This is a guest post by Dolly Garland of Kaizen Journaling.
A while ago, Expert Enough did a post titled Do Shortcuts Exist to Becoming an Expert?. There were a lot of insightful answers from super successful people, but it was one comment that influenced this post today.
Seth Godin said,
There aren’t shortcuts. Merely direct paths.
It resonated with me because for the last twleve years, I have been experimenting with my direct path to expertise. The journey has been filled with detours, but by keeping a consistent method, the path is slowly getting straighter.
This method is journaling.
What is a Journal?
According to dictionary.com,
a journal is a daily record, as of occurrences, experiences, or observations.
But to use it as your personalised guide to finding your direct path, you need to do the above and take it further.
How to Turn Your Journal into a Direct Path to Expertise
Start with what you love.
Answer the below questions at regular intervals to make sure what you love is in alignment with the person you are.
- If money was no object, time was no object, and there was nothing and no one holding you back, what would you do with your life?
- What makes you feel alive and enthusiastic and fired up?
- Can you imagine doing something every day of your life?
- What do you love to talk about?
Answer in various ways. Make a list. Draw a mindmap. Doodle. Create a flow chart. If you are more artistically inclined, draw images. Create wordles. Let your creativity flow and instinct take over.
How do you spend your life?
For an entire week, record your average day in minute detail. (Don’t do this when you are on vacation. To be effective, it must capture what the majority of your days are like). It doesn’t matter if it sounds boring. Force yourself to do it for just one week. This is about being mindful of your every waking moment. Record everything, including:
- What time did you wake up?
- What did you have for breakfast?
- When did you go to work?
- What did you accomplish throughout the day?
- How did you interact with your colleagues?
- Did someone make you smile?
- Did you help someone?
- Places you went to
- People you spoke to
- How do you feel about those people?
- Frustrations
- Strangers you met
To make the efficient use of time during your week:
- Always keep your journal with you (or smartphone if you are using an electronic app)
- Write in fragments or lists
- Don’t worry about spelling and grammar
- Make use of lull time such as commute to work, waiting in lines, lunch break
- Do it throughout the day, as and when events happen, so it will only take a couple of minutes and you won’t have a daunting feeling of having to write an essay at the end of the day
List your goals
You can do it in as much detail as you like. Are you in a habit of making long list of goals? Then, do that. You can do:
- Daily goals
- Weekly goals
- Monthly goals
- Yearly goals
- Life goals – this is the most important step. Don’t skip your life goals. If you don’t want to get into detail level, that’s okay. Just make a list of your life goals. What do you want to accomplish? What do you want to be remembered by? Don’t censor yourself. Be honest.
Make sure your goals are aligned
- Analyze the week you recorded. The way you are spending your days is the way you are spending your life. Is that in alignment with what you love, or what you want long term? Those seven days represent your current life. Unless you change something, they also represent your future life. Are you happy with that?
- Are your goals, as you wrote them above, in alignment with what you love?
- Do any of your goals overlap with things that you are enthusiastic about? Things that get you fired up?
If they are, congratulations. If they aren’t, you might be focusing on the wrong things. Take a look at your goals, take a look at things you love, and spend some quality you-time to get your priorities straight. Once you have goals that are in alignment with what you love…
Start With Why
Why do you want this? Just loving, wanting, or being attracted to it is not enough. It is your why that will sustain you on the road to expertise. It is your why that will keep you true to the core of your personality. It is your why that will energize you when the going gets tough.
Once you have your why, and the goals that are in alignment with your why and what you love, then you will be on your direct path.
|
Share this post
|
Get free email updates
|
Dolly, you are a woman after my own heart. Great post and spot-on advice! I’m a long-time writer and journaler, and make sense of the world with words. Writing in a journal – lists, notes, goals, random weirdness, whatever – keeps me focused and on track with what I’m trying to do in this life. Thanks for sharing these tips!
Deonne,
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it. I’m a writer too, and journaling has helped me with writing and actually just in all areas of my life. I don’t go anywhere without my moleskine.
Hey Dolly. I love how flexible a journal can be. It has SO many uses that we often forget exist. Thanks for reminding me of “why” I write in my journal.
Tony,
That’s so true. That’s why I often journal about journaling to remind myself of all the things I could do, but sometimes just forget if I get into standard habit of doing same things every day!
Great post. This is something I do a lot. Life is not about thinking about the obstacles rather thinking past them. From time to time I think everyone kind of zig-zags towards there end goals. This is where you pick up life experience but to get back on track then this is a great example. Thanks for sharing.
Kevin,
Absolutely. We don’t achieve anything from just thinking about obstacles unless we actually do something about it too.
“It is your why that will sustain you on the road to expertise.”
Totally agree with this, the why is what you get you up at 4am or keep get your through the next 60 minutes.
Great advice!
Lori,
Absolutely! Without that WHY to sustain us, hard work would feel like hard work, rather than a step towards achievement.
Thank you so much for this. I’ve been struggling with “getting a real life” for months now and I feel as if I’m not getting anywhere.
I started a journal/diary of sorts (diarnal?) lol. I wrote on it one day when I felt so sad and depressed. I had bad thoughts going through my head and I just wrote it all down. Let’s just say it prevented me from doing something I’d regret.
Reading this post gave me direction on what to do. Thank you.
Glori,
I’m glad this helped. It is frustrating when we feel stuck and in a rut, and it’s wonderful that you turned to journaling. Sometimes, all we need is to get it out of our system, because keeping it all in the head is simply so overwhelming.
Best wishes,
Dolly.
Hi Dolly, Great post! I love the idea of tracking a week and seeing how my actual life is, or isn’t, supporting those life goals. Thanks.
Brian,
Thank you. Tracking could be really powerful, especially if it is done properly, in a focused and consistent manner. It will show you actual results, which might or might not surprise you depending on how self-aware you are. But always a good exercise, I think.
Dolly,
Spot on advice! Even though I’m late to the party I did want to jump in and give you the major two thumbs up. You are a boon to the journal writers world. Good going.
Yvonne,
Party’s going to be on-going
So you are only stylishly late. Thank you for your kind comment, means a lot coming from a Journal in a Box !
This is such an interesting new take on using a journal to create the life you are dreaming of. It’s so easy to just ramble on and about what’s going on, what’s not working etc. I.E. documenting your life as it is. But journals can be so much more.
Love the idea of accompanying the words with doodles.
And of course my challenge is going back and reviewing the journal to assess progress I have made. thanks for such great info!
Sarah,
It’s a perfectly reasonable assumption that people use journal for documenting their life. That is a distinction between journal and a diary, and perhaps I will have to write more about that
Dolly,
I’ve always admired journaling and try to, but have never seen it in the way you described!
Taking away the distractions, externally and internally, and writing it all out brings clarity – paving the way for a direct path towards becoming an expert.
I journal in various ways, from drawing to bullet points.
What have you found to be your favorite way to journal, in regards to format?
Great, practical ideas, Dolly. Thanks!
Emiko,
I must admit, it took me a while to see journaling the way I do now, and it’s always been an evolving thing.
Personally, my favourite method is writing, because I am very much a words person, rather than picture person. I do have lists, and sometimes I would draw things like mindmaps or brainstorm charts etc. but whatever the form, it’s definitely more about words.
Thanks so much for this Dolly. I have toyed with journalling but have never really done much with it.
I can see that following your suggestions would result in so much more clarity and direction! I’m looking forward to having another go!
Claire,
That’s awesome. Journaling has so much more potential than most people realise.
I’m planning various posts and free guides which would help people who either don’t journal, or have stopped journaling, so watch out for that