Back to Journaling through Evernote
I love to journal.
Here. There. Everywhere.
This. That. Everything.
Somehow this habit starting waning, once I was out of college and in the corporate. Once a week was the best I could manage, reflecting on my thoughts and actions. This also affected the frequency of the blog posts. Only one blog so far this year.
*Sigh*
Probably two reasons:
- The writing felt mentally and physically taxing
- I didn’t figure out a ritual for the journaling
After various iterations, I consistently stuck with journaling by doing the following.
- Typing onto Evernote desktop app but still using pen and paper besides, for any mental prompts.
- Opening Evernote just before I left from work or right after a shower once back home.
I managed to journal for 4 days of the week at the least for a full month. Getting somewhere.
The format is pretty simple:
1. Create a notebook just for reflections. I named it ‘Daily Reflections’.
2. One note for each month. 30 days of inputs in each note in the tabular format
Books, Audiobooks, and Content
November was a good month in this aspect.
I finished 3 books:
- The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
–> Amazing book, a must-read. Amazed at how pretty much everything can go wrong in an operating theatre. A newfound respect for doctors. - What I talk about when I talk about running by Haruki Murakami
–> Found this a bit bland. Stopped reading after 65% of the book. I will come back sometime later. - How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams
–> Impressive read. The author is the creator of Dilbert Comics. Grab this book if you would like a to figure out a sure shot way to succeed.
I finished 2 Audiobooks:
- Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins
–> An astounding 90 minute listen. I listened to it twice in a week. I’m a huge Tony Robbins fan by the way. - Zig Ziglar Motivation – #MentorMeZig || A compilation by Evan Carmichael
–> Not really an audiobook but nevertheless a 2 and a half-hour worth of pure gold. I look up to Zig in his diction and presence while speaking. Best said by Seth Godin to Tim Ferriss, “Zig is your grandfather and my grandfather. He’s Tony Robbins’s grandfather. None of us would be here if it weren’t for Zig.”
I listened to both of them while commuting from and to home. I was big on these kinds of content but stopped owing to some negative views about positivity and motivation. But coming back to them, I did realize the positive change in the day and also how I was feeling about it. It surely helped me a lot and might help you too
Next on the list:
- The Game by Neil Strauss
- War of Art by Steven Pressfield
- Bigger Leaner Stronger by Michael Matthews
Movies and Series
- Watched only one movie: ‘Jalikattu‘, a take on how the animal instincts of humans come into the fore.
- After mindless wandering on Youtube and regretting the next day, I made just a small shift here. Just one episode per day. I picked up ‘The Good Wife‘ and managed to stick to ‘one day-one episode’ with occasional binge-watching.
Will you disappear again?
Haha! Hopefully not. Let’s just hope I push out one blog post per week. I am a massive procrastinator. 34 posts published so far and I have 32 in the drafts. Anyways, I have the ideas, prompts, and titles for the next set of blog posts.
- Paris Brest Paris: A Glimpse of How it Went
- Paris Brest Paris: Through Pain and Paradise
- Road to Paris: Parting Thoughts
–> A continuation of Road to Paris: Initial Thoughts - Tour De Europe
–> A series of blog posts documenting my recent travel to Paris, Switzerland, Prague, and Rome.
A trip through negative self-defeating loop
I pushed myself to the extreme while participating in Devil’s Circuit. I injured myself and got sick. I recovered but fell back to sickness again in a fortnight, after I gorged on a shitload of peanut butter and chapati for dinner and went on to do some ungentlemanly things for the night.
I was in deficit of any motivation and inspiration in this period. I was just meandering again but there must be a tipping point for this. Every trough must be followed by a crest.
I came across Soundarya Balasubramani’s blog. Her profile was a bit envious. I usually go through a self-defeated loop of jealousy but this time I decided to break the chain. At this instant,
- Stopped focussing on myself. Everything is not about me. Suffering comes from three thought patterns: loss, less, never
- I went out for a run. Action precedes feelings and emotions. I don’t feel good and run. I run to feel good. Story follows State, followed by strategy.
State –> Story –> Strategy
Next time whenever you feel low,
- Change your state by simple priming.
- Tell yourself an enabling story. Focus on the present and not think about the time you have wasted.
- Now you can think about the strategies to move forward.
Thinking in a low emotional state will only lead you to dead ends instead of options.
I came across this Reddit page about Brian Tracy when I was in this low phase. I managed to keep it simple and took only one thing from it:
Writing down my goals(8-10) twice a day – once before I leave to work and once I come back.
More motivation nonsense? Well, I don’t think so.
This one thing single-handedly made a difference in November. That’s why you are seeing this blogpost (while the last one was in Feb). You must try it out.
What next?
- Endurance sports is a lower priority for now. They do take up a lot of time. Laser focus on career. But I’m still hitting the gym and also got a pull-up bar installed at home.
- My Birthday is coming up. I plan to spend that day either at Craig Studio, climbing stuff or enjoy a game of soap football.
- Get those Blogposts out. Damn it!!