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41 Powerful Journaling Exercise - Journal Smarter
41 Powerful Journaling Exercise - Journal Smarter
Do you feel stuck inside your own head? Do you crave change, but don’t know
where to start?
This article provides you with a list of journaling exercises based on tested tools
by world-class experts and thought-leaders (from fields as diverse as health and
fitness, habit-building, productivity, business, minimalism, and relationships—
among others) that will help you get unlocked, see things differently, and
start fresh.
Some of them were already exercises in their original form (such as Tim Ferriss’s
‘Fear-Setting’), and the other ones were adapted from principles and models
(such as the ‘Quality/Quantity Trade-off’ or James Clear’s ‘Plateau of Latent
Potential’) and turned into journaling practices that you can apply to your own
experiences.
Some of them might change your life, and some might not be a good fit for you,
but hopefully, each new experiment will unlock new insights and propel you
further on your path.
Table of Contents
How to use this article?
Categories
Now it’s up to you.
Acknowledgements
All the images (journaling exercises) in this article were created by Silvia Bastos.
In 2017, Benjamin Hardy published an article where he explains the importance
of investigating your deepest why—the real reason why you want the things
you want and do the things you do.
To find your deeper why, ask yourself: “What about _____ is important to me?”
When you have the answer, go deeper and ask: “what about [answer] is important
to me?” Repeat the process up to seven times until you reach the answer that
most profoundly resonates with you.
Here’s an example:
Before you complete the exercise, make sure you read Benjamin Hardy’s article
to know the deeper why of why you should do it in the first place: “How to
Consistently Act From Your Deepest “Why” and Optimize Your Time”
2. Beginner’s Mind
Source: Zen Buddhism
The great news is, Scott Jeffrey wrote an amazing article where he offers four
different exercises to access the beginner’s mind mindset, and consequently
elevate your creative work and enhance your ability to learn.
As Shunryu Suzuki points out: “If your mind is empty, it is always ready for
anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities;
in the expert’s mind there are few.”
Read more about this: ‘How to Adopt a Beginner’s Mind to Accelerate Learning
and Increase Creativity’ by Scott Jeffrey.
3. ‘Life Calendar’
Source: Tim Urban
Your time is very limited and therefore precious. If you live for 90 years, that
gives you a total of 4680 weeks to live (and you’ve already spent a big chunk of
that).
Tim Urban came up with this brilliant idea called the ‘Life Calendar’: a visual
representation of your lifespan, where each week corresponds to one
square.
Although it sounds simple, it’s super powerful: as you review and fill in a new
square every week, you can feel time passing by. You realize you won’t live
forever, which is great to keep you on track, enjoying each day, and pursuing
your goals.
But the purpose is not simply to count weeks: you can use your calendar to
make sure you are using each week in the most beneficial way possible. As you
mark each week on your calendar, check whether your weekly activities:
1. Bring you enjoyment,
2. Improve your future or the lives of others, or
3. Do both of the above (ideal outcome).
Don’t forget to read Tim Urban’s ‘Your Life in Weeks’—he gives practical (and
also hilarious) examples of how to use the calendar which are extremely useful
and inspiring.
The medicine wheel has been used for centuries by indigenous tribes from all
over the world as a compass, a guide to give them direction in life.
How does it work?
When feeling out of balance, see which quadrant of the Medicine Wheel is in
excess and engage in activities that belong to the diagonally inverse
quadrant. This will “tip” the wheel back to center, and bring you back to
balance.
To find out more about which activities to use for each quadrant, and more
information about what each of them represents, check out this article:
‘Journaling Techniques to Master Balance and Grow Faster’ by Silvia Bastos
5. Ikigai
Source: Somewhere and someone in Japan, during the Heian Period (794-1185)
[1]
Life’s purpose combines what you love, are good at, can be paid for, and what the
world needs.
Ikigai [from Japanese: ‘iki’ [生き] meaning life, + ‘gai’ [甲斐] meaning value or
worth] is an excellent framework to help you identify your optimal life
direction, and reflecting on your long-term goals, ideal lifestyle, and
economic viability.
The concept can be depicted as a Venn diagram with your ikigai placed at the
center, where four sets overlap.
Draw the spread in your notebook, then take some time to reflect and fill in
each section with information that’s true to you—and hopefully you’ll get some
clarity on your personal ikigai.
If you need more ideas for how to use it, I offer step-by-step instructions in this
article: How To Chart A New Course For Your Life With 3 Simple Diagrams.
II. Plan, Strategize, and Take Action Like a Fortune
100 CEO
6. ‘Begin With the End in Mind’
Source: Stephen Covey
In his book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey has brought to
life a timeless principle: begin with the end in mind.
In other words: make sure that you always keep your bigger
purpose/goal/mission in mind when you engage in any smaller tasks. This
will help make sure your actions are meaningful, you waste less time, and you
get where you want to go.
This principle can be applied to any area of life—from personal-development
and relationships to business and projects.
How can you apply it? Well, since there’s a whole chapter dedicated to it in one
of the most popular self-development books ever, quite a lot. But you can start
here:
1. Begin with defining your end goal (who you want to be or what you want
to achieve);
2. Clarify your principles and values, which will guide you towards your goal
on daily basis;
3. And finally, plan smaller tasks and jump into action.
If you need more clarity about any of the steps in the process, you can read
about the main takeaways from this principle in this article: Habit 2: Begin With
the End in Mind
Fortunately, after a lot of investigating and asking people and companies about
their “big breakthrough” events, Jim Collins found out that this is just a myth. It
turns out it’s not one big decisive moment that determines greatness: it is a
series of interlinked events that trigger each other to make success
inevitable—a metaphoric ‘flywheel’.
Jim Collins calls it ‘The Flywheel Effect’, and it can be applied both to business
and personal life. In his interview with Tim Ferris, he gives the example of his
own personal flywheel:
Curiosity for big questions > research > good ideas > books and teaching > impact >
fund access > curiosity >…
As in:
Curiosity for big questions inevitably leads to him engaging in research, which is
bound to produce (at least a few) very good ideas. Those are naturally destined to
lead towards writing and teaching, which is likely to have impact on the world,
consequently leading towards accessing funds, allowing to fund another project, and
thus completing the loop.
You can use the spread above to brainstorm the activities that, brought
together in a sequential way, inevitably lead you towards greatness and
success.
However, this is just a very basic explanation of ‘The Flywheel Effect’; if you want
to learn in depth about it and build your own powerful flywheel, read Jim
Collins’s book ‘Turning the Flywheel’
Engage in actions that are most likely to bring you the desired result.
Knowing your goal is not enough. You also need a clear path, outlining the most
effective steps you could/should/will take.
1. Predictive of your goal (if you do them diligently, you are very likely to
achieve it);
2. 100% within your control;
3. Easy to do on a regular basis;
4. Inserted within a tactical timeline (quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily);
5. Turned into habits, routines and processes.
So forget about accomplishing random daily tasks or engaging in purposeless
habits for the sake of being “more productive”: what are the most effective,
100% within your control, regular actions that will lead you towards your
goal?
Start by reading Rafael’s article—you’ll learn a lot from it. Then define your goal,
define your HIA, and then—it’s time to take action.
9. Explore/Exploit Trade-off
Source: Probability Theory
Should you look for a better option, or stick with what is already working?
To find the best path towards your goals, you need to experiment with different
options—you need to test, and be aware of other possibly more effective
routes. However, every new exploration has an opportunity cost: less time to
exploit the current option.
Exploring only leads to collecting a lot of information, but not making sufficient
progress on any of the available paths. In contrast, exploiting only risks missing
out on better solutions.
For example, if you started a new diet a few weeks ago but still see no results in
terms of weight loss, you might want to try a new one. However, by doing so
you might be giving up too early to see results—not exploiting the current
enough to realize it’s actually ideal for you in the long run. But what if this is not
the ideal diet for you? How to solve this dilemma?
What projects are you currently working on? What’s the best strategy for each of
them? Reflect on it, and then experiment by consciously dividing your time
between exploring and exploiting for each of them.
If you’re still not clear on how this works, start by reading Josh Kaufman’s
‘Explore/Exploit’ article.
If you need inspiration for applying this to your own life, Wikipedia contains an
extensive list of possible strategies.
“It is rarely a mysterious technique that drives us to the top, but rather a profound
mastery of what may well be a basic skill set.”—Josh Waitzkin
The key to mastering any skill is to first learn its most basic components.
