Journaling

Going back to school as an adult may seem like an impossible task, especially if you have a full life as it is. But if you are planning on returning to school again, here are some helpful tips on how to make it look easy.

Try to get as organized as possible

One of the first things you’ll want to do when getting reacquainted with school again, whether online or in person, is to familiarize yourself with your coursework and try to get as organized as possible regarding your course milestones. Reading through your course framework as well as jotting down important information such as your tutor’s details and who to contact when you have a query should help you save time should you encounter hurdles along the way.

Getting your home schedule in sync with your work schedule

If you have other obligations to see to, such as family commitments or even another job to work around, then it might be helpful to get all your schedules in sync with each other so that you don’t run into difficulties down the line. Technology can help with this if you want to make sure everyone is aware of what’s on the agenda daily with apps such as Cozi or Flayk.

Track your goals

Keeping track of your goals is all the more worthwhile if you can achieve them in the timeframe you set out to achieve them. Therefore, it is vital to keep track of your goals on a daily and weekly basis. For example, you may want to diarize important assignment dates as well as set weekly goals for yourself so that you stay on track with your syllabus.

Establishing what your ultimate goal is

Speaking of goal setting, perhaps your goal is to achieve your education so that you can open up your own business one day. If so, it would be helpful to look into the various business structures that are available to ensure you select the right one from the start. For example, an LLC might just work out the best for you if you want a business type with plenty of benefits, including tax benefits such as not having to pay corporate federal income tax; more flexibility when it comes to the management structure of your business should your business scale up one day; limited liability, etc. Furthermore, a formation service can assist you with all the ins and outs of registering your business and are even on top of the different regulations that apply in each state if you decide to move one day.

Branch out

Suppose you already have extensive experience in a certain field, then why not take a professional development course rather than going the longer route of acquiring a new or more advanced degree in your field? For example, if you are in the medical field and are already quite familiar with medical codes, then you can choose from among online medical coding courses to help extend your knowledge even further. You can even take an assessment at the end of the course to verify your skill level in this area to ensure that you know how to assign the correct medical codes and what they mean in terms of medical procedures and service claims.

So, if you plan on studying further, don’t let the passage of time prevent you from achieving your dreams. Also, you can help to reduce your length of study by using professional development courses to help save you time in the end.

For motivational tips on various topics, visit the Keep The Fire Lit website for more information.

 

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Nowadays, life is pretty demanding for most of us. From our daily Sisyphean tasks to the moment we lie down to sleep, we wade through a lot of ads, billboards, TV, radio, environmental noise, and stresses of life; we are bombarded with so many unnecessary stimuli that we barely have time to hear, let alone sort out our own inner thoughts. Our minds, at the end of the day, are pretty much jumbled up and tangled in many tight loops. And so we go through life like hamsters on a wheel.

Most of us do not have the least idea of how to get to know ourselves, to examine our own thought processes, and know what is really happening in our minds. We really need to delve deep inside our psyche so as to get to know ourselves better. As Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, succinctly puts it, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In simple terms, do not go through life like a zombie; get some time for introspection. It is such a pity that most of us live like this and have never had an original thought in our lifetime: we seem to live a life of inherited thoughts and ideas.

Believe it or not, experts claim that on average the human brain processes between 60,000 to 80,000 separate thoughts per day. That means on average, our minds can compute a minimum of 2500 thoughts per hour (or 41 thoughts per minute) working on a 24 hour basis. Of course most of these are pretty much useless and banal musings not worth any further explorations. But we may also lose some gems as we cruise through life. This is where introspection and mindfulness come in. Once you are able to distinguish between the chaff and the gold, you are one step further up the enlightenment ladder, and journaling can help you climb up those rungs.

First of all, journaling, as a key to introspection, helps us organize our thoughts, follow that single thread, and untangle the jumbled mess in our minds. When you write down things in your mind, you concentrate on a specific thought, you wade into that chaotic mess in order to find that golden needle in a proverbial haystack. From that chaos, you select that one lucid thought that reveals who you really are at the core. Putting things down in a coherent way helps you still the mind and reach through the murk and tumult to the calmness within. This helps with mindfulness, a way to deeper enlightenment.

