Hello, beautiful one! Have you heard of the power of written words? I mean not just the words you read, but the words written (or typed) by your hand. Words are very powerful and have always transformed lives. So is it possible you are not controlling yours? There is a hidden power you and I can use. It is the power of Journaling.

Journaling is the activity of keeping a diary or journal for personal and productive purposes. Journaling can take different forms. This ranges from writing daily tasks on a diary to writing concise applicable reviews of a book you just read. This largely depends on your personal style.

Before you learn more about this power, please check the following scenarios and see if you have ever experienced any of them?

• Have you ever lost track of time and don’t know what to do at a particular time? Or do you have such overwhelming work that it paralyses you to do something?
• Have ideas run through your beautiful mind, yet at the opportune time, you forget the exact steps to execute these same ideas? Or sometimes do you forget the entire idea itself?
• Are you an avid reader, yet lack the capacity to what you apply what you have read? Have you listened to so many videos and podcasts, yet the information got has little or no lasting effects in aspects of your life?

Well, if any of this has happened, you are not alone. I have experienced most of them and recording my actions on journals really helped me a lot. Don’t take my word for it. Here are a couple of reasons you need to start journaling today:

WHY YOU NEED TO START JOURNALING NOW

• Journaling helps you to stay productive and organized. Yes, dear, it’s true. Recording your daily thoughts and tasks helps you prioritize and keeps you focused on specific tasks throughout the day.
• Journaling allows you to filter ideas. When you jot down major ideas after reading a book or watching a video; you tend to write down only the major ideas that matter to you. This is really helpful in this world of overwhelming information.
• When your journal, you learn the subtle art of connecting the dots. This sounds surreal but writing or recording your thoughts helps you evaluate certain situations with a fresher and wiser outlook. You have had the chance to rethink and now pour these ‘second chances’ in your journal.

I hope these reasons are good enough to start recording those ideas. However, before you start writing, there is a mistake you must avoid. When journaling, most people tend to record their entire activities in a single journal. They record work, daily musings, eureka moments and knowledge nuggets in the same journal. This is counterproductive because it eventually leads to messy and cluttered information. This defeats the major purpose of journaling.

Here is what you need to do. Have different journals for different purposes. Here are the major journals you must have to stay on the right track to channelling and controlling your thoughts.

JOURNALS NEEDED FOR THE ROAD

1. Spiritual Journal: Needed to record your conversations with God, including scriptures, revelations and insights. This keeps you constantly connected with the Creator.
2. Goal Journal: Needed to record your goals and track progress as you go along. This keeps you accountable and focused.
3. Day-to-Day Journal: Needed to record the good, bad and the activities you need to improve every day. This keeps you energized and monitor your thoughts.
4. Gratitude Journal: Needed to record things you are grateful for on a daily basis. This keeps you in a positive and happy state.
5. Knowledge Journal: Needed to record insights, strategies and quotes you pick from your book studies, videos and podcasts. This should include actionable steps to later on.
6. Ideation Journal: Needed to record ideas and eureka moments you want to work on or connect later. This keeps you creative.
7. Work Journal: Needed to record your work-related activities. This keeps your head and workspace minimal with maximum efficiency.

Here is the best part of this article.

HOW TO START JOURNALING TODAY

So far so good, there are two major ways you can start journaling today.

1. Get a notebook and a pen. Start recording your activities. Just as we have mentioned earlier, get different notebooks for each interest.
2. The second method is to download a dedicated journaling app. Examples of these apps are Evernote, WriterP and Google Keep. WPS Office and Google Docs can also help your journaling journey. However, the key is to be minimal and to avoid distractions.

QUICK TIP: Create different notebooks (in place of notebooks) in your dedicated app to separate each journal.

Personally, I would recommend the first method – keeping physical journals. There is this sense of serenity and sincerity within yourself when you take a pen and write on a physical journal. Nonetheless, I still use my phone (I currently use WriterP) to record ideas especially in public places (I don’t want to be known as the weird guy who brings out a notebook immediately an idea pops in his head)

FINAL WORDS

This might sound like hard work to you. Especially if you have associated writing with schoolwork in times past. The easiest way to break this fear is to break the rules.

Write whatever you feel like. You can write just two words daily. Draw or doodle by the margins if you feel like. Open your dedicated journaling app and edit a post you copied.

But by all means, journal. I want you to write something today. Cheers.