About 6 months ago, a friend of mine gave me a copy of the Best SELF Journal, as they knew I was a firm believer in journaling, yet can’t always find the time (or at least that’s what I tell myself). Throughout both of my yoga teacher training courses I have found that journaling was a powerful tool in helping to sort through your thoughts and get important ones down on paper so you can better see them, feel them and just be with them. It might sound like kind of “woo woo” stuff, but what this converts to is a clearer mind, improved focus, and more powerful internal drive. This is because you can manage your thoughts instead of juggling a million of them all at once. Once you can identify the most important things you need to devote yourself to, you can channel more of your brainpower that way.
The SELF Journal has helped me find the time to journal, and to journal better than ever before. In just 5-10 minutes a day I was able to accomplish the most important parts of my journaling routine. Then if I had extra time in the day, I could spend longer going deeper into certain areas.
What is the Best Self Journal?
The Best Self daily journal is sort of like a mix between a planner and a journal. It’s designed so that you write in it every day but it will only the take 5-10 minutes each day. The creators of it took a deep dive into the world of self-motivation and productivity, to discover what the tricks and habits were that made some of the most successful people in the world so successful. With this information, they structured the layout of the book so that it helps stimulate self-motivation and increase productivity, by helping you get clear on your goals and appreciate what you have and what you have already accomplished. To be honest, the science and detailed behind it all are a bit beyond my full understanding, but the effects have been obvious.
We had an insanely busy 2016, with our honeymoon in Finland, spending time in Argentina, moving back to Canada from Chile, running our longest ultra marathon ever, and I switched to a new job. The stressors were everywhere, and some of them were big. Sure, deep down I knew it was all for the better, and that I truly wanted to do everything we were doing. But at times it was pretty hard to manage. Once I started with this journal, it made the world of difference. Yes, I was in fact more focused and productive at achieving my goals and getting things done. But even for the areas that I wasn’t able to influence or control, I found myself more content with their progress or how they were happening. It felt like I saw the world a bit clearer, even though that’s a bit of wish washy statement!
Best Self Pro’s
Simplicity
The things you write in the journal each day don’t have to be epic statements or super deep memoirs. It can be absolutely anything that you feel urged to write down. Sometimes you might be trying to work through a difficult problem in your life, so you dive deep into that. Other times you might be stressed because there are a million small errands to run before an upcoming trip. It’s that simple, you just let it flow. The effectiveness of it, is in the simplicity of it.
Time Commitment
Like I said before, I used to consider journaling as a longer process where I would devote an hour or more to it so that I could really get lost in the writing. This is not like that. It’s 5-10 minutes a day, and it makes a huge impact. We’ve all heard of the 80/20 rule, and this is whole heartedly following that. The 20% of your thoughts to get 80% of the clarity. Like Tony Robbins once said, “If you don’t have 10 minutes to spare, you don’t have a life.”
Consistency
Maybe it wasn’t designed for this. But after adopting the practice of writing in my journal every day, I started to leach on that newly built habit to try and build more. So I thought what other things could I do either immediately before or after, or even during the time I was writing in my journal. First, I started oil pulling, while I wrote. You’re not talking anyways, so why not swoosh some coconut oil around in your mouth to help whiten your teeth. Then after I became consistent in my oil pulling habit, I started doing some simple stretches while writing. Nothing extreme or exhausting. But sitting in pigeon pose or in a wide-legged straddle, would add 5-10 minutes each day of stretching. This one is still in progress, but I am still finding myself doing it more often than not, which is more than I used to!
Best Self Con’s
The con I have can not and will not ever be fixed or removed. That’s because it in itself is one of the hidden perks. In doing lots of traveling, there are always so many things to pack. The beauty of the technological era is that so many things are being made digital, that it is easy to bring more things along on your phone or computer. The Self journal, is not one of those things. It requires you to add on a small notebook to your packing list if you want to continue writing. Most of the time I still bring it, because I find the value it brings me is worth a little extra weight. But sometimes, it would be nice if there was an app. I know deep down, however, that pulling me away from the technology and putting pen to paper is almost a therapy it itself, so I guess things could be worse!:)
Would We Recommend the Best Self Journal?
It really doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from, what you’re job is, what your current stress levels are at, this is one of those tools that can help improve your life from terrible to a little less terrible or even great to a little more great. It doesn’t take any special skills or beliefs, simply to show up and write what’s on your mind. So in saying this, I can absolutely recommend to anyone wanting to find a little more productivity or clarity in their day to day lives, go check out the Best Self Journal now!
