How To Find Time For Journaling 

When people ask me how to find time journaling the following story pops up in my mind again and again.

Once upon a time, a young boy came to the great master to become his disciple of martial arts…

The master told him: “If you want me to teach you come back in a month”

The guy did what the master said and returned in a month…

The master looked at him smiling and told the young guy: 

“If you want me to teach you to come back in 40”.

With painful feelings of disappointment and discouragement, the future disciple went home and returned to the master in 40 days again…

The master took a serious look at him and said: 

“If you want me to teach you then come back in 10 days”.

Well, 10 days is not the same as 40, so with a bit of sorrow on my face but with the last hope for becoming a disciple of a great master he came back in 10 days.

The master was there sitting in the same pose as 2 times before …

“Now can you start teaching me?” - asked the young guy in a very angry tone.

“Sure” - replied the master: “Go with me”.

They went to the river and entered the water.

Suddenly the master took the young guy by the head with one head, 

closed the guy's nose with the other, and pushed the young guy under the water.

The master continued holding the guy under the water for some time and then after the poor guy was half powerless, the master took him out of the water.

After the guy returned to his powers, the master asked him:

“What did you want the most of all when we're under the water?”

“I wanted to breathe of course!” - said the guy.

Master replied: 

“Great, that was the first lesson to you: when you really want something as strongly as you want to breathe then you will get it. 

Now you have a bigger chance to become a good disciple.”

There is a deep lesson you can extract from this story yourself and apply where you need.

That's all, for now, keep tuned for the next part.

I already told you in the last posts and emails about the benefits of journaling and how journaling can influence your life positively in different aspects.

It can improve your clarity of thinking, and mindset, understand your emotions better, and so on.

So when you know all the benefits of journaling it will be easier to find time in a day for it.

Human brains are not designed in a way to do something without meaning.

We don’t like to waste time and energy.

And after your why to journal is bigger than your resistance to it then you will find at least 5-10 minutes a day for journaling or at least once in a few days.

One of the obstacles that can come into your mind is that you don’t like to write or you don’t have the best calligraphy…

Then I need to inform you that when I was at school I did not like to write all the time.

But now I enjoy writing in a journal.

Why?

It is simply because I do it for my growth, for the improvement of my life, and not because somebody will give me a good mark.

And nobody reads and studies my journals.

I am not Leonardo Davinci so I don’t care about calligraphy too much.

If the next day I can return to my journal and understand what I wrote there then I will be satisfied!

The truth is that calligraphy and other similar objections like the quality of journals are just excuses because we don’t have a profound reason. 

So it is all about motivation behind journaling and establishing consistent journaling habits.

I will go deeper into journaling habit creation in later chapters but now I want to focus on motivation.

As psychologist Victor Frankl famously said, “If you will find why you will find how”.

That's let's look at journaling as a tool for your better self not a destination in itself. 

It is all about “throughout” goal setting.

Throughout means that one goal leads to the other.

There is no point in setting a goal to start journaling just for the sake of starting journaling.

There are different types of journals.

Here we are talking about journaling for growth and personal development.

The goal of journaling should have a meaning to you and it needs to give you some outcome not possible before - your better future self, or in other words, if you like the version of you that realizes most of your potential.

And “throughout” goals setting can work for different goal setting not only journaling.

Imagine you are looking at the goal of starting journaling and there are no additional positive outcomes behind it.

Then after a few times trying to keep it, you will stop doing it.

But you can set a goal to track your moods in a journal, 

write down negative thoughts and beliefs you want to work on, 

or simply write your victories of the day before bed to become your own cheerleader to motivate yourself.

All these things become motivational forces that are bigger than journaling for the sake of journaling.

Bottom line:

So even if you are a busy parent with 5 kids and have a business to manage you will find time for journaling if you make it a priority and see what benefit it can give you...

And you will make it a priority if the outcome goal you will achieve is bigger than journaling itself.

Here is a tiny practical assignment.

So if you did not do it yet, then take your journal and slowly write down things that you want to work on and improve in your life…

Don’t keep it in your head.

Make it objective things you can look at, again and again, review them and look at where you want to get to.

Make it your personal North Star.