Now, let me tell you that I was a complete spaz when I was young.
The last thing I would have wanted to do was sit, sit still and write! Are you kidding me? The thought of sitting down and writing about my feelings, my life, and my thoughts would have been too mind boggling for me when I was young.
I was busy creating an empire in my mind.
How and why would any serious entrepreneur want to waste time writing in a journal? However, in my yuppie pursuit of professional perfection I could not deny that hearing that same mantra from the gurus I admired and respected began to make me stop, think and take notice.
One of my goals at the time was to absorb and put into practice all that the "guru's" were saying and doing.
I believed that if I did what they did, then I would get the same results in life and be successful too.
So, that would mean for me, at some point, I was going to have to give up the fight and get my hands on a journal and start writing.
Me, the super serious entrepreneur diva girl, would have to stop whirling, take time, think and write! Ugh.
"What a chore that was going to be" I thought to myself.
Here's how it all started for me.
A girlfriend of mine gave me a journal as a Christmas gift.
At the time I thought it was a bad gift that seemed like an after thought.
I hate to admit it, but my self centered ego honestly thought it was awful.
Now of course, I truly believe that it was the best "bad" gift that I could have received.
It is the gift that really kept on giving.
I know that is a cliche but that one gift has given me so much it would take me all day to describe the positive effects writing in a journal have had on my life.
Here are a few great things that I have learned about writing in a journal.
Writing in a journal gives you a history lesson on your self and your business.
As a serious entrepreneur I was able to "chronicle" my adventures.
I was able to go back through notebooks and journals, reading through the ideas, systems, scribbles, bad days, good days, you name it.
Doodles, quotes, comments, names, phone numbers, everything.
What I found was that when I would write, my ideas would begin to flow freely.
I began to see that writing was a releasing of energy.
Good energy.
Even if the thoughts were negative, or bad, or less than positive, writing allowed those thoughts to show up on paper.
Writing in a journal allowed the garbage thoughts and negative feelings lose their power in my mind.
Let's face it, being a serious entrepreneur was at times, like throwing myself over a cliff wondering if my parachute was going to open.
I was motivated to succeed and thrive, but spending days and months without a paycheck was enough to bring anyone out of the clouds and down to reality.
Being a serious entrepreneur takes guts and the ability to overcome your own mind.
It is constant hard work mentally to keep yourself up when all things indicate you are not making any progress or when it seems like everything you are doing is going in the wrong direction.
Constantly having the people in your life shaking their heads at you knowing they are saying to themselves, "What is she thinking? Why doesn't she go out and get a "real" job, making "real" money?" I mean there is no glamour working your way to the top of any business.
Once you make it to the top, you can bet, you have taken your share of black eyes, bruises, and gut punches to make it.
Processing it all and keeping your perspective is tough.
That is one of the reasons why writing in a journal is so important.
You will be able to see and keep a good perspective on everything.
After writing, I would come away refreshed and renewed.
I had a sense of peace that would come over me.
It still does.
It is amazing to go back through the years and see where my head was at different times in my professional life.
I am able to see where there were so many days I wanted to quit.
Give up.
I can look back on days where I would write about how I wanted throw in the towel so bad.
I can almost see the dried tears on the pages.
Being able to look back on those days has always been good for me.
It never ceases to amaze me how powerful it is to look at those journal entries.
Reading the writings about my past challenges enables me to get me through the current set of challenges I may be facing.
It is therapeutic in a way.
It reminds you of where you were, where you are now and just how far you have come in business.
You remember things that were, at the time, enormous obstacles to overcome.
Having the perspective of looking back at those challenges helps remind you that you can move past anything facing you today.
Most people who have objections to writing in a journal tell me that they just don't know what to write about.
I tell them to just start writing.
You are not trying to be grammatically correct or write the next great novel.
You are just writing.
No one will ever have to grade it, read it or critic it.
It belongs to you.
They are your feelings, your thoughts and your opinions.
You can draw doodles, write incomplete sentences, anything goes.
Just do it.
Just start it.
I tell people in the beginning write one paragraph.
Write one thought, one feeling, just start somewhere.
You will not believe how it just comes to you.
Small steps done over and over become habits.
Writing in a journal is for you and done however you want to do it.