30 day challenge - Just getting started
Having held a role in leadership for almost a decade, I have had the pleasure of learning about many different tools that help with engagement and self-discovery. One of them that is used a lot and referenced often is daily journaling.
As a science major in college, I didn't have the opportunity to do much reading for pleasure and "journaling" took form in that of a lab book. Needless to say it was all business and not for personal productive purposes.
Flash forward almost ten years and after a masters degree and many roles later, I find myself trying to look at these tools that were once a required mechanism to show outcomes for the scientific method as a tool to help reshape my thinking and push myself forward.
Through networking and research, I recently came across a life coach that I discovered from Instagram. I quickly found myself relating to much of her content and in one of her stories, she asked for those ready to make a change, to send her a dm. She spoke of a 30 day challenge that required a certain attitude, but to also record daily. My first reaction was, "this is simply another tactic from a coach to use the go-to tool of journaling to realize a behavior change".
Though a bit skeptical, I eagerly followed the attitude instructions but hesitated to enact the journaling part of the challenge.
We often joke of our devices listening to our internal voices and shortly after, an ad pops up with a product or service related to that. Naturally this was the case for me. I discovered an app that is intuitive and innovative in the world of journaling.
After doing the exercise a few days now, my prejudice of journaling is slowly shedding its skin. My misconception that a journal entry has to be a remarkable novel has faded and I now know that it’s more of a reflection exercise to get a pulse and quick thought down of the topic you are focusing on. I find myself thinking throughout the day “this is something I should add to my entry today”.
I’ve always known journaling to be a great tool but never really understood it. I can now say that it takes work but each person will find their own value in the exercise.
I look forward to continue this 30 day experiment and will keep you posted.
