What Do You Actually Want? How Journaling Helps You Look Beyond Goals and To-Do Lists.

This is Episode 5 of Season 6 of The Journaling Guy Podcast, and today it's all about finding out what we ACTUALLY want!

• Not what SHOULD you want.
• Not what would look impressive.
• Not what your family thinks you should want.
• Not what someone your age, in your job, with your life is SUPPOSED to want.

What do YOU actually want?

This weeks mission:

So, this week I want you to write on two pages. On the first:

I WANT MORE OF...

On the second:

I WANT LESS OF...

Write whatever comes up.

Then when you've finished, I want you to answer one final question:

IF NOBODY ELSE'S OPINION MATTERED, WHAT WOULD I CHANGE?

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Don't forget, I've written a FREE five-day series called How Journaling Can Transform Your Life. Each day, I'll send you another part of the story and show you what I discovered about Journaling along the way.” https://www.mrmattyoung.com/free-course

It's my personal journey into Journaling, and I'd love to share that and inspire you at the same time.

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me — [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always...

"Keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself."

Matt.

The Things You Keep Coming Back To: How Journaling Helps You Notice What Really Matters.

This is Episode 5 of Season 5 of The Journaling Guy Podcast, and today it's all about noticing what really matters to you, when writing in your Journal.

It's important to remember here... it's not necessarily about what we keep writing about directly, it's more about what that means when we dig a little bit deeper into it.

Repetition isn't always a bad thing. We mustn't keep making the same mistake or repeating a same bad habit. But what about those ideas, ambitions or interests that simply refuse to disappear?

REMEMBER; repetition might be evidence to ourselves, that something matters.

This weeks mission:

Go back through some old Journal entries; don't read every word. Just flick through and look for repetition.

• Ideas
• People
• Places
• Dreams

Then write: THIS KEEPS COMING BACK BECAUSE... and carry on.

Don't ask whether it's realistic. Don't make a plan. Don't Google how much flights cost. Just explore why it matters.

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Thanks for listening to The Journaling Guy Podcast.

Don't forget, I've written a FREE five-day series called How Journaling Can Transform Your Life. Each day, I'll send you another part of the story and show you what I discovered about Journaling along the way.” https://www.mrmattyoung.com/free-course

It's my personal journey into Journaling, and I'd love to share that and inspire you at the same time.

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me — [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always...

"Keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself."

Matt.

How Journaling Helps You Understand Your Emotional Triggers so we can ask ourselves... "Why Did I React Like THAT?"

This is Episode 4 of Series 5 of The Journaling Guy Podcast, and today, I'm asking talking about Emotional Triggers and how we react to them.

For example, the moment when something happens and you react and then perhaps five minutes later, an hour later or even the following day, you think to yourself “Why the bloody hell did I react like THAT?”

So, this week, I want you to catch one reaction. Just one.

Then, when you’ve got a little bit of distance from it, open your Journal and write:

WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED?

WHAT DID I FEEL?

WHAT DID I TELL MYSELF IT MEANT?

WHAT ELSE MIGHT BE TRUE?

And then stop. Don’t try to fix yourself. Don’t turn it into homework. Just read what you’ve written and ask: “What do I notice?”

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Thanks for listening to The Journaling Guy Podcast.

I’d like to share something quite special with you. I've written a FREE five-day series called How Journaling Can Transform Your Life.

Each day, I'll send you another part of the story and show you what I discovered about Journaling along the way.” https://www.mrmattyoung.com/free-course

I really think you'll love this, as it gives you a personal insight into a Journaling Journey, that has brought me to this point today.

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me — [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always...

"Keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself."

Matt.

This is Episode 3 of Season 5 of The Journaling Guy Podcast, and today, I'm asking all about ENERGY.

I feel like we don’t pay enough attention to Energy. We tend to notice what EXHAUSTS us because exhaustion shouts LOUD. ENERGY is much quieter.

For the next seven days, I want you to start noticing your Energy. At the end of each day, draw two headings in your Journal:

GAVE ME ENERGY and TOOK MY ENERGY

That’s it. Don’t overthink it. Under GAVE ME ENERGY, write all the positive situations and scenarios that fed into that energy.

Then under TOOK MY ENERGY, write the things that seemed to drain you.

After seven days, read it, don’t judge it and most importantly, Don’t immediately try fix it!

-----------------------

Thanks for listening to The Journaling Guy Podcast.

I’d like to share something quite special with you. I've written a FREE five-day series called How Journaling Can Transform Your Life.

Each day, I'll send you another part of the story and show you what I discovered about Journaling along the way.” https://www.mrmattyoung.com/free-course

I really think you'll love this, as it gives you a personal insight into a Journaling Journey, that has brought me to this point today.

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me — [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always...

"Keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself."

Matt.

This is episode 2 of Season 5 of The Journaling Guy Podcast, and today, I'm asking what sounds like a really simple question...

How well do you actually know yourself?

Last week, I spoke to former NFL player Jed Collins, who has been Journaling for more than 20 years. Jed talked about the incredible ability his journals give him to effectively travel through time. This enables him to go back and meet the earlier versions of himself, seeing what he was thinking and feeling, what he understood about himself and, perhaps even more importantly, what he didn't understand yet.

That got me thinking...

We spend an enormous amount of our lives trying to understand other people, our partners, children, friends, colleagues and bosses but how often do we turn that same curiosity back on ourselves?

Your Journal gives you somewhere to do exactly that. Somewhere you don't need to perform, impress anyone or even have all the answers.