How then do you go about it first? The easiest way is to follow this advice; learn to be quiet.

To emphasize the importance of calm and quiet time alone, Blaise Pascal, the philosopher, coined a phrase about humankind’s miseries arising from avoiding aloneness (see the graphic below). The roadblock to introspective journaling that most meet is that they are afraid of being alone with their thoughts. We seek to drown our own thoughts and ideas in useless conversations or with inebriating substances, rather than taking them and examining them closely to see where they might lead.

What we ought to do is sit still and write anything that comes to mind in a journal or on a sheet of paper or even an exercise book. It might seem scary at first or straight out stupid, but once you start, you will find it easy. The words will just roll out on their own. Most of the time you will be surprised by how much depth lies beneath those turbulent tides. Don’t be afraid of it, some of the things might be dark but that only proves that you are no longer in the shallows.

You will find out also that when you journal things you feel or think, most times it is cathartic just by itself (that is, it gives you relief, especially if you have experienced strong emotions). Don’t stop writing because you have had a bad day. You should write in your journal especially when you have gone through a stormy period. It helps you analyze your emotional makeup, your passions, desires, and inclinations in life. In the end, everything about yourself will come together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The various notes you write will be the ultimate map to self-awareness.

Deep introspection is easy to attain. All you need is time and the strength to face yourself in the mirror. Your true intentions and motives might scare you for a while but in order to understand yourself, you need to scrutinize yourself. So why not seek those few minutes alone, sacrificing just a little time to unwind and journey within the realms of your mind far from the madness of life? As the habit of journaling and mapping your inner landscapes takes root, you will find out that you will understand yourself better. Not only that, but you will also understand others a little more. This leads to better more fruitful, honest relationships.

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Have you ever felt like things are not going right in your life and everything is working against you? This happens to a lot of people who are in pursuit of a better life. So much gets into the way of our careers, relationships, dreams, and social life among other things and we just cannot seem to find peace and happiness. The best thing to do when you find yourself in such a situation would be to work on identifying things that are getting in the way of your life. How will this help? You may ask.

The truth is that life does not just get to a standstill for no apparent reason. If you look all around you, the answers will always be there. Knowing what is standing in your way is the most important step to clearing the path and taking ownership of your life. As you identify the obstacles, you get an idea where exactly you need to start fixing up. However, it may not be as easy as it sounds if you are not committed to taking all the necessary steps. You will need to ask yourself a few questions and answer them earnestly.

The most important thing to remember is that no one owes you a perfect relationship or perfect life. Therefore, whatever your discoveries may be, you will have to be the one to work on finding a solution and take the lead in the journey towards the life you want. Below are the questions you need to ask yourself and what you will need to do to identify the things that get in the way of your life;

• Are you sabotaging yourself?

This is the first question you need to ask yourself. Do not leave the devil in you relaxed and in peace to find him elsewhere. This is one thing most people try to avoid and the truth they do not want to face. But, unless you are ready to look deep inside you and search for your weaknesses or what you are not doing right, you are most likely to struggle with the same issues until you are ready to face the truth and change. How are you conducting yourself? What are your habits and are they aligned with your goals and purpose? Do you know who you are and where you are going? Are you doing what is necessary for you to be where you think you should be? Are you being too hard on yourself? Is fear or lack of confidence stopping you from moving forward? Are you an overspender? If you have asked yourself these questions, done quality self-introspection, and have found no fault, you can then continue to look elsewhere.

• Are Your Strategies Working?

Sometimes the only thing that stands in your way can be your chosen way of doing things. It is possible that when you sat down to do your planning it looked like you had the best strategy but the implementation stage is proving otherwise. Find the weaknesses in your strategies and make some changes. Look for help if the activity is proving too difficult for you and you are running out of ideas.

• Is It Goal Setting?

Setting goals is not as simple as just having an idea and writing it out. It is a skill. Understand what goal setting really is and ensure that you set achievable goals that are accompanied by winning strategies. Also, try and align your goals and your beliefs. It is okay to dream big and start where you are and with what you have. They say Rome was not built in one day and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a step. Pushing yourself too hard can make you doubt yourself and the feasibility of your dreams and goals.

