Mark S. Brown

(Rather watch the video?)

I have written about the importance of daily reflection dozens of times. It is a skill that is critical for success and personal growth. However, most people lack the discipline to make it a habit.

There are occasions when I have struggled to maintain my dedication to journal. Here is the structure that has bolstered my consistency in my reflection process.

I currently use three different books to record my thoughts. Each with a separate purpose.

1. Daily Journal – I use a daily journal to record two or three sentences each day. My goal is to write the most important thing I learned that day. This daily practice is not overwhelming. It takes only a few minutes. At the end of the month, I read through my lessons for that month, and reflect on my journey.

2. Learning Journal – This book I use to record notes on activities that impact me. It includes notes from articles I read, interesting quotes, people I have met, classes I am taking, and classes I am teaching. I don’t necessarily write in this every day, but I do write in it frequently.

3. Thinking Journal – In this book, I record my thoughts about a particular situation or question. Writing your thoughts transform them. Sometimes taking an idea and knowing what to do with it can be puzzling. With this journal I challenge myself to think differently, and to think deeper on a perception. I keep a list of questions that I can use to interrogate myself about something. This is the book I write in the least.

These three books have endured, and have helped me. The short daily entry keeps me in a routine that is effective, but I would be better served if I scheduled myself with my thinking book at least weekly.

Your reflection process should be what works for you. However, without one, your success will be limited. It is the conversation we have in our head that most defines who we are.

John Maxwell has said, “A leader sees farther than others. A leaders sees more than others.” However, when Nick Vujicic said, “Our plan is to be in Nigeria in 2018”, John’s words have never been clearer.

(Rather watch the video?)

What will you be doing four or five years from now? Nick knows what he will be doing. He will be in Nigeria. In fact he has a plan to visit and speak in several African countries in 2018.

It made me think about my plans. I can confess I do not have concrete plans that stretch four or five years in the future. But I would also guess that very few of us do. Nick Vujicic does.

It has made me think, and I hope it is making you think too.

Nick is a very driven, focused, determined person. His goal is to reach and speak to 7 billion people. He is determined to change the world, to make a difference.

Where is your focus? What is your message for the world. We are not Nick. Our message is different, but just as important. Nick said it himself. We are as influential as him. We can touch people he can’t touch.

One of Nick’s points from his talk with us was to “Dream Bigger”. Nick dreams big, but it is not just a dream. Nick follows through. He is turning his dream to reality. He is planning five and ten years into the future. It is so important to have plans and goals. For big dreams, you need big plans that cover the future of that dream.

We all need to dream big. We need to follow that dream by mapping our plan and working our plan. I want to be as driven and purposeful as Nick, and now I have more insight on how thinking big becomes real.

I had a conversation with an individual last week. I asked them about their goals, and they proceeded to list many achievements they wished to accomplish. When I asked, what was their action plan, it was clear they did not have one. They were taking no actions that would help them move closer to their goals.

(Watch the video)

As I continued to dig deeper, it was apparent that they only had dreams, not goals.

I think there is a distinction between the two. If it is a real tangible goal, then you should have actions defined that need to be taken to complete the goal. If you don’t, then you have only a dream, an unreachable dream.

If someone defined their goal to be reading twenty-five books in 2014, and they were taking the time to read a book every two weeks or so, they have an achievable goal. But if they had that same goal, and read no books in January or February, then it appears unachievable.

Also a goal needs to have some boundaries. Using the same example, if you said your goal was to read twenty-five books, but you did not specify in 2014, then your goal is not clear.

These are two important things to consider when defining your goals. Is the goal tangible and measurable? Have you defined and taken actions to get started?

Dreams help you achieve the unachievable, but only if you turn them into goals. Follow your dreams, by taking actions.

We all have a junk drawer. Someplace where we just throw items when we don’t know what else to do with them. It could be a newspaper clipping, a coupon, a button, or even a pen that doesn’t write very well. No matter how organized you are, I am sure there is at least one drawer, one box, one area of your space that is a mess.

(Rather watch the video?)

Having this clutter seems natural. When you are looking for something that you can’t find, this is the place you will search.

We could organize it. Define a place for everything. But then some new item would show up that we didn’t have a place for, and in it would go. Then we would have a junk drawer again.

I started thinking about how the same thing happens with our minds. We have ideas and thoughts that come and go. We put them someplace, and when we are trying to remember, maybe we can’t find them. There are ideas that maybe are not so important at the time, but could become more important under the right circumstances. So how can we better organize our ideas and thoughts?

Here are some possibilities that I came up with:

1. Improve your memory. Yes it can be done. With a little work you can memorize and remember all kinds of facts. One way to start, read the book titled, The Memory Book: The Classic Guide to Improving Your Memory at Work, at School, and at Play. It is filled with tips and tricks to memorize things.

2. Make lists. This is a simple but effective tool if applied consistently. You can create all kinds of lists. Organizing thoughts is a lot easier than organizing a junk drawer, because we have better tools. You can use pencil and paper, or any number of software programs to keep lists of all your ideas. If you store them electronically they are easy to search.

3. Write a journal. Journal writing can be a consistent way to capture your most important thoughts of the day. To make it more effective, build in review sessions at least monthly to review what you have written. You can also create an index that would make it easy to find important ideas later.

There are many more ways to organize the clutter that is in our minds, but one of these three will get you started.

Why is it important to organize the clutter? Because if we can recall ideas when we need them, then it improves our ability to focus on the the task at hand.