Hello!
I hope you are doing well and staying safe.
Yesterday I shared with you the effects of daily journaling had to my learning capacity and some techniques that I am considering trying the next months to become better to this process. I really like speaking more practical and answering all the "How" questions so today I am going to guide you through the questions that I use for my morning journal in order to get myself in a positive, open state and prepare myself to learn & be productive.
As mentioned in the previous post, on my first journaling attempts I was using the questions from the book of Tony Robbins - Notes from a friend. Pretty simple, to the point and great especially for starters.
As the months were going by, I started to review the questions that I was asking to myself every week and I was trying to find questions that will help me:
-Track & boost my learning process and how I implement my new learnings
-Debrief my learnings and realizations about myself
-Enhance my self-awareness
-Help me reach my yearly goals.
So I came up with a bunch of questions that I use for the last couple of months and so far they are the most suitable for my personal goals, the habits that I am trying to practice and my current state of lifestyle in general.
In general, my main sources of inspiration in order to come up with questions were books, podcasts, articles about journaling & self-development and mostly my natural tendency.
I was observing myself that sometimes I was answering to questions that didn't exist but I had the urge to write down all of my thoughts for a specific topic or putting myself in a specific framework. When I was observing this happening more than 3 times in a short period of time, I thought backward and created questions that I can answer with this exact type of answer that I was naturally giving.
Let's get into the practical stuff now! I am so excited to share with you my Morning Questions that I am using to accelerate my learning.
Disclaimer - my current journaling routine is 80% around enhancing my learning process but I am still using some other more general questions that are helping me to set my mood for the day & close it in the best way possible.
Disclaimer #2 - for a lot of you it might feel a bit too much, especially if you prefer something simple. My intention is just to give you a point of view and some inspiration on how you can create questions that suits your needs.
Morning Questions
Purpose of the questions: To set a good & positive mood for the day and make me start working directly on my goals.
Time/Duration: I write my journal during my first 30' of being awake. Usually takes around 7 minutes.
🌞Opening note to self - Here I write few words like "Goodmorning awesome-amazing-super powerful individual", how was my sleep, how did I woke up and in case I saw a super funny or dramatic dream, I practice my creative writing skills. It helps me to get myself in a writing flow.
🌞Why am I happy about this day? - The question that brings me positivity, that's why I put it first. I usually write 3 random things that make me happy, something that already happened, something related to my current state in general and something that happened yesterday.
🌞What do I expect from this day that makes me excited? - This is the question where I already start thinking about what is going to happen during the day and see it from a positive side - or if I am already super excited about it I write it down with BIG letters.
🌞For what am I proud of? - This question boosts my self esteem and forces me to recognize at least 3 positive things that makes me proud of my self - from small, like waking up on time and not snoozing my alarm forever or bigger, like my progress towards my goals.
🌞For what am I grateful for? - Pretty simple I guess. The last weeks, I have stuck with the same 4 things that I am grateful and I found it really beneficial for my mentality in this time of uncertainty that all of us are living.
🌞My intention for the day - I limit it to a simple phrase that sums up how do I want to spend the day. When I feel lost or when I have some free time I always reflect on it to see how is it going.
🌞What do I want to learn today? - Here I am just brainstorming a bit. I set to learn things that I didn't have time to dig deeper the previous day, some specific topics related to my studies or things that occurred from the previous day. (Note: When I have a heavy studying, researching or a day devoted to new information and skills, this question can also substitute the "Intention of the day")
🌞What do I want to practice today? - Usually, this also emerges from the previous day's reflection - I always put one simple task to practice or to observe some of the learnings of the previous day.
🌞Goals for the day - I am writing down everything that I have to do during the day before I transfer them to my digital to-do lists or other organizing apps.
Yes, It seems too much, but honestly, it rarely takes me more than 10 minutes.
Some Useful Tips on how to use this framework.
If you found this framework useful and you want to use it, first of all you are making me the happiest person on earth and I am sending you virtual hugs & love! But again remember that my intention is basically to make you understand the process behind it and create the one that will help you the most!
Second, here are some tips for you on how to make the most out of it & experience deeper clarity.
📝You can use this solely as a learning journal - If you are a regular "journaler" (I hope the word exists - and so far Grammarly approves) you might have already found your way and the questions that suits you. Consider though having a journal (not a separate one - less paper please), a journaling session to focus on your learning for a specific period of time, especially when you enter a new learning environment (learning a new language or skill, studying for exams, switching career, have a new job, or when you are trying something new and you need to learn how it works in general.
📝Always reflect at night on what have you achieved from the day - You will see in the next blog post that the questions are kinda connected and either way you should check your previous page to see what you have planned. I simply highlight with a colorful pen what I have achieved and put in my bucket what I have achieved and write a few words for what I didn't to understand why it didn't happen.
📝Always have a look on the night before - It happened to me a lot of times to write down at my night entry that I want to learn/practice/observe a specific thing and 8 hours and a heavy sleep later to completely forget about it. So I am simply checking what did I wrote the previous night and add it to my goals for practice/learning.
I hope you found these questions useful! Night questions are coming later today so you can have your full guide for journaling! Share with us your questions that you are using for your journaling routine!
I would love to hear your comments, thoughts, suggestions on this topic!
Also don't forget to follow our Instagram account @learnactreflect_ to see inspiring quotes, learnings, and practices from other people! We are waiting for you :D
Till next time, keep learning,
Daphne
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