• Are You Misunderstood?

Sometimes we struggle to build relationships with others, find certain jobs, or be accepted in various social spaces simply because people misunderstand us. Sometimes there is little to nothing that we can do to change what people think of us. However, we can try and find ways to portray ourselves or act in a way that allows us to play our part. For example, where people think you are of a certain class that disqualifies them from interacting or involving you in activities, you can take it upon yourself to participate in the activities without being asked or simply show interest through inquiring about those particular activities.

• Is Someone Else Sabotaging You?

It is possible to ‘earn’ yourself some enemies through good works or past mistakes. However, you need to be careful before you make and act on such assumptions to avoid ruining your relationships with people. If you know that a certain person is sabotaging you, find a mature way of handling it, or avoid crossing paths with him or her. We always have various options that some people cannot reach. The worst thing that you can do when you know that someone is trying to oppose you is making the person your enemy and spending time and energy on fixing them or revenging. It will only add weight to your burdens.

• Now Journal What You Have Learnt

What have you learnt from this exercise? Anything? Did you just read the text? Did it mean anything to you? What thoughts went through your head as you read each section? Did any of it apply to you? What could you do about it? If you can do something, when will you start? How will you start? Do you need any help with this? If so, who could provide it?

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Growing up, many of us were encouraged to keep a journal or a diary. We might not have been aware of the benefits it came with but we did it all the same. Writing your thoughts in your little book of secrets seemed so mysterious and exciting until we grew out of it. With the everyday jostle and a busy schedule, sometimes it becomes hard for one to consider writing in a journal. Just like how we become so pumped up at the beginning of the year, we see the need to document our resolutions and how the previous year went, it should continue like that throughout the year. The reason why many of our resolutions are never realized is how we choose not to make a habit of journaling.

One might be wondering why they should keep a journal as it might seem trivial. There are many benefits to keeping a journal, it has been seen to be a great way of reducing stress and anxiety in turn improving a person`s mood. People who keep journals have better mental health and even physical health as the immune system is boosted. It helps you to organize, clarify, and articulate your thoughts. You develop better self-knowledge and problem-solving skills. It even aids with creativity and innovation as you get time to brainstorm on ideas, enhancing the curiosity to learn new things.

Keeping a journal sounds easy, l mean what could go wrong with just writing your thoughts in a book? Plenty of us at some point picked up a book and started journaling maybe for a couple of days and probably just lost interest in the process. It takes a lot of willpower and organization for one to be able to be consistent about keeping a journal. Below are some amazing tips to help you keep going once you start, all the while enjoying the process as well as getting the most out of it.

Always have your journal with you

Your journal shouldn’t be a book for special occasions or just one you use when you want to write something special.  Dump all your thoughts into it. By always being with your journal you give yourself more chances to write in it. You get to scribble down ideas and decisions you might need to get back to. Inspiration can strike anytime. And if you have a journal that you can also color in, it allows you to have something to do that is both therapeutic and relaxing. A coloring journal allows you to plan out your week or further ahead, while also having fun coloring.

Make lists

It is not always easy to make detailed entries in your journal especially when you always have a busy schedule or when you are someone who doesn’t really like writing. A bullet journal will work just perfectly for you. Write lists instead,

• things you like,
• what excited you today.
• Interesting quotes you come across
• bucket lists.

You don’t have to narrate your whole day.

Create a layout that works for you

Write in a way that makes the experience enjoyable, one that allows you to go back at some time and still understand what you were writing about. If you list your goals, things you want to work on, let them be clear also with a specified time frame that allows you to go back to them and track your progress. Include how you plan to achieve the desired goal in well-articulated steps.

Don’t be hung up on perfection

Many times we end up losing the zeal to write because we will be obsessing about doing it the right way. There is no right way to do it. Embrace your thoughts and go wherever they take you, it is alright to be spontaneous. Your handwriting doesn’t have to be perfect, that idea doesn’t have to make sense entirely before you can scribble it down. If you find it difficult to write anything down unless it’s “perfect”, then before you start, write at the top, “no one else has to see this”or  “practice  pages  only”  or  something  else  that  will  encourage  you  to write,  rather  than  edit  yourself  before  starting  to write.

