The importance of keeping a journal

Have you ever thought of a great idea, yet not write it down? Have you ever thought of a great idea, think that you will remember it, and battle with yourself to remember what it was? If this is you, which applies to many of us, then you are doing something wrong. The Bahamian Evangelist Myles Munroe once said:

“The wealthiest places in the world are not gold mines, oil fields, diamond mines or banks. The wealthiest place in the cemetery. There lies companies that were never started, masterpieces that were never painted… In the cemetery, there is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential. There is a treasure within you that must come out. Don’t go to the grave with your treasure still within YOU.”

What a powerful message from such a powerful man, a man who understood the potential of an idea and how it can be a force within society. A man who understood that all things derive from a thought, and an amalgamation of thoughts that transcends into what we know and see today. But what happened to these thoughts that allowed them to be expressed…? People took action!

The great thing is we have now discovered a unique way to capture information that enables you to have a hard record of your thoughts and ideas. The process is known as “keeping a journal”. Here’s how it works:

1. Buy a bag sized (A5) hardback journal and a pen
2. Carry this journal and pen with you wherever you go
3. Record all your ideas, new thinkings, quotes, and plans as soon as you think of them
4. Use the journal to create checklists, and rate them at the end of the day by how many things you have accomplished (e.g. 6/10)
5. Date all pages that have ideas etc. as you go along
6. Continually do this every time something comes into you in your mind’s eye
7. Review your journal daily and weekly
8. Annually look at all the ideas and things you have written down; note your success and work on your challenges
9. Make sure you replace the journal once all pages have been used effectively

This is a revolutionary way of thinking and recording your ideas. Jim Rohn put it quite best –“Never trust your brain to remember anything”. This is a habit that the highly successful adopt. Really and truly there are no secrets, the secret lies within taken responsibility for your actions and expresses them at least on paper first. If you do record your ideas on your phone or tablet and it works for you, then proceed. However, there is something very energetically different about transferring your ideas from your mind, through your pen, and onto a natural medium that is paper. There’s an understanding that it is expressed in it’s entirety as an expression should be recorded. Don’t get me wrong, technology is great and we must keep up, but at times we must identify the principles of natural law that governs the results we seek (Stephen R. Covey), and set ourselves away from culture.

Be responsible, adopt the right principles, and begin your journey of true personal success by the process known as “keeping a journal”