To get Actionable Insights right now!
As I said, I use my Choices Journal to answer the questions asked in my self-help books. I have a whole cabinet full of them and even more in my Kindle library.
And when I find myself in a situation I’m not comfortable with, I choose a book that feels right for the problem and leaf through to the questions and exercises.
I almost never read a book in it’s entirety because life happens and I forget. But that’s okay as long as my problems were solved by the insights I gained from the book 😉
Let’s explore this a little further, because…
You can learn any skill you need.
As long as you allow yourself to learn gradually, try something new and make mistakes.
There we go:
1. Create your Space
In my living room I’ve placed two chairs in front of the window so I can put my feet up on the windowsill and look out on the best part of the garden. The part without the children’s trampoline, sandpit and playhouse. My three year old doesn’t even know what a garden is, he thinks we’ve got a playground in the back yard {Big Sigh}
But anyway, the kids know that when I sit in my reading nook they’ve got to amuse themselves with something other than mommy. So when I want to write, I pour myself a nice cup of coffee, put the thermostat up a notch and settle in. Hmmm.
2. Choose your Journal
The reason I’m not very particular about the actual journal I use for my Choices Journal is because for me it’s more about my thought process when I’m writing and the aha moments I get. But that’s a personal preference.
If a beautiful journal makes your day, I’d say Go get it, Girl!
3. Pick your Time
As soon as I find myself nagging or stressing, I create a bit of free time for myself.
Now I know that’s a controversial thing to say, but hear me out…
Choose yourself or life chooses for you.
And it ain’t gonna choose giving you time to write in your journal.
Now I know that’s not always feasible so maybe you should pick a fixed moment in your day or week to sit down. It’ll help tremendously in preventing stress and that is the intention…
4. Determine your Method
I wrote that there are many self-help books out there to help you with all the different life themes or problems you can come up against. But how to choose which book for which problem? You should take into consideration your preferred reading style. Is the book short or long and is it scientifically proven or blog-style? Another thing to consider is the format of questions and exercises in the book. Is there a lot of theory and explaining before and after the questions to help guide you along or does the writer leave you to go about answering them a bit more intuitively? And where will you get your books? First stop library? or Amazon.com?
If you can’t seem to find a book to help you navigate your problem you can always use my Personal Solution Plan. It’s a framework of questions based on coaching methods like Brief Solution Focused Coaching and it’ll help you find your own actionable insights into any problem you might have!
5. Now go write in your Choices Journal!
6. After a little while evaluate if it’s working for you
Maybe the book is a real drag or it just takes to much time to first read a book, then work through the questions and exercises and finally get to work on what’s bugging me. Or maybe I didn’t even find a fitting book to begin with…
That’s why I wrote my Personal Solution Plan. It helps me figure things out and get my life back in running order.
Every time I find myself rolling with the punches in stead of standing my ground and taking action, I start to write. If I’m relaxed enough I pick up a great book and let it help me work my stuff out. But when I need answer right now, I turn to my Personal Solution Plan and easily map out the quickest way to get back on track and live my life on my turns.
Would you like to get back on track right now?