Don’t overthink it…

Write it down no matter how ridiculously big or how small the idea might be. Write about what scares you; your long-term goals, the short-term ones and be sure to always document your wins and celebrate them no matter how small they might be. Keep your journal entries short and easy to follow up on. Use diagrams  or mind maps or speech bubbles or drawings of scrolls or whatever you want to record a few words and make them stand out.

Journal consistently

Make it a culture, it might not necessarily be every day but to make the habit stick it is advisable to write daily and even push it with a specific time you find flexible. It doesn’t have to take a lot of time you give yourself – five minutes daily to write up a few thoughts. You can even choose to write during a specific activity during your day, if you take a bus to work or to school you can even make the bus ride a time for reflection and writing daily. Set reminders if you are one to forget.

Eliminate distractions while journaling

To be in sync with your mind and to able to tap into the creative realm your mind should be free of distractions. Find a serene spot that is relaxing which makes it easier for you to focus. If music calms you down, play some to shut out all other distractions. Or maybe color in and focus on the coloring. It is surprising what useful ideas suddenly start appearing!

No need to make it too serious!

Journaling should be fun. If you love color and glitter, if you are into pictures include some in it. It does not have to be strictly writing. Spice it up to keep it interesting in line with your preferences. Sketch a drawing if you want to.

If you have not yet started the journaling journey, anytime is the right time to do it. Don’t wait for the beginning of the month or the year, start now. Grab a book and get on it, you will not regret it!

 

 

 

 

 

Thoughts come and they go, the same goes for wonderful ideas capable of changing the course of your life for good. I could liken them to the rain, in due season it falls but if we aren’t witty enough to build dams to retain it then it goes deep into the earth wasted. The sun as well with its magnificent shine and the heat it comes with consistently rises and sets but only those with solar systems can harvest its power. Without the proper infrastructure and organization, it would be impossible to take a day just to go and admire nature’s beauty in animals at the zoo or game park.

All these are natural phenomena that follow a certain pattern engraved in their being; but without human effort to make the best out of them, their full potential cannot be known. See a man leading a confused life, making unwise decisions, and perhaps blaming one person or the next thing for his disadvantaged fate? There is disorder even in his thinking. Disorganized thinking leads to actions and words of the same nature and the opposite is true. There is something about keeping a record of one’s thoughts and plans that helps eliminate grey areas of doubt in their path. This is because naturally when you set out to keep a journal, as opposed to a diary which is often a chronological list of events, you are inclined to note down only important things and so the more you write them down the more you focus your mind on those.

 

1. Journaling empowers you to gain clarity about where you are.

Sure, you may read your diary years later and laugh at some of your folly and immature thinking one day but if you want a fair assessment of where you stand today, start writing down your experiences, your reflections, and your takeaway from these in a JOURNAL. It’s a busy world we live in and without sufficient time taken to analyze ourselves, we gradually lose touch and just blend in with everything else happening around us. Give yourself a kind reminder of who you are and what you represent, your values, your pains, your joys, regularly to make sure you aren’t just existing. A business cannot know how well it is doing and how much improvement it needs without thorough bookkeeping. You also, unless you keep your personal account books cannot be sure of where you stand and what you need to improve to lead a more profitable life.

2. You need to appreciate how far you’ve come.

Going through a picture album with all my photos from babyhood to childhood through teenagerhood gave me an interesting perspective recently. I realized how much I had been ‘mutating’ over the years without even realizing it! It is the same feeling when you read your journals or diaries written in past seasons. You can only look and be grateful for the character growth and otherwise. Sometimes when we are hard-pressed by current challenges, we only need to look over our shoulders and see where we have come from. Reminiscing how we won over the Goliaths of that time gives us the courage to face the present ones. Keep journaling so that you may not forget to be patient and always hopeful in every circumstance.

 

3. Journaling removes the mist around your future.

This is by far the most important part of all this: using the power of writing things down to paint a clear picture of the future you want.  The mind can be a dangerous place to keep important information because it may not keep it all ready for reference at anytime. We may forget. Or time and circumstances change our notions of what we want to be and do. With our imaginations, we see what could be but when we write it down, we cement our imagination thereby increasing the chances of us living to see the dream. Without clearly defined goals written down, one can only hope to stumble upon a favorable future.