In his book ‘The Art of Learning’, Josh Waitzkin explains that before mastering the
big, powerful moves that have led him to become world champion in tai chi
chuan, he first had to spend hours learning basic, small, slow movements,
such as the subtleties of a few-inches-long punch.
When learning anything, pick an isolated component and break it down into tiny
details which make it work. Want to learn Japanese? Start with learning the
alphabet. Pick up a new instrument? First, master the scales—and only then will
it be time to work on your vibrato.
Keep mastering the basics until they are fully integrated into your
subconscious, so that later your conscious mind will have enough available
energy to deal with new complex challenges.
Throughout his life, Vincent Van Gogh produced around 900 paintings, most of
them within a 2-year period. The thing is: not all of Van Gogh’s paintings were
masterpieces—but it was his production volume that lead to creating the ones
that were.
So how can you produce enough quantity to get better at what you do, but still
dedicate enough time to each product to make sure you can create quality
content?
Scott Young wrote an article that covers that in a very clear, actionable way. It’s
called ‘How to Be Prolific’, and it explains how to find the sweet spot between
quality and quantity when producing work.
The exercise in this section was based on the advice given by Scott in his article
(which is what I recommend you start with to get a more in-depth knowledge of
the subject)—some steps to make it as effortless as possible to become prolific
and improve your craft:
Scott suggests “create a “Vocabulary” for Your Work”—a database of tools that
you have to learn or invest in once, and that will make your craft or process
easier in the future;
‘Atomic skills’
Master atomic skills required to create your product, through repeating of the
production cycle;
‘Barriers to Remove’
Identify and remove the barriers keeping you from completing products.
The trick is not to completely disregard the quality of the product, but instead—
especially if you struggle with finishing things you started—shift your focus to
increasing your output.
There is one high-performance hack that a lot of us are unaware of. Psychiatry
professor Lionel Rosen originated the insight; football coach Nick Saban applied
it to his team’s success; and Ryan Holiday wrote all about it in a fantastic article.
It’s called process thinking, and it’s about the importance of staying
focused on our immediate next steps.
We often get obsessed about our long term goals, but never end up achieving
them because we don’t optimize our short-term actions. Keeping our goals in
mind is crucial, but in order to get there, in order to progress in real time—right
now—we need to focus on the next consecutive point on our journey.
Do you want to lose weight? Set a goal, but then go for your first walk today. If
you want to start a blog, it’s great to keep the ideal audience numbers in mind—
but don’t forget to start writing your first blog post.
Whatever is your Z, keep it in mind (begin with the end in mind) but then quickly
focus back on how to get to point B.
Do you need more inspiration? Ryan Holiday’s article not only goes in depth into
how Nick Saban lead his team to success by applying this principle, but also
offers other useful insights on how you can do it yourself. Check it out: Here’s
the Strategy Elite Athletes Follow to Perform at the Highest Level.
Focus on what you know, learn about what you don’t know.
The image on the left was based on the one in Shane Parish’s article.
Here’s a truth for you: you don’t know everything.
But here are the good news: you don’t need to.
In order to increase the likelihood of success in any area of life, all you need to
do is focus on the narrow area where you have real expertise, while
gradually expanding it by learning new things.
Warren Buffett calls this area ‘circle of influence’, and he attributes his success
to always staying within his: “The size of that circle [of what you know] is not very
important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.”
Shane Parish from Farnam Street wrote one of the most insightful articles out
there on this topic (even if very short), called ‘Understanding your Circle of
Competence: How Warren Buffett Avoids Problems’.
1. Read Shane Parish’s article to get a clearer grasp of the concept of ‘area of
influence’;
2. Copy this spread to your journal;
3. Reflect on the questions on the left and write down the answers;
4. During this week, aim to stay within your area of influence, as well as
expanding it.
It’s totally fine to say “I don’t know”. Pretending that you do is a slippery
slope—as George Bernard Shaw said, “Beware of false knowledge, as it is more
dangerous than ignorance.”
Own what you know, admit what you don’t, and expand your knowledge
wherever it might help you grow.
14. Decision Matrix
Source: Dwight Eisenhower
The Decision Matrix, popularized by Stephen Covey, is a visual tool for effective
time management. It helps evaluate which tasks should be carried out,
delegated, or dropped, by dividing them into four different quadrants:
To use this spread, think about the activities that you do on a regular basis,
place them on the correct quadrant, and then reflect on ways to create more
time for quadrant 2 activities.
