What priority is your journal?

December 24, 2016

We make time for what is important, and each of us is granted the same 24 hours a day. How we spend these precious moments, reveals what we value.

Where does your journal fall on your priority list?

No, your journal didn't slip me $20 because it is lonely. But, it is helpful to assess how we spend our time. We tend to add useful items to our to-do list and failure to intentionally remove others to ensure balance. Instead, the others atrophy due to neglect. The action-oriented posture...

Whose journals inspire you?

December 23, 2016

Mirror-image cursive encompassed 13,000 pages of notes and drawings. The topics compose a mini encyclopedia. Detailed studies of flying machines, plants, architecture, babies, emotions, and drapery, are a sampling of the journals Leonardo da Vinci wrote. Many of his studies are written in a manner to make publishing easy. This genius is human; the journals include lists of debtors and weekly groceries.

In 1994, Bill Gates paid over $30M for 18 sheets of paper that contain 72 pages of da Vinci's journal, known as the Codex Leicester. I haven't journaled flying machines, but I have journaled grocery lists, so I have hope for...

What benefits has journaling delivered?

December 23, 2016

What benefits has journaling delivered?

The sales copy sold you on the idea; did all the promises come true? The promised benefits of keeping a journal are remarkable. Greater creativity and self-awareness, serenity, stress relieve, and enhanced relationships are a sampling of promises provided for daily writing.

Thankfully Google didn't return a list of journal promises that included six-pack abs, $1,000,000 in the bank, and sparkling white teeth in 30 days.

The promises of journaling are similar to meditation...

How well do you listen when your journal speaks?

December 22, 2016

"Self-awareness involves deep personal honesty. It comes from asking and answering hard questions." ~ Stephen Covey

Journaling provides the opportunity to document this personal honesty. The writing is a safe space to develop self-awareness through analysis of our answers. The answers will include clear action steps. Some will be terrifying.

Starting a journal is easy. Consistency is hard. Implementing the self-imposed actions is brutal.

How does your journal speak to you?

December 20, 2016

This inquiry is not a paid promotion for a pending Disney movie. I am not pitching a cute singing journal for the next McDonald's Happy Meal's campaign.

My growth through inquiry and questions were the result of answering hard questions straight from the heart. My friends and I would know it was a real answer when the answer landed with a dull thud. These were the answers that were not sugar coated, or on the Instagram highlight real, but a solemn moment of truth.

What are your journaling tactics?

December 19, 2016

The Marine Corps develops a plan before an invasion. The Navy SEALs strategize how to conduct a special operation before taking action. Is it any less important for you to detail your plan of daily engagement? We have one life and how we allocate our time is critical.

What is the structure of your journal?

I have used three different formats over the years. The five-minute journal is a quick bulletized list of questions regarding planning, accomplishments, and gratitude, completed in the morning and evening. Julia Cameron popularized the morning pages in her enduring work, The Artist Way. These pages are three stream-of-conscious pages...

Why do you journal?

December 19, 2016

Veins bulging at her temples, body drenched in sweat, and muscles are screaming for relief. Your Muse continues to administer CPR to keep your creativity alive. Every chest compression pushes oxygenated blood to the extremities and keeps the brain functioning. The Muse knows you both have much left undone.

There are more poems, code, proposals, equations, and songs to be written. If your creative persistence dies, your addition to the annals of the human experiment remains incomplete, and your Muse dies with you.

Latest & Greatest

Engage

These INQUIRIES are here for you.

My intention is for you to ask better questions and think deeper.