“Being A Better Man” may have different meanings to you depending on what phase of your life you’re in currently. It may mean being a better boyfriend, husband, father, workmate, leader, etc. Whatever it may mean to you, we’re here to explore some ways to help you on your journey to becoming the best man you can be.

In this series, we will take a look at some habits that can help you be more organized, clear-minded, focused, and ambitious.

We start with looking at a daily routine that many influential men throughout history such as Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, and Thomas Jefferson all shared: journaling.

Why keep a journal?

Journaling helps you to focus on what’s happening in your life currently. It helps you think through difficult situations, helps you think more deeply about decisions you may be about to make, and can help you shape yourself into the type of person you are striving to be by providing a medium for self-reflection.

Personally, journaling calms me down. Even if there’s nothing exciting to write about through your day, just sitting down before bed and jotting a few random thoughts down can really do wonders to clear your mind and help you get to sleep. As men, we tend to keep our feelings tucked away inside, but multiple studies have shown that writing about our lives, troubles, emotions, feelings or just daily lives help support emotional and physical health. (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/may/21/why-men-should-keep-a-journal)

Journals can be a place to keep your thoughts, work through them and try to figure out what they mean, a place for self-reflection and self-improvement, or just a place to record whatever interests you. That’s the beautiful thing about journaling: you are the only one that will see what you are writing unless you choose to share it with others, so you get to choose what to write about.

What to write about.

Everything. Yes, all of it.

This tends to be the area where most get caught up when they are first starting to put their thoughts to paper. It took me years to feel comfortable writing. Keeping a journal is a purely personal exercise, so it can be a number of different things. A record of activities you’ve been doing, recent thoughts you’ve had, some things you plan to do, or just random thoughts that come to mind. Don’t feel stressed or obligated to write meaningful, articulate ideas, just things that you feel like should be recorded or whatever feels natural to you. Remember, one of the main reasons to keep a journal is to cut down on stress from your life, not add more.

Try to tear yourself away from the constant pressure that presents itself from social media and other sources to always look and sound the absolute best you can, to self-promote, and keep a shiny, interesting, flawless persona. Take a rest from it all, put your thoughts down knowing that only you will ever see them.

Here are 15 simple prompts to cure your writer’s block:

• Write a letter to your past self or future self.
• Talk about what aspect of your life you are currently working on and what steps you’re taking.
• List some things you are grateful for.
• Explore something that you fear, and why you do.
• Write about something that you want, and make a plan to obtain it.
• Plan out where you want to be in 5, 10, 15 years.
• Write about your biggest mistakes/accomplishments.
• Talk about things/people you love.
• Record some moments from your daily life.
• Write about what worries you.
• Write about some observations you made today.
• Set some goals for yourself.
• Write about a topic you enjoy.
• Write about an area where you are too tough on yourself.
• Record some lessons from your week/month.

When to write.

In the morning, during the day, at lunch, in the evening, before bed.

I find myself writing in my journal through the day if I have any random inspiring thoughts, or if I hear something that I feel like I would like to hear again at some point (quotes, conversations, etc.) I also typically end my day with writing a few things about what I did that day, or what I should have done, and then making a plan to finish those tasks another time. Again, keep in mind that journaling is intended to improve your life, not be another chore that you feel obligated to do. I encourage writing everyday, but don’t feel like a non-daily journal has diminished value.

How to start.

Journals don’t need to be kept in elegant leather bound tablets or written with iridium fountain ink pens. They can be kept in a spiral notebook, or even on your phone or tablet.

The important part isn’t the medium you record it on, it’s actually starting the habit. Don’t put off something so vital to your overall physical and mental health.

We’ve talked about how journaling can help you think through your problems and help you better express yourself. Our journals can work wonders for our overly anxious minds fueled by the chaos of modern life. Keep in mind that your aim when journal-keeping should be to focus on yourself and what you want to write about. It will help you become the person that you want to be because it will help you look at yourself from an alternate perspective, and see more clearly how you can help yourself.

Linked below are a few items that will get you started with journal-keeping today.

Featured Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels