Reward Yourself for Thinking

I’ve seen plenty of advice that says it’s good to write down your thoughts into a journal. However, I never took it seriously in the past.  I only had a pocket-journal that didn’t do much of anything other than take up some space.

Then I picked up a fancy case bound journal – the paper feels real good and is nice to write on.  There’s something about having this more ‘special’ way to capture my ideas that tickled my unconscious fancy.  I just seemed more willing to jot stuff down in the fancy journal than in the pocket-journal.

Some will swear by a napkin and others will swear by an audio app on your phone (I recommend Note Everything for Android owners – it rocks).  I use a fine combination of all of them – temporarily.  My “home-base” is the fancy journal.  I just keep coming back to it with all of my napkins, post-its, audio recordings, and sketches.  Part of this is having a home-base to use and the other part is convincing yourself your thoughts are important enough to record.

Have you ever looked back on some of your work from high school? What about from a past job or hobby? The memories come flooding back and the lessons learned pop into the fore-front real quick like. It’s as if you’re transported back in time with the knowledge you’ve gained since.

Your journals, records, and drawings are a vast resource. You’ll be amazed at what you gather whether you use them as a spark for your next brainstorming session or to capture the storm of ideas that float though you daily. Remember to capture those moments of inspiration. They might not make sense now, but they will later.

Convince yourself that your thoughts are important enough to record.  Do what works for you.  Test, retest, but eventually pick your home-base and know your thoughts count.

Think of journaling as rewarding yourself for thinking.  And start journaling now.

By the way, did you know Sir Richard Branson has over 250 journals with his recorded thoughts and ideas?  Draw your own conclusions.

What do you use to record your thoughts, feelings, and creativity? I want some ideas!