If you want more information about the Decision Matrix, Brett and Kate McKay
wrote a great article about it: The Eisenhower Decision Matrix: How to
Distinguish Between Urgent and Important Tasks and Make Real Progress in
Your Life.
If most of the benefits come from just a small percentage of your actions,
the most effective strategy towards success is to identify and focus on
those things first.
Every choice has a hidden price: not benefiting from the alternative choices.
I could try to explain the concept of opportunity cost myself, but why would you
read my words if you can read Seth Godin’s instead? Here’s how he explains it in
his brilliantly concise article, ‘Opportunity cost just went up’:
“If you have $100 to invest and you buy this stock instead of that bond, the interest
you gave up in making your choice is your opportunity cost.
“At the dinner buffet, you can take as much food as you like, but you can only
consume so much food. Which means that eating the jambalaya means you won’t
have room to eat a dosa. That’s your opportunity cost.”
In the words of Warren Buffett: “The difference between successful people and
really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything.“
Before you say yes to any offer or opportunity, ask yourself: “by saying yes to
this, what am I saying no to?” and then, “Is it worth it?”
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to
choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”—Viktor
Frankl
We don’t get to choose what happens to us, but we get to choose what to do
with the things that happen to us.
In other words, what psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl meant is
that we don’t have to react impulsively to things that happen to us—we can
choose to respond consciously, and this is where we can determine the quality
of our lives.
Leslie Becker-Phelps Ph.D wrote an article for Psychology Today where she offers
some practical strategies to turn Frankl’s words into action:
“Measure the cost of inaction, realize the unlikelihood and repairability of most
missteps, and develop the most important habit of those who excel and enjoy doing
so: action.”—Tim Ferris
Tim Ferriss claims there is one exercise which has produced his biggest
business and personal successes.
He calls it ‘Fear-Setting’.
Very often we avoid taking action because we’re afraid of the consequences. But
just like fear of the dark, very often we fear things just because we don’t know
them. ‘Fear-setting’ is a powerful tool to dissect worst case scenarios, exhaust
solutions, and get to a state of mental clarity from which are able to take
action.
After that, draw the spread in your notebook, take some time to think, and write
down your answers.
And then—because none of this makes sense without the last step…
Take action!
P.S.: I first read about this exercise in ‘The Four-Hour Workweek’ by Tim Ferriss,
which, if you’re interested in living your ideal lifestyle, managing your time
better and yes, facing your fears, you should totally read.
After you read Charlotte Lieberman’s article and dive deep into her instructions
to end procrastination, fill in the spread above—and then start turning your
words into action.
When deciding about what you want to do, ask yourself: what kind of problems do
you enjoy dealing with?
According to Mark Manson in his book ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’,
whichever path you choose in life, you will face problems.
In fact, problems never stop, since solving one problem always leads to the
creation of a new one.
Let Mark Manson be your guide: “The path to happiness is a path full of shitheaps
and shame.”
So choose the good shitheaps and shame, and then face them heads on.
The graph on the left is an adaptation from the images in Taylor Pearson’s article.
While originally created for business purposes, the theory of constraints (or
business production function) is also highly relevant for personal growth. People
(or businesses) fail to grow because they waste resources on ineffective
solutions, such as fixing what’s already working without addressing major
bottlenecks.
For example, if you’re trying to lose weight solely by increasing the amount of
physical exercise, while ignoring diet and recovery, you are likely to fail.
Similarly, attempting to increase your productivity by extending the working
hours without improving physical and mental wellbeing is likely to result in
burnout.
How can you apply this principle to improve your personal effectiveness?
“If you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or break a bad one, it is not
because you have lost your ability to improve. It is often because you have not yet
crossed the Plateau of Latent Potential.”—James Clear
The image on the left is based on the original ‘Plateau of Latent Potential’ graph from the book ‘Atomic Habits’
Very often, sticking with a new habit (like doing sit ups every day) will show no
visible results for a long time, until one day you suddenly reap the benefits (oh,
are those my abs? I’ve never seen them before!)
Copy the spread above to your journal. Choose a habit you want to build,
choose a symbol to represent it, and then track it every day. If you don’t see
progress straight away, use James Clear’s graph on the left to remind you that
habit progress is often not linear, but instead an exponential function where
small improvements compound over a long period of time.
Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into
account Hofstadter’s Law.
There is no simple fix for this problem. However, Jane Collingwood wrote an
article with very practical tips and different approaches for becoming better at
estimating time and meeting deadlines, such as:
Checking at regular intervals that you are working on the most important
task;
Avoid planning altogether;
Organizing filing systems;
Managing expectations;
Defining your most productive hours and using them for more demanding
tasks.
Let’s say you want to quit smoking. Here’s how you can use the habit loop
framework:
Maybe you take a break from work at the office, go out with your
colleagues, and smoke a cigarette while chatting outside.
2. Understand the reward (it’s usually there to meet an underlying need behind
the habit):
How does smoking reward you? Do you feel relief (from stress)? Connected
to others (by socializing)? Less tired and more inspired (taking a break from
work)?
Observe patterns: where are you when it happens? How do you feel when
it happens? What time is it? Who else is around? What action preceded the
urge?
Within five years, the team went from virtually no successes to dominating
world-class cycling events, including winning 60% of all medals available at the
2008 Olympic Games.
It was by studying cases like this one that James Clear wrote about his book
‘Atomic Habits’, where he explains how focusing on tiny, 1% improvements in
every area of life compounds into tremendous results over a relatively short
period of time.
In fact, if you can get as little as 1% better every day, you will increase your
overall performance 37 times within one year. In contrast, daily repetition of
bad habits and tiny errors will decrease your performance almost down to zero.
Which habits could you build in order to improve yourself by at least one
percent every day?
Maybe it’s meditating for five minutes. Maybe is going to the gym. Maybe it’s
making a phone call a day to someone you love. Choose one, and start your
ascent tomorrow.
It’s easier to build multiple habits when they’re connected by one single routine.
To make habit building more effortless, you can use existing habits as cues to
form new ones. In other words, you just “stack” habits onto each other, turning
them into connected links of the same routine.
Scott created a 13-step-process to turn small, positive habits into a simple-to-
complete sequence. Some steps include “picking a time and location”, “creating
a logical checklist”, and “focusing on repetition”.
In order to create your own habit stack, read S J Scott’s article, follow his
process, and then apply the following formula to fill in the journaling spread
in this section:
For example:
After brushing teeth (existing habit), I will floss one tooth (new tiny habit).
After flossing, I will switch my phone to flight mode (new tiny habit).
This strategy works extremely well in combination with the tiny habits method
developed by BJ Fogg. Focusing on small wins removes resistance (it’s much
easier to floss one tooth than all of them), which in turn helps to build
consistency. As new habits become automatic, they can be easily expanded
and/or built upon.
There are four different types of behaviors. If you want to change one, you first need
to identify it.
The matrix on the left is an adaptation from Nir Eyal’s Behavior Change Matrix.
In order to help people choose the best strategies for them instead of aimlessly
jumping from trend to trend, Nir Eyal created the Behavior Change Matrix,
which divides all behaviors into four different quadrants:
Expert behaviors require a high degree of self-control and mastery and are
common across experts in various disciplines (from professional sports to
science). They generally require long periods of diligent practice (e.g. performing
a neurosurgery).
Addictive behaviors require a significant amount of willpower to break, as
neural loops drive the addict to prioritize satisfying their urge over long-term
wellbeing. They require drastic measures, such as abstinence, change of
environment and involved support from others.
Habitué behaviors are generally relatively easy to resist (e.g. having that
amazing chocolate cake). The techniques build equanimity to face the
discomfort arising from not fulfilling the desire.
Ask yourself: “Which behaviors do I want to quit/form?”, and place them into their
appropriate category in the matrix.
Then, to learn how to tackle each of them, read Nir’s article ‘How to Design
Behavior (The Behavior Change Matrix)’, which will show you different strategies
to tackle each specific behavior.
Its main premise is that the things we say and do when we’re angry, sad, or
upset are simply a way to alleviate those feelings and fulfill our unmet
needs the best way we can.
This is easier said than done, but you’ll be surprised to see how healing and
powerful it can be to hear someone else reflecting these things back at us in
challenging moments.
Very often, all it takes to end conflict is this: to listen, and to feel listened
to—not for our thoughtless words, but for what’s really going on inside of us.
