Half Page Journals - Personal Check-Ins
The first thing I did this morning right after waking up was to check my phone for any urgent or important messages. The second thing? I opened up Duolingo and went right at it to maintain my 110 days' streak of learning and practicing German.
It is something that I have picked up recently. Duolingo's gamification of learning a new language and my competitive desire to maintain my position on leaderboards for XP (experience points) earned in my league keeps me going. Only this week did I learn that the program that they follow is in line with each language's respective official certifications. This discovery has led to me putting in more effort towards learning German.
There is one constant each morning that is probably common with all of us in our morning routine, and that is to check our phone for urgent or important notifications; sometimes, maybe, even checking social media and/or playing a quick round of our favorite games. Unfortunately, most of our night routine involves checking our phones for social media or just mindless browsing until we finally fall asleep.
I have been a writer since as long as I can recall. As a kid, I used to write poems and short essays. Sometimes, I would write songs. Other times, it would be just a journal with my thoughts poured into a diary. Writing used to be my main outlet for everything that I had learnt, everything that I was feeling and everything that I was working towards.
Just like the habit of checking my phone, I am aspiring to journal every single day. It is one of the most common habit amongst all successful people till date, regardless of their respective fields, generations or even their age. Their ability to be in touch with their thoughts on a regular basis provided them with ample space to work on other things, or have a focused approach towards what they were already doing. Personally, I have noticed the same in myself whenever I have had my writings in either forms.
Although I still occassionally write, and it is more private than open book as is this blog, I, wholeheartedly, support and wish this habit and capability for everyone (including myself). The more in touch we are with ourselves, the more valuable we are to ourselves.
Our journals need not be written in a specific format or have a system. Afterall, they are a reflection of our thoughts and emotions in that moment, and on those days. However, it makes more sense to have a framework to follow some days, especially when we aren't sure of what to write about or have had a bad day. One of the blogs where I was researching (and have now lost track of the link) mentioned that it helped the author stay focused and motivated because he knew that he NEEDS to write about something that he did that day, each day throughout his journey.
In one of those blogs, I found a few prompts to help me journal - not an entire essay everyday - just a few lines or maybe half a page, highlighting certain areas of my life. Unfortunately, once again, I have lost the link of the website where I found these prompts, but for your sake, I am putting these down here, in case you choose to start a new habit for yourself this year - A Half Page Journal habit for every day.
You can find the prompts here:
- What happened today? (Daily journal)
- What am I grateful for today? (Gratitude journal)
- What is my most important task today? (Productivity journal)
- How did I sleep last night? (Sleep journal)
- How do I feel today? (Mood journal)
Hope that these help you out in one way or the other. Until next time...
