Still documenting everything in your head? Try this writing prompt instead.

Journaling isn’t the way it usually gets sold

Because if you’re like me, and like a lot of the women I work with, you’re busy, on the go, and still wanting more for yourself.

So when someone says you should journal, it can feel like another thing to add to a list you’re already trying to stay on top of.

And the thing is this day and age life is fast. Most of our outputs live in our head now or they get executed digitally.

If your brain is constantly putting out spotfires, jumping ahead and solving the next thing, it genuinely feels impossible to get out of your head. Even the word says it:

‘A - head.’ Your brain is literally out in front of your next move.

When everything eventually leaks out

When everything is in your head, if we don’t find a way to get that stuff out, it leaks out in other ways when the strategy of holding on, just to get by each day stops working.

It leaks into your patience, your sleep quality and your tolerance levels. And one that gets least airtime: The way you speak to yourself.

Why I used to journal only at breaking point

I love writing, but I used to only journal when I hit a critical point before reaching for it.

When I was past the tipping point. Trying to convey my story or maybe even validate it when I didn’t feel I was being heard or seen.

Or like a Dear Diary moment when I was pissed off, exhausted or feeling like I was failing someone or something.

And that kind of writing has a place. But it usually comes from the current version of you, who is still in the middle of the situation with all the stories and charged emotion running the show.

Journaling can be used differently

What I’ve learned is journaling can be used in more ways than one.

Not just as venting, but as a way to access deeper patterns. To process, slow down and eventually you can see what’s going on under the hood for you.

And the best part is if this is new to you, you don’t need alot of time. It can be as little as four minutes.

Four minutes, a few times a week. That’s it.

Because four minutes is doable for anyone and that’s the point.

We’re not trying to create a massive breakthrough overnight with this. We’re building a new association. And a doable commitment you keep with yourself.

When you keep that commitment, you start doing the reps, you start building the data. That demonstrates self trust and you reduce that common trap that comes from thinking ‘it’s just who I am’

What do you actually write about?

The question I always get is this.

If it’s not Dear Diary, then what is it?

Before writing anything, take a few seconds to land your plane, cool your jets and come back to homebase.
Ground yourself. Nothing fancy.

Maybe you prefer to focus on your five senses for a moment, or do a few reps of boxed breathing. Just something simple and straightforward that brings you back into centred presence, rather than the version running ahead in your head.

You can use these prompts to get yourself familiar with the routine.

Prompt one: What did I notice today?

Not what happened to you. What you noticed in you. How you showed up, what you avoided, where you felt stretched and where you felt that rock solid inner sense of certainty.

Prompt two: How did I demonstrate love for me today?

And I don’t mean some shallow version.. I mean a real demonstration of love and leadership in your own life.
How was you a good steward of self?

Did you eat well, drink water, move your body, back yourself, notice the doom scroll sooner, get the optimum sleep, ask for help or speak to yourself like a decent human being.
These are the small moments where you lead yourself well.

Prompt three: What is my higher self wanting to show me?

This is the version of you that is emerging. The version you are becoming.
Sometimes it shows up as a quiet nudge. A thought that keeps coming back. A pull toward something you haven’t acted on yet.
This prompt helps you pay attention to that part of you instead of pushing it aside because life is busy.

This is pattern recognition without calling it that

And it’s doing the reps for your self concept.

because over time you will start seeing your patterns. You start seeing where you’re aligned with the version of you that you say you want to be and where the old operating strategies are still running the show or holding you back.

Once you can see it you can’t really unsee it.
Now you have choice.
Not perfection.

Choice.

Four minutes to get out of your head and back into your life

And remember, there’s no journaling police here. No one is coming in and grading this writing.

This is simply four minutes for you to get out of your head and back into your own life.

If you try this for four weeks, and don’t make it a performance or another ‘thing’ to do. Just make a conscious commitment to yourself to do the reps and watch what you start to notice.