“In the long run, if it isn’t a win for both of us, we both lose. That’s why Win/ Win is
the only real alternative in interdependent realities.”—Stephen Covey
According to Stephen Covey, negotiations can happen under six different
mindsets (which can be applied to all sorts of interactions—romantic, business,
family, friends, etc.):
Lose/Win leads to capitulation and letting the other party “have their own way”.
Lose/Lose often arises when two Win/Lose people get together. They are based
on “getting back” or “getting even” and disregard individual losses, as long as the
outcome hurts the other party.
Win is the most common mindset, focusing on winning without considering the
outcome for the other party, leaving it up to them to protect their own interests.
Win/Win or No Deal is the higher form of Win/Win mindset, where both parties
agree to either find a mutually beneficial arrangement or forfeit the agreement
all together without any unmet expectations or hard feelings.
Whether it’s a discussion with your mother about what’s for dinner, setting
emotional boundaries in a relationship, or an agreement with a new business
partner, always aim for ‘Win/Win or No Deal’, as this will assure that
everyone is respected.
“With No Deal as an option, you can honestly say, “I only want to go for Win/ Win. I
want to win, and I want you to win. I wouldn’t want to get my way and have you not
feel good about it, because downstream it would eventually surface and create a
withdrawal. On the other hand, I don’t think you would feel good if you got your way
and I gave in. So let’s work for a Win/ Win. Let’s really hammer it out. And if we can’t
find it, then let’s agree that we won’t make a deal at all. It would be better not to deal
than to live with a decision that wasn’t right for us both. Then maybe another time
we might be able to get together.”
Here’s an example:
In fact, requests sent only a few days after are the most successful. This means
you don’t need to wait forever before you ask someone to return your favor,
just because you’re afraid they’ll think you had second intentions from the start.
People are more open to giving back than you think—it just helps to ask while
the exchange is still fresh.
“The most valuable relationships are not made of two people, they’re made of three.
A third person will always stabilize and grow the relationship between the other two.
It’s called a triad, and the more you create, the stronger your network.” — via
CultureSync, Tribal Leadership
It improves delegation skills (no need to always report back to one person
only);
It allows more introductions (network expansion);
It frees up time (no need to manage everyone one-on-one);
If done well, it guarantees integrity and trust (no secrets, no distrust).
If you’re still not convinced, check out this article on CultureSync which explains
more about how triads work.
Think about it: when emailing or texting, you’re only using 7% of your full
communication potential (and word exclusive communication is often
misinterpreted).
On the other hand, if you tell someone a positive message (content) but your
tonality and body language indicate otherwise (context), your communication
will be incongruent, and therefore likely to be misunderstood.
All aspects of daily life influence our sleep: which ones are affecting yours, and how
can you improve them?
The Sleep Heat Map is a tool created by Dot Zacharias aimed at helping you
increase the ROI of your sleep improvement by focusing on the areas of your
life that impact your sleep the most.
There are 16 sleep-affecting factors, divided by 3 categories (environment,
mental and physical), and arranged from left to right in increasing order of
difficulty.
Check out this article to learn more about each category and how to use the
Sleep Heat Map: Sleep Heat Map. What’s Stopping You From Sleeping?
Longevity is a function of how long you live and how well you live.
Living a long life (lifespan) is not enough: in order to enjoy it, you also need to
be healthy and have energy (healthspan). Ideally, you want to have both.
That’s why Peter Attia, a leading expert in the applied science of longevity, came
up with the following function:
He explains that, in order to extend your lifespan, you need to delay the onset
of atherosclerotic disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease.
Are you just concerned with living a long life, or are you doing your best to
increase the quality of your life as you’re living it?
To answer that question, you can start by reading Peter Attia’s excellent
article where he further explains the concepts of longevity, lifespan, and
healthspan.
Then, use the journal spread above to brainstorm ways in which you can level
up your healthspan preservation, by coming up with ideas to maintain your
brain, body, and spirit.
World class performance comes after 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, 12,500
hours of deliberate rest, and 30,000 hours of sleep.
You might have heard that in order to master any skills, you need 10,000 hours
of practice.
Mastering a skill is not just a matter of time—it’s about a very specific kind
of practice referred to as deliberate practice, as well as having enough
available mental and emotional resources available (here’s the study). That
means that, in order for those 10,000 hours to be effective, we also need
deliberate rest.
