For last few weeks, my journal has been quite neglected. It's not abandoned, as I still manage to jot down bits now and again, but I haven't done "proper" journaling. It's funny, because I always notice it now when I am not spending enough time with my journal. Sometimes I think I haven't written for ages, and when I open the journal I find it's been two days.
But I also feel that I have to be in the right mood to journal. Currently, I am so bogged down with other tasks I want to complete. Learning Spanish and Editing my book are the main priorities and it's bad enough keeping up with them, along with everything else that must be done. And a part of me wants to write all the details of this in my journal. I want to record it all - ups and downs. But then I find that I am so busy doing it that I don't have time or energy to write it.
Not a good feeling. So I believe some regular journaling time - at least every weekend - will have to be scheduled. Eventually I get back into journaling groove when nothing stops me from scribbling, but on downtimes like this, one must not neglect the journal. At least not for too long.
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Monday, 24 May 2010
Journal Writing Prompt 8
SEARCHING FOR GOALS
Do you find yourself drifting along the wave of routine, dissatisfied with your life? Or are you floundering because you have too many things to do, or too many interests and you can't progress with anything because you don't know what you want more?
This exercise should help you dig a little deeper for you goals. To actually get results, quality of the entry is a must. You would need to spend decent amount of time with your journal, perhaps more than once, over several days or several weeks or even several months depending on your personality, and depending on the general confusion in your life. But you will see the results.
Here are several exericses you can try. Use what is suitable for you.
But always remember that goals are fluid. If you change as a person, or your life circumstances changes, your goals may change too. It is fine. The goals you make today are for the person you are today, because we all need to start somewhere.
Do you find yourself drifting along the wave of routine, dissatisfied with your life? Or are you floundering because you have too many things to do, or too many interests and you can't progress with anything because you don't know what you want more?
This exercise should help you dig a little deeper for you goals. To actually get results, quality of the entry is a must. You would need to spend decent amount of time with your journal, perhaps more than once, over several days or several weeks or even several months depending on your personality, and depending on the general confusion in your life. But you will see the results.
Here are several exericses you can try. Use what is suitable for you.
- Write down everything you enjoy spending your time on. Imagine you have a free week, with absolutely no chores, what exactly would you like to do with that day? Now imagine you have a free month, what would you like to do then? A free year?
- Write down how you spend your day. Either make 7 columns, or use 7 pages. List each day, and write down in exact detail, how you utilize every hour of that day. Perhaps pay attention to your time for a week or two. Write it down. What do you do? What do you always make the time to do? What do you ignore?
- Talk to your ideal self. Have a dialogue. What is your ideal self like? What does he/she know that you don't know? What experiences he/she had that you haven't had?
- With your life as it is now, where do you see yourself in 5 years time? Where would you like to be?
But always remember that goals are fluid. If you change as a person, or your life circumstances changes, your goals may change too. It is fine. The goals you make today are for the person you are today, because we all need to start somewhere.
Monday, 10 May 2010
Journal Writing Prompt 7
Do you have many projects on the go? Working on too many things, and hardly any time to finish things? Whether it's a project for work, for home, or for personal life - this journal exercise should help you.
Open your journal, keep the pen at ready. Close your eyes. Think about everything you have to do. Do you see those endless "to-do" lists in your mind's eye? Pressing deadlines, things left unfinished, projects abandoned. Let those thoughts flow.
Focus on those projects, on that endless list - and from that list, pick out things you can do right now. Start writing. Don't stop to think. Just write.
Write a project - use abbreviations where possible, the faster you writer, the more chance for your fresh thoughts to get out.
For example, one of your project is to repaint the house. So you can write:
Paint - buy paint-brushes
Then you have something for work:
Marketing - Contact Marketing Company
For your personal project:
Book - Edit next page
Only write things that you are able to do straight away. I.e. - if you can't buy the paint brushes because you don't have the money, don't write it. ONLY THE THINGS YOU ARE CAPABLE (MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, FINANCIALLY) OF DOING NOW.
Write for as long as you can, until you can think of nothing else. Don't worry about repetitions. Once you are finished, go have a cup of coffee (oh all right, tea if you must), take a break, and then look at that entry. Now, using that make a cleaner list - this is where you get rid of repetitions.
Once you have the clean list, use that as your master list. That's all you need to worry about now. Forget about everything else, all the other steps that you can't do until first step is done. Finish the jobs on this list. Divide tasks based on the time you have. Don't even look at another list. Cross of everything you finish.
If you have major projects, make a seperate list for each project. But only write one step at a time. Only when you cross of that first step, you write the next step, so at any given time, you only add the things you are ABLE to do, and do not add the next bit, until you do the first thing. Don't worry about the bigger picture. Most reasonable people are able to keep the bigger picture in their mind. You are not going to forget about the project, just because you are doing the one step. If you look at it step at a time, it becomes much less daunting.
Open your journal, keep the pen at ready. Close your eyes. Think about everything you have to do. Do you see those endless "to-do" lists in your mind's eye? Pressing deadlines, things left unfinished, projects abandoned. Let those thoughts flow.
Focus on those projects, on that endless list - and from that list, pick out things you can do right now. Start writing. Don't stop to think. Just write.
Write a project - use abbreviations where possible, the faster you writer, the more chance for your fresh thoughts to get out.
For example, one of your project is to repaint the house. So you can write:
Paint - buy paint-brushes
Then you have something for work:
Marketing - Contact Marketing Company
For your personal project:
Book - Edit next page
Only write things that you are able to do straight away. I.e. - if you can't buy the paint brushes because you don't have the money, don't write it. ONLY THE THINGS YOU ARE CAPABLE (MENTALLY, PHYSICALLY, FINANCIALLY) OF DOING NOW.
Write for as long as you can, until you can think of nothing else. Don't worry about repetitions. Once you are finished, go have a cup of coffee (oh all right, tea if you must), take a break, and then look at that entry. Now, using that make a cleaner list - this is where you get rid of repetitions.
Once you have the clean list, use that as your master list. That's all you need to worry about now. Forget about everything else, all the other steps that you can't do until first step is done. Finish the jobs on this list. Divide tasks based on the time you have. Don't even look at another list. Cross of everything you finish.
If you have major projects, make a seperate list for each project. But only write one step at a time. Only when you cross of that first step, you write the next step, so at any given time, you only add the things you are ABLE to do, and do not add the next bit, until you do the first thing. Don't worry about the bigger picture. Most reasonable people are able to keep the bigger picture in their mind. You are not going to forget about the project, just because you are doing the one step. If you look at it step at a time, it becomes much less daunting.
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