Journals...a meditation on the most important tool for success!

Principle Number 9: Journaling is Key
We are meticulous with our program journals at Kinetix. They are precise, efficient and easy to use. It has been show that people who journal are twice as likely to reach their goals. Sound familiar? It is the 9th principle of the Kinetix 10 Program Principles. Whether you are doing the Kinetix Anywhere program or the In-Person Coaching, it becomes apparent pretty quickly that we are serious about journals. We are! It is widely known that the single biggest predictor to success is self-monitoring. Why?
One reason is that a journal is a barrier between you and your environment. When you are writing down what you are eating it compels you to look at what you are eating. Purely and simply, your journal is a physical reminder of your commitment to better living. It is the physical manifestation of your desire for change! Every time you pick it up you are holding in your hands your dream of a better life.
Remember when you wrote your own Switch On statement? When you articulated your goals and made them visible for the entire world to see you took the first step in your journey towards resolving tension between the life you are living, and the life you desire. You started the process of change. If you think it, you will believe it, and you can achieve it; but more to the point, when you speak it, you are reaching out for accountability. The support that is around you is called to action; be it from your partner, your coach, your community, your family…from the world. (Hence Kinetix program principle number ten: support equals success).
Then the rest of your life happened…and is happening. All through the day there are many choices we make that can either keep us on, or get us off track. Whether to work out, whether to eat six times a day, and within our K counts… I mean, how do you know if it’s a Free Target if you do not know if you are meeting your Targets? The journal can be seen as the green light you are looking for when it’s time to ease up and be free. Instead of seeing your journal as the big ball and chain around your neck, maybe look at it as the very key that will unlock the door to your greatest potential? It is!
The Buddha said, “To be always intending to make a new and better life but never to find time to set about it, is as to put off eating and drinking and sleeping from one day to the next, until you are dead.” I think this relates to journaling because when we commit to a new lifestyle we are indeed intending to make a new and better life. Making the initial commitment is a fine thing, but unless you then take that spark and continue forward you are merely intending to make a new life, but never getting around to actually making it.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am all about setting an intention. I believe that you need to visualize your success in life for anything to change. But if you only live in the visualization part, you aren’t really taking action. I know plenty of people who show up for their workouts, saying to themselves, “I am doing the Kinetix program.” Sorry. If you are not journaling, you are not doing the Kinetix program. Just like if you are “eating healthy” but are not balancing each of your six meals and snacks 40-40-20. Same as if you are engaging in cardio way out of your target heart rate. The program was designed to maximize your results through the proven strategies that work!
The ten principles of the Kinetix program stand. All ten represent the practices that it takes to get and stay in the best shape of our lives. If we never take the time to put these practices into action then it’s like failing to nourish ourselves. Without journaling we can never make progress; we cannot even measure progress. Progress is by its definition measureable and to be measured.
Stop intending to do the Kinetix program and really do your program. We are offering to you all the tools you need. So pick up that journal, fill out your Weekly Planning page, and get organized. On Sunday, while you are taking some “you-time” in the a.m., or while you are baking some Kinetix Cheesecake Brownies for the week, take a moment to fill out your Sunday Progress Report. What can you learn from the previous week? How can you improve? What went right? How can you repeat this success?
The bottom line is awareness. Journaling is about opening your eyes. So take a look! Every time you start a new day, renew your commitment to your goals by picking up your journal and filling in the date, your K Count targets, and some visualization of what it is you are creating. Write it down. Maybe it’s one word, or one thought. Then jot down your breakfast and then go eat your breakfast. Once you do this your day has started in a proactive manner. You have charted a course for an awesome new day. Keep the journal with you all day long. Feel excited each time you proudly document your balanced meals and snacks. You can’t wait to share the news with someone! Your journal quickly becomes that someone to tell!
In all, that someone is you. By journaling you are sending yourself the support and encouragement your coach wishes they could give you every second of every day.

Be well,
 Coach Danielle