'm really working on it. Because I know it logically to be true that if I can press less, and if I can pressure myself less that everything else is easier. I know it. And also, I don't always know it. So you know, that's the thing. This is where you write down who you're stepping into. It's just like a little third of a page reminder of like, Oh, hey, this is what I'm aiming at. This is who I'm turning into. This is who I'm aiming to become. Ah, and then it feels so different. Right? Those are the four steps. Most of the time I write all I write a little bit about noticing a little bit about remembering and a little bit about becoming. But some days I only do one kind. Sometimes I have lots of thoughts about who I am becoming. Sometimes I really need a lot of remembering, reminding, sometimes I noticed something, I'm like, Oh, I gotta work this through. And I have to write I did that the other day where it was like almost a whole page and noticing and then I just were like, I'm a powerful creator. And I trust myself and I moved on that close the book. Okay? This is really important to do all of these pieces, at least a little bit. Because together, they're magical. Because what happens when you notice is you sort of clear some space in your brain. When you remember, you reconnect to your power and your value. And when you become you look forward and looking forward at who we're becoming helps us stay motivated and connected to our businesses. And it lets us sit down in our power and be like, oh, yeah, that's why I do this. Right? And, and having a regular touch with all of those things. Really keeps everything else on track because I don't get sidetracked when every day. It's like oh wait, I'm becoming someone who doesn't spend time on other people's drama. Oh, and then it's like, oh, I just remembered that now I can go back to whatever I was doing. Right like that really matters. The last thing I would say and this is just an Extra kind of piece here is that what I often do after I do my journaling is I go post something. Because when I am finished journaling, that is like the most connected and grounded and powerful that I'm going to be all day probably. It's the most like hell yes, this is who I am, this is what I'm doing. This is why it matters. It's really good to go out in the world and be like, Guys, I have this thing for you from here, it's a really great place to make an offer from. And so I do that pretty regularly. It's often when I make tiktoks. Love Tiktok. It's, it's really how I connect in and then share. Because often something comes up in journaling, or there was something I remember from yesterday that I wanted to share. And that lets me go out into the world with that from that energy and people respond to that. Because I am totally me totally in my power. You can do the same and like clapping into my podcast right now. Okay, so try that. Let me know how it goes. I do have a freebie that lays all this out. You can grab it from the podcast page. It is in the description of the podcast, if you just look at the journaling freebie, all of this is laid out with examples with samples for you to try. And if you want to come to the workshop, come in to my Facebook group. It's the same name as this podcast on Thursday, and let's do it. If you have questions, you can always reach out on email. I'm happy to connect from here. You know, like, if you're like oh, journaling, and I have some other things to work out. I coach one on one and in small groups all day long, calm. Let's talk about coaching. Let's talk about how your journal feeds into coaching and how you can use the both together to really move things faster. You'll make more money, you'll feel better about your business, you'll feel more connected to your people. You'll get to do the things you love to do without so much drama. Okay, happy journaling. I look forward to seeing y'all Thursday too. And I'll see you here again in two weeks.