How I Communicate With Myself

Throughout my life, I have heard that it was ok to talk to yourself as long as you didn’t answer back.  People might think you are crazy or something.  Well I must be crazy.  Not only to I talk to myself, I can carry on quite a back and forth conversation.  I suppose that I could just find Harvey hopping around and have the conversation with him. I might get a totally different perspective.  I don’t just talk to myself though, I also leave sticky notes and take a mirage of whiteboard pictures of scribblings only I understand.  I even send myself emails from myself to remind myself to do something for myself.  Kind of chaotic huh.

I also try to do a daily recap of my day in a journal format. To be clear, most of the information on the virtual page is just work related.  I have a structure with a freeform placeholder at the end.  Also, I recap my previous day in the morning of the next day to put down on paper the ideas that have been percolating while sleeping.  When I do it consistently, I feel refreshed at the start of the day, ready to capture the moments ahead and bend them to my will.  When I don’t journal, I am often missing elements, forgetting tasks, or randomizing myself on the not important and not urgent quadrant of life.

What do I journal about

I have kind of a format that I took from Michael Hyatt’s journal template.  It also has flavors of J.D. Meier’s Getting Agile Results.  Here are core elements and why I choose to capture them.

• What win’s did I accomplish yesterday?  I often need to be reminded on what was productive the day before.  Each win is a gratitude moment, because it is something that was accomplished.
• What did I learn yesterday? I have a goal to learn 3 new things every day.  They don’t have to be big, shareable, or even related to the core things I do.  When I learn these ideas, I try to share as freely as possible so that others may benefit.
• What is one thing I must accomplish today?  I need to set out on that task with vigor, urgency and focus.  The sense of the win in the day is so critical to keep pushing forward.
• Freestyle - I jot down whatever comes to mind for about 5 minutes.  It is in these moments when inspiration hits, weights are lifted, and the innovation occurs.  Sometimes the 5 minutes turns into 30, but that is ok.  I need that time.

Take the time to journal and write something every day if possible.  Here is a link to an inspiring podcast about one person’s realm into journaling.