A Notebook for Success
#2 - Writing to Improve your Life
Let's start with a simple question:
Do you own a notebook?
If the answer is yes, great. Today, we're going to talk about techniques and metrics to use in this one to improve your life.
If the answer is no, what are you waiting for?
How can you make progress if you have no measurable data?
If you want to be serious about improving your life, a notebook will be an invaluable ally.
Before we start, let's get one important question out of the way.
Track on a computer?
Or
Write by hand?
I could link a few studies proving that handwriting has advantages in terms of memorization and cognitive performance. But hardly anyone will read them.
So I'll just tell you about my experience.
Most of my lines that you read are originally handwritten. There's a kind of magic in handwriting. It's as if the information or emotion comes directly from your heart, travels up your arm to your hand, merges with the ink and reaches the notebook.
A physical manifestation of your emotion, personalized by the unique identity of your handwriting. It's not just another line on your computer.
There's also the effect of transmitting your ideas from the immaterial realm to the material realm. When notes are on computers, they're just lines of text with little personalization. They exist in a digital realm.
But handwritten notes exist. In reality. They're there, present, in your notebooks, physically. Your ideas are part of this world. They're starting to come to life. You can annotate them, cross them out, regroup them, rewrite them. It's much easier to be creative in a handwritten notebook than in a digital one.
Now, let's talk about what to write in your notebook.
Goals
People who write down their goals achieve them more often. Once again, studies exist, and in the age of AI, they're just a few clicks away.
Why are people who write down their goals more likely to achieve them?
Excellent question. If I had to make a bet. It would be because of the power of commitment. Writing down a goal is like making a pact with yourself. It's far more powerful than simply saying to yourself: "I'm going to do it."
It's a written commitment. And betraying it hurts us because humans like to be consistent with their decisions and commitments.
Want to stay true to your goals? Start by writing them down.
"I, make a commitment to put my whole heart into achieving this goal during this year. To achieve this, I undertake to carry out the following actions [insert frequency and time frame]."
Humans manage to live by disappointing others. But they hate disappointing themselves.
The best-known method is to write down our annual goals. Then break them down into quarterly goals. Then into monthly goals. Then weekly. Then daily.
In this way, the perilous journey becomes only a small, surmountable step to be taken each day. The impossible, when divided into 365, becomes possible. From then on, it's you vs you.
Tracking
Once you've got the goals, you need to track your results. Feelings. Are my days too hard? Too easy? Can I keep up this pace over the long term? Do my efforts pay off? What mistakes am I making? What can I do better?
Humans learn just like in a video game. Try and retry until perfection. The more feedback he gets, the faster he'll get there.
When to write?
It's usually early in the morning or just before bedtime. Human beings love rituals. It reinforces the habit. The more you associate this moment with a special time, the easier it will be to achieve.
This is often the mistake made when creating a habit. We're not made to do things we hate. We need to associate pleasure and reward with our tasks.
There are many ways to do it. We can associate it with one of our favorite drinks. Buy a special pen. A notebook with a visual you like.
This notebook is the one you use to help improve your life.
It deserves all our attention for a unique moment.
What else to write about?
The list goes on and on. You can use one framework or none at all. Using a framework makes the task simpler and more automated.
Popular frameworks include:
Best memory of the day: to make every single day of our lives unique. There are lots of good small things that happen to us and we quickly forget about them.
Gratitude: the things you're grateful for today
Learning: What I learned today
Free writing: focuses on capturing the emotions of the moment
To-Do List: for the next day or week, depending on your writing rhythm
Drawing: If you like to draw, your notebook is the perfect place to do it.
There are still plenty of ideas to explore.
The Sky is the limit.
A blank notebook is a new chapter of your life waiting to be written.
Human beings have the capacity to reinvent themselves. Their minds possess the greatest power of all: imagination.
That's what made us masters of this earth. That made us visit the depths of the oceans. That makes us fly in the sky. That makes us push our limits every day.
Our brains produce countless good ideas. But they float. If we don't capture them when they're there. They could be gone forever. We need to organize and sort them.
The notebook will do that.
It will be an ally. A support. A friend.
The one that helps us capture what's essential without forgetting anything.
Like an architect who needs blank sheets of paper to draw his blueprint so that his magnificent house can take shape. Our notebooks can help us turn our greatest imaginations into reality.
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This is a small like for you but a giant leap for my publication.
A timely reminder of the power of writing things down. The effort of handwriting allows us to review, learn and understand. The power of this cannot be taken lightly.
Love it Viam!
Writing and keeping a daily notebook has changed the way I approach life.