This week, we're exploring Curiosity Journaling and why changing one simple question from "Why am I like this?" to "I wonder why I do that?" can completely change the conversation you have with yourself.

Because we're not looking for answers - We're looking for clues!

This week, choose one of these sentences and use it as the starting point for your Journal:

I feel most like myself when...

I lose track of time when...

The people who bring out the best in me are...

Something about myself I'm beginning to understand is...

If nobody else's opinion mattered, I would...

Don't try to answer all five at once. Pick one and see where your writing takes you. Most importantly, don't judge what comes out.

Be curious.

If you'd like more detail around this week's method, and some extra prompts to help you explore who you are when nobody's watching, pop over to The Journaling Guy Substack. There you'll find...

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• The full mission, written down
• Bonus reflections too

This is all over on the Substack channel which you can find HERE.

The full link is available on The Journaling Guy Substack.

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me — [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always...

"Keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself."

Matt.

This is a really special episode of The Journaling Guy Podcast. I got to sit down and interview Jed Collins, a former NFL Fullback who just so happens to have kept a Journal throughout his whole career

Jedidiah Collins - The Fullback of Finance. This is one of the best conversations I've ever had the pleasure of having, about Journaling.

Jed's Father instilled the practice in him from a young age and he used it through the latter part of his education and into his career to help him build resilience, learn about himself and to create a memoir which he's now turned into a book.

Jed's book "4th & Goal" - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1807047156

"Journaling isn't just a habit. It's a discipline. It's a competitive advantage. And this book is proof of what happens when someone has the courage to write it all down."

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Watch this episode over on YouTube - https://youtu.be/Dm_TZOvasjE?si=doMbcepAin5QaoDN

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always... "keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself", Matt.

This is episode seven of our the Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 7). It's the FINAL episode in this series and today, I talk about how a Journal starts to KEEP YOU.

One of the biggest gifts Journaling gives you is perspective. When you're living through something difficult, it can feel permanent. But when you can flick back through months or even years of your own thoughts, you start seeing something different. You see growth and resilience.

Go back and read something you wrote a few weeks ago. As you read it, don't judge the person who wrote those words. Instead, meet them with compassion and then ask yourself:

What has changed?

What have I learned?

What did I survive that I thought I couldn't?

You might discover that you've come much further than you realise.

If you'd like more detail around this method, and to understand how and why it works, pop over to The Journaling Guy Substack. There's you'll find...

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• The full mission, written down
• Bonus reflections too

This is all over on the Substack channel which you can find HERE.

The full link is here - https://substack.com/@thejournalingguy

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Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always... "keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself", Matt.

This is episode six of our New Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 6). Today, I talk about Gratitude. There are many misconceptions when it comes to Gratitude as it is an often misunderstood technique.

A lot of people think it's quite a false thing to do, and at the extreme end, it's been referred to as Toxic Positivity - Harsh!

Our brains have a natural negativity bias. In simple terms, we're wired to notice problems. Gratitude Journaling helps shift those thoughts and helps us notice the good stuff in amongst the daily grind.

Don't write three things you're grateful for. Instead, finish this sentence each evening.

"Today, I noticed..."

That's it.

If you'd like more detail around this method, and to understand how and why it works, pop over to The Journaling Guy Substack. There's you'll find...

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• The full mission, written down
• Bonus reflections too

This is all over on the Substack channel which you can find HERE.

The full link is here - https://substack.com/@thejournalingguy

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Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always... "keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself", Matt.

This is episode five of our New Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 5). Today, I talk about how to make Journaling a habit, by figuring out the Where and the When.

Have you ever bought something with the best of intentions? Something like an online course, a gym membership or a fitness watch... only for it to sit there, completely unused. Journaling is exactly the same. It's not the journal that creates the habit. It's the routine. In this episode, I help you build that routine.

Create your journaling space.

It doesn't have to be perfect.

It just has to be yours.

If you'd like more detail around this method, and to understand how and why it works, pop over to The Journaling Guy Substack. There's you'll find some more audio. Plus:

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• A reading from my Journal 💙
• The full assignment written down
• Bonus reflections too

This is all over on the Substack channel which you can find HERE.

The full link is here - https://substack.com/@thejournalingguy

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Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always... "keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself", Matt.

This is episode four of our New Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 4). Today, I talk about the Biggest Mistake New Journalers Make, and Why You Need to Stop Editing Yourself.

“If you’re filtering your journal… you’re filtering yourself.”

Have you started writing a text message, deleted it, written it again, deleted it again, and then finally sent something completely different? We've all done this and it proves my theory that we edit ourselves all the time, certainly more than we realise.

In today's episode, I'm asking you to stopp editing yourself and start being Brutally Honest.

I’d like you to write one page beginning with these words: “What I really think is…”

Every time you feel yourself editing, start that sentence again. “What I really think is…”

If you'd like more detail around this method, and to understand how and why it works, pop over to The Journaling Guy Substack. There's you'll find some more audio. Plus:

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• A reading from my Journal 💙
• The full assignment written down
• Bonus reflections too

This is all over on the Substack channel which you can find HERE.

The full link is here - https://substack.com/@thejournalingguy

--------------------

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - [email protected]

Remember, there are loads more extras over on Substack for you, so you can really get into Journaling and begin to realise what a difference it can make to your life.

Please share this episode with someone who might need a bit of space to think. Plus, if you get a moment, please leave me a review, they matter so much for getting the podcast heard and seen.

As Always... "keep writing, keep noticing, and keep showing up for yourself", Matt.