I began journaling just over 30 days ago (32 journal entries to be exact).  I've heard many successful individuals claim that journaling has helped the tremendously in life and so in an attempt to become more successful myself, I decided to give it a try.  This is my story:

Pre-Journaling

I have always been a big follower of a few different bloggers.  My favorite of which are Tim Ferriss, James Altucher, and Ramit Sethi.  Tim Ferriss has an awesome blog post about his morning journal and quite literally opens the pages to show you what's inside (link to blog post: http://fourhourworkweek.com/2015/01/15/morning-pages/).  I was fascinated by the post and had heard from many of his podcast guests that they also kept a journal as a way to not only meditate, but to actively engage in the lost art of handwriting.  I decided to pick up a simple Moleskine journal off of Amazon and I was set to begin my journaling journey.

Journaling for 30 Days

I decided that my goal would be to journal for 30 days.  I committed to writing one page in my journal every day hoping to reap multiple benefits that I had heard.  I decided that adding journaling to my morning routine would not require a large time commitment and would be relatively easy to sustain.  Little did I know that it would be a difficult task I had decided to pursue.  

The first entry was basically me laying out what I wanted to do with my journal and what I wanted to get out of it.  Primarily, I wanted to ease the "monkey mind" as Tim Ferriss calls it and start my day with a success.  I have an app on my phone that gives me a reminder every morning to journal and simply wanting to hit that check mark next to it was motivation enough.  On a side note, I think it's important to have reminders of daily habits you want to reinforce.  Something as simple as a phone reminder was enough for me and got me to write every day.

Easing my "monkey mind" was something I hadn't thought of before, but I quickly realized that the simple journaling process of writing down something, and in many cases literally anything, was extremely helpful to making the rest of my day more productive.  Starting the day by letting out many of the issues in my mind cleared it for more productive thoughts to enter.  After journaling, I've found that my mind is clear and ready to take on the day like I never thought possible.  The simple act of writing and getting things onto paper was more beneficial than I had anticipated originally.  

Another benefit that I noticed was that the act of journaling made me much more likely to fulfill other commitments I had made.  I had been writing 10 Ideas a Day, a prescription for improving oneself from James Altucher, but had a shaky track record of actually following through with this.  Once I committed to journaling every morning, I became consistent with writing my 10 ideas as well.  Sitting at my desk and forcing myself to write a page in the journal also made me just write the 10 ideas since I was already at my desk.  

I noticed that I also was more clear headed following my journal writing.  I work a 9 to 5 job as well and so journaling forced me to wake up earlier than normal.  Whether I felt more clear headed because of the act of journaling or simply because I was forced to wake up earlier is something I may never figure out, but I did notice that my productivity at work increased through my journal process.

I had tried to keep a journal multiple times prior to this challenge, but I never seemed to follow through.  Usually, it was a New Years Resolution to write a page in a journal every day for a year.  The issue with this is that things go well for a couple days, maybe even a week, but then something comes up and I would miss a day.  Then I would say to myself, "well, I missed yesterday so what will another day matter?  I'll get back on it tomorrow," and invariably I never would.  The goal of a whole year was too ambitious for me.  I needed a shorter time frame to have as a goal so that it felt achievable.  I know this is goal setting 101, but I didn't always take it seriously until this journaling challenge.

I will definitely be continuing to journal every morning.  I know that 30 days is not a long enough time frame to truly understand the benefits of it.  My hope is that I can continue to journal for another thirty days.  As James Altucher says, "Look to improve 1% per day, and I guarantee your life will be completely different in 6 months."  This is one aspect of my attempt to improve 1% per day and I am looking forward to seeing what is to come.

My Challenge to You!

Set a goal of journaling for 30 days.  I know it sounds like a big commitment now, but it truly isn't.  You can easily write a page in a journal with between 5 and 10 minutes a day.  It's really quite easy.  I guarantee you will be surprised with your results.

I would love to hear your comments about journaling whether you are an experience journal writer or a newbie like myself.  If you are thinking about doing the challenge, please comment below and we can help each other be more accountable.  I look forward to seeing the Steemit Journal Club become great.

Thank you,

Brandon