The power of “record” should not be underestimated.
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Editor’s note: “Keeping a diary” is a magical thing that will improve your life completely over time. The power of “recording” should not be underestimated. For example, if you want to eat less, one of the best ways is to record the food you eat. You don’t even have to deliberately change your habits, as long as you record what you eat, it will encourage you to eat less. The same is true for life and goals. Keeping a diary can help you sort out your heart and find solutions to problems, which is much better than sitting and thinking and daydreaming. Keeping a diary is to start taking action, and only after taking action can you make a breakthrough. This article is translated from Medium, author Ayodeji Awosika, the original title is This is One of the Rare Habits That Profoundly Changed My Life, I hope to inspire you.
Every day, we see about 1,023,872 articles about “habits that make you more successful.”
The starting points of these articles are good, but most of them overlook a basic point. The habit itself will never make your life better. If you develop habits just for the sake of habit, then your life will never make any progress.
You should use certain habits as a means to your end.
The habits I want to share with you helped me build a life and career I love. It helped me overcome major challenges in life. The reason why I can accumulate a lot of “wisdom” is because of this habit.
My habit is to keep a diary. This is more profound than all other habits I have tried.
1. Why is writing a diary so amazing?
If you want to achieve a goal, write it down.
If you want to remember something, write it down.
If you want to know what’s in your head, write it down.
I use a diary to achieve these three goals.
I don’t know the scientific principles behind writing a diary, but when you write something, there seems to be a special connection between your brain and your hands.
If you are looking for new inspiration, or want to clarify the truth about something that bothers you, keeping a diary can help you dig into your subconscious mind and discover some blind spots in your consciousness.
The act of writing a diary will make you move so that your actions will have results. This is far more important than just sitting and thinking and daydreaming.
If you can make diary writing a habit, you are telling yourself subtly, “I have promised to do this.”
Promise to build confidence and self-esteem, making you more likely to achieve your goals. Every positive commitment or habit is telling yourself “I believe in myself.” This is the key, this is the essence of self-help.
The way you write your diary is not important, but if you feel that there is a barrier to writing a diary, here are some suggestions.
2. How do I write a diary?
My diary writing procedure is very simple.
Every morning, I will write down three things I am grateful for. I do this because I am a very ambitious person and it is difficult to be satisfied with the current progress. I use this “grateful exercise” to relive the beautiful things that have happened in my life. It allows me to keep my feet on the ground during that day, and then I do the same thing the next day, it will continue to help me focus the next day.
Next, I will use what James Altucher calls the “idea-generating technique”.
Here is how this technology works. You write down 10 ideas every day. Any idea is fine, as long as you think of it, whether it is to improve your own life or to make suggestions for other people’s lives and business. James said that he often uses his ideas as a social skill. He will come up with some ideas for others and then send them to others.
You can use this technique to exercise your “idea muscle” (idea muscle). Most of your ideas may be bad, but some are good. If you do this every day for a year, you will generate 3650 ideas, of which there will be one or two good ideas.
3. “Daily Stoic Diary”
Ryan Holiday is famous for bringing ancient Stoic philosophy into the modern mainstream. His book “The Daily Stoic Journal” (The Daily Stoic Journal) will select content from the Stoic to teach every day, and use real-world examples to illustrate.
What is asceticism? This is an art of keeping one’s sanity in an unfair and chaotic world.
The “Daily Stoic Diary” has a companion, “The Daily Stoic” (The Daily Stoic), which has an accompanying chapter for each class. You can write your thoughts in it.
If you feel sleepy, anxious, scared, or full of doubts, this diary is for you.
4. “My Diary”
“My Diary” (The Self Journal) was created by Cathryn Lavery and Allen Brouwer, it can help you achieve Goals and generate cool ideas.
It provides a systematic method for setting goals and solving goals, including the following items:
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Main goal
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Daily goal
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lessons learned
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Daily activities
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Morning gratitude
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Evening gratitude
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DailyRecord
5. How does a master write a diary?
Julia Cameron, author of “The Artist Within” (The Artist Within), created a very popular morning routine called the Morning Post. The morning paper means that you can write three pages freely every morning, you can write anything you want. So many pages of free writing usually stimulate creativity. In addition, many people have confirmed that this routine can lead to major emotional breakthroughs.
It makes sense to write the morning paper. If you feel a little down, but don’t know why, write three pages and you will think of something. Try it and see if you like it or not.
Benjamin Franklin (Benjamin Franklin) was one of the earliest self-help masters. He created a “virtue journal” (virtue journal), which marked 13 virtues on a page every day.
He will focus on one virtue every day and strive to achieve other virtues. If he does not do well in a certain aspect, he will draw an x on this one.
In the beginning, the chart was filled with x. After a while, there are not so many. He thinks that his diary skills make him a better person:
Although I have never achieved the perfection I desire, it is far from even achieved. However, due to my hard work, I became a better and happier person.
6. Keeping a diary will bring unlimited possibilities
Although writing habits like “writing a diary” or “reading” have been praised by too many people, I don’t mind, because I hope people can develop these life-changing habits.
You can write your diary in any way you want. Keep keeping a diary for 6 months. I bet you will improve your life in some way.
Why is writing a diary so powerful? I emphasize again that self-confidence can be built only by self-commitment. In addition, supervising yourself every day is also a power.
The power of “record”Not to be underestimated. For example, if you want to eat less, one of the best ways is to record the food you eat. You don’t even have to deliberately change your habits, as long as you record what you eat, it will encourage you to eat less.
The same goes for your financial situation, goals, and life.
Writing a diary is a good start.
Translator: Jane