Something else very interesting happens when you take the step of keeping a record of your life. You may not be a skilled writer but somehow your level of excellence in writing advances when you set your mind to do it. This then spills over to even the way you execute your plans. It as if your mind hears the message, “We are organized and we are taking ourselves seriously” and so it passes it on to every fiber of your being.

After adopting the winning habit of writing you will find it useful to organize the journals themselves because if they look like trash it’s only a matter of time before you toss them out. Neatly written and well-organized work will make you want to read and keep it. Imagine that day in the future when you will want to tell your story to inspire others, your written work will be most valuable then so keep at it, and don’t forget to insert dates and even times in your journals.

Journaling Helps Because …

Journaling gives you the power to master your emotions, track your thought patterns, get rid of bad habits, and understand what needs to be changed in your life. It is also a great way of understanding yourself and makes it easier for you to trace as well as eliminate negative thoughts or emotions that harm your work.

Journaling makes it easier for you to recognize some of the things that prevent you from reaching your daily goals and enables you to avoid them. It improves your productivity levels by helping you better understand where you went wrong, what you should have done, and what you mustn’t do if you are to remain productive throughout the day. That is why successful people recommend you start journaling or continue doing so if you have already begun.

Keeping a daily record of your experiences, thoughts, and emotions improves your mental health and keeps you coming up with effective solutions to the problems or challenges you face. It helps you to better understand the mistakes that have already occurred and ensures you avoid them in the future.

Maintaining your focus throughout the day isn’t easy but it is the only way of getting work done, progressing, and accomplishing whatever goal you set. It is the one thing that gives you a reason to say “What a productive day!” and leaves you feeling good about yourself.

Journaling can improve your focus by:

1. Providing you with a track of your successes

One of the best things about journaling is that it enables you to keep a record of your successes, thoughts, and the way you felt after reaching a certain goal which encourages you to continue working and concentrating on doing what needs to be done to achieve your goals. Doing this means you will know how to keep a self improvement journal.

Keeping a record of your successes means understanding your own self improvement and draws your attention to getting things done despite your environment, setbacks, etc. It is a brilliant way of reminding yourself that the only way of reaching your aims or meeting deadlines is by focusing on putting in the hours and refusing to give in to distractions.

It is also a great way of providing a record of your work throughout the year, so you can discuss all your successes with your boss, especially those types of boss who recall only the last few weeks and any mistakes you may have made. This is one of the benefits of keeping a journal.

2. Helping you eliminate distractions.

Distractions will inevitably occur as you work. So, the only way of eliminating them is by knowing where they originate from as well as how you let them interfere with your work. Recognizing the negative impact that giving in to distractions has on your work will make it easier for you to get rid of them. Writing down your thoughts and experiences helps you to recognize time-wasting activities as well as negative thought-patterns and eliminate them so that you can use your time productively and concentrate more on what you want to achieve.

Journaling is an effective method of recognizing where distractions come from, how many times a day they occur, how they get into your life, as well as how you let them interfere with your work and makes it possible for you to come up with the most efficient ways of eliminating them.

3. Helping you control your thoughts

Journaling causes you to realize the importance of understanding and controlling your thoughts in meeting your daily targets and succeeding in every area of your life. It helps you recognize that the way you think about a situation determines how efficient you will be at turning things around. Recording your thoughts is a smart way of detecting negative thought-patterns, understanding them, controlling them, and changing them. Detecting negative thought-patterns enables you to eliminate them, improves your focus, and keeps you concentrating on your work.

4. Helping you understand and get rid of negative emotions

Your emotions have the power to prevent you from working as well as distracting you from doing what needs to be done. Keeping a daily record of your emotions and understanding how they affect your work or behaviors makes it easier for you to minimize negative feelings, stop them from interfering with your work, and in turn get more work done.

5. Reducing stress

One of the worst things about stress is that it keeps you from working and leaves you feeling unworthy of whatever it is you are aiming for. Reducing stress or getting rid of it is the best way of ensuring you do what needs to be done and retain your focus throughout the day. Journaling is a great way of minimizing stress because you can write about your feelings, thoughts, as well as things that bother you without fearing you’ll be judged.