Even the most dedicated people can handle only up to 4 hours of highly focused
effort per day, translating into a little less than a decade of 5 day/week 4h
practice in order to reach mastery. Slightly longer than you thought?
The bottom line is, cutting on rest and/or sleep simply won’t do—even if you put
in the 10,000 hours (in fact, it might even be helpful to extend resting time, since
some of the most important components of creative work and knowledge
consolidation happen then).
So work hard, but don’t forget to rest hard too. If you need more information on
how to rest well, Alex Soojung-Kim Pang wrote an excellent book about it. And if
you want to learn about deliberate practice, here’s an article by Anders Ericsson
and Robert Pool.
To get back to balance, increase the level of what is missing, without reducing what’s
working well.
The image is based on a chart by Bill Burnett and David Evans in this worksheet.
Each of them is represented by one gauge. When feeling out of balance, it’s
usually because one (or more) of your gauges is falling behind the others.
You can either copy the dashboard directly into your journal, or access Bill and
David’s worksheet here.
For example, you are now focused on reading these words, but you are also
aware of some sounds around you, bodily sensations, and a few thoughts in
your head.
When aiming for productivity, we tend to give too much importance to focus
and attention, while disregarding awareness. This is highly ineffective, as we
miss out on exploring different possibilities, developing mental resilience, and
seeing the “bigger picture”.
When you practice both awareness and attention, you are increasing the
totality of your mental power.
You can achieve this through meditation (for example, focus on the sensation of
your breath while remaining aware of any external stimuli such as sounds, or
your body as a whole).
You can use body movement to change your mood and bring yourself to a peak
state.
The relationship between your physical posture and your state of mind is
reciprocal.
We all know that often our posture is a result of how we feel. For example, if
you lack confidence, you might turn your shoulders down, speak slowly and
quietly, and breathe in a shallow way.
However, the opposite is also true: you can use your posture to change your
mood. If you open up your chest, breathe in deeply, and speak clearly and
enthusiastically, this can radically change the way you feel.
This principle is often applied and taught by Tony Robbins, who jumps on a tiny
trampoline before he goes on stage to change his mood, and jumps into a cold
water tank every morning to raise his energy. He offers some techniques to
change your mood in his article ‘How to Reset Your Mind and Mood’.
Think about ways in which you can move your body in order to change the way
you feel. Write them down in your journal, and then start applying them to your
daily life. Keeping track of how often you do this will help you build it into your
routine and get more comfortable with the practice.
There are two types of fuel powering human bodies: food, and stored energy
(body fat). They can’t be accessed at the same time, and our insulin levels
control which one is being used.
While eating, your insulin levels go up and your body can only use energy from
the food you’re consuming.
Fasting reduces your insulin levels and your body switches to using stored
energy (body fat).
In other words, you either burn fat or store it. This is why no one starves for
not eating during sleep—the body has plenty of stored energy to use.
Are you feeling happy with the current state of your digestion? Do you feel
uncomfortably full when you go to bed? After meals? How are your energy
levels? Do you eat at the same times every day?
Dr. Jason Fung wrote an illuminating article explaining why extended periods of
fasting lead to successful long-term weight loss. Have a read, and then why not
observe your current eating patterns and experiment a bit?
Every object costs much more than the money you spend on it.
When you buy something, you’re spending much more than the money
you pay for it.
According to Leo Babauta, who wrote an article called ‘The True Cost of Stuff’,
some of these costs include:
The physical space the object takes (more stuff requires more space =
more cost);
Damage to the environment during the production cycle (factory,
transport, etc.);
Worrying about the item (if gets broken, lost, stolen, etc.);
Energy cost (for electrical items);
Maintenance cost and time (a car or a house are good examples);
Energy needed to eventually get rid of it (or even more money, in case you
own a piano).
Next time you want to buy something, think of its true cost: how much will it
cost you now and in the future? Is this something you really want? Is it worth its
true cost?
As Steve Jobs said: “Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith
in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do
wonderful things with them.”
What is the one tool which I could start using today, that would have the highest
positive impact on my life?
Acknowledgements
I want to take a moment to express my gratitude to the authors of mental
models, principles, concepts, tools and studies on which these 41 journaling
exercises are based.
It is my hope that this article will inspire people to incorporate your ideas into
their journaling practices, and consequently experience profound changes in all
areas of their lives.