You can help you achieve goals through journaling because it gives you a safe place to figure things out.
Here’s how…
We all set goals every day, whether we realize it or not. You can set goals for what you’re going get done today, how much weight you’re going to release, even how much housecleaning you’re going to get done. Some goals are short term, like the daily tasks you know you need to get done. Others are longer term, like releasing 100 pounds of excess weight. Still others may be really long term like buying a house or going on the trip of a lifetime. You get the idea.
Here are 3 ways you can achieve your goals through journaling…
Journaling Makes Your Goals Real
There’s something about writing things down that makes them real. When you watch the ink flow across the page, that’s when your thoughts become things and it starts the process of turning your dreams into reality.
Even though you might be thinking about what you want to achieve, it’s not really a concrete goal until you have it in writing. There’s a quote that talks about goals being dreams with deadlines. That’s what it’s like… When you’re thinking about a goal, it’s still in the dream stage. As soon as it hits the pages of your journal, it’s a goal and now you can start making plans for how you are going to achieve it.
Journaling Gives You a Place to Record Obstacles and Successes
Using a journal to record your progress gives you a way to see patterns in how you work to achieve your goals. One of the things journaling to achieve goals will do is show you clearly is any obstacles or blocks on your path.
Often, we know that we are facing blocks that prevent us from achieving what we set out to do, but there are times when we don’t know what that block is. You might be facing some kind of writer’s block where the words just won’t come, but you don’t really know what’s causing the block. Journaling about it can help you work though whatever’s on your mind and open the path for you.
Another thing journaling to achieve goals can do for you is make any patterns in your behavior obvious. As you write things down, you’ll see how your thought patterns work – issues that keep coming up over and over again, people or events that you let distract you – all these will become clear as you journal your thoughts and record the reasons for your successes and stumbling blocks.
The great thing about this is, once you can see the patterns and the obstacles, you can do something about them. Your reality doesn’t change until your thoughts do, and using a journal is a great way to actually see your thoughts and make the changes you need to in order to reach your goals.
Journaling Keeps You Accountable
Accountability is a big part of setting and achieving goals. But, you don’t always want to share your goals with others. Another way you can achieve goals through journaling is by using your journal to keep track of your progress. When you do this you’re keeping yourself accountable to the most important person… You!
Writing your goals down, detailing your progress and how you feel about what you are doing makes it all more real, so that even if you can’t see physical results yet, you know that what you are doing is bringing you one step closer to your goal. This is especially true of wellness goals… because you will notice changes in how you feel long before you see visible results.
Creating a journaling practice is an amazing way to keep track of the progress you are making on your goals. From the day you first write your goal down to the day you achieve it, your journal will help you stay accountable to yourself, stay focused on the outcome, and overcome any obstacles and setbacks in your path.
Do you journal? Share your thoughts in the comments below…