Writing things down is the most effective way of stopping daily stresses from interfering with your work and improving your focus. So, take advantage of the power of tracking your thoughts, emotions as well as experiences, and reach any goal you set.

Memories

A trail of memories, one so precious it follows behind you reminding you of who you were yesterday. Just like a picture, a memory frozen in time at times can guide your steps: journaling entails a picture drawn so vividly with your thoughts and words.

Mapping The Way Forward

It is thinking aloud, projecting the conversations in our head in an organized manner to map our path forward.

Journals Are Tools For Mindfulness.

Keeping a journal creates an opportunity for one to channel their inner selves, to converse with oneself, and get a clear picture of what is within. It allows you a chance to get to know more about yourself. Just like when we get to have dates with people we are trying to get to know, journaling can be equated to going on a date with yourself, writing the different facets that make you who you are. It is meant to be a collection of your ideas, observations, and even to record anything of importance you wish to get back to at a later day. Day after day we find our perception of life, our thoughts, and even our beliefs evolving and we need to keep these on the record as they show us how much we have grown.

Keep Track Of Your Decisions.

A journal is a tool to keep track of the important decisions that you make, and serves as a reminder of why you made them in the first place. It allows you to lay down your goals in a clear and organized way. When goals are not written down, they forfeit their importance and just remain in a realm of dreams. To realize your goals, you need to keep track. For a goal to be realized there is a need for a plan to be put forward and constant journaling allows you to make step by step plans to reach your goal.  By journaling, you can ensure accountability and make it possible to go back and re-evaluate the progress of your goals concerning the plan detailed in your journal. Having a written plan of the path to your goals also allows one to be able to re-strategize.

When you keep a journal, it is fairly easy to sort through the mental clutter and be left with what really matters daily. It also allows you to understand your coping mechanisms. It allows you to improve mental clarity and focus by emptying your mind as you are writing down your thoughts. Giving you a better insight of how things are supposed to be.

Growth and progress cannot be seen when there is nothing to compare them to and journals facilitate that growth. The person you are has been built over a long period, being molded together from your experiences and decisions. A journal is a way to document your experiences, the hurts, mistakes, joys, and lessons that have brought us to be where we are. Being able to go back and get a reference from your past experiences when your memory fails you is priceless. You get to refer to past lessons to give you an idea of how to handle the situations at hand.

Help You Keep Your Life Organized.

A journal enhances your organizational skills. They can be structured in a way so that things are written in order, maybe in chronological order or perhaps in some order that makes sense to you. This in turn can help you to plan and structure your day, your week, your life. Knowing when to do what, in turn helping you escape from procrastination. You get to structure your life into a clear vision on paper making it easier to follow through.

It is more beneficial to brainstorm when you are recording the thoughts flowing through your mind. When you keep a constant journal you rarely go through instances where you lose an idea to the wind because the very moment it crosses your mind you write it down before it fades from your mind. Journals expand your mind and keep you creative and innovative as every moment of writing down your thoughts gives you time on your own to discover what you really think and feel.

A Journal Can Be A Therapy Tool.

Journaling is therapeutic. It can serve as a way to heal oneself from different kinds of trauma. It allows you to be free, to open up about your feelings, to embrace those feelings, and get to understand them. It allows you to be vulnerable even without having to share your thoughts when you find it uncomfortable or having witnesses during those moments of vulnerability. You allow yourself to delve deeper into your relationship with your own feelings and reactions, in turn, it can help you be more in control of how you react to situations. For instance, you could work on anger management and strategies to control your temper by resorting to writing down why you are angry and why you feel that way and then how to deal with it and cope with it.

Our minds are not computers so we tend to forget stuff. Journals serve to improve our memory and to keep us self-aware. When you feel like you need a boost of inspiration and motivation, getting back to your journal always gives you an opportunity to push you forward. Not only do you improve your mental health by decreasing stress but you also get to perfect your writing skill from the constant writing. Be intentional about keeping a journal and watch yourself grow every day you self-reflect.