Welcome back!
Starting with this lesson and for the next several lessons, you’re going to learn plenty of surefire ways to stay fired up about your goals. Be sure to put these lessons in a safe place, because the next time you feel unmotivated you’ll want to re-read them and apply these killer tips.
Let’s jump in…
Keeping a Journal to Boost Motivation
Keeping a journal doesn’t mean you keep a diary where you share your angst like a teenage girl. Instead, what you’re doing is keeping a journal of your path to success.
As such, here are the types of items you need to include in your journal:
- Your goals. Put your goal in the front of your journal so that you see it every time you look in your journal.
- Your affirmations. If you’ve created any affirmations or inspirational quotes, add them to the beginning of your journal to keep you motivated.
- Your “road map.” Include your plan that you’ll use to reach your goal.
- Your to-do lists. You can put all your to-do lists in your journal, which will help you keep track of how much you get done each day.
- Your starting point. If you have some sort of proof of your starting point, list it in your journal. For example, take a “before” picture if you have a weight loss goal. If it’s a monetary goal, then you might create a visual depiction of this goal, such as a “measuring stick” with $0 at the bottom and your goal at the top. Then you can color in the stick as you move towards your goal.
- Milestones and progress. You should chart your progress in your journal. You may even talk about how you feel as you reach various milestones, as focusing on the emotion will keep you fired up and moving towards the big goal.
- Lessons and mistakes. If you make mistakes, write them down. That way you can learn from these mistakes and do better next time.
In other words, your journal should include everything about your journey.
Here’s why it works:
- Helps you gain clarity. Writing your goals down helps solidify them and makes you clear about where you’re heading.
- Keeps you focused. It’s not as easy to get distracted when you have an entire journal that’s focused on one goal.
- Allows you to see your progress. Sometimes it feels like you’re not making any progress or that your goal isn’t reachable. Keeping a journal allows you to quickly see that you’ve come a long way. And once you see how far you’ve come, you’ll get an extra shot of motivation to keep moving forward.
- Holds you accountable. When you know you have to “report” to your journal every day, you feel an obligation to report good things. In other words, keeping a journal is a way to hold yourself accountable.
If you’ve never kept a journal before, you may be tempted to disregard this advice. Don’t do it. Instead, I ask that you try it for one month. Then you’ll see for yourself just how well it works!