Journaling - writing things down to deepen the thinking

After posting a link to "The Things I 'Do' With My Journal" I've received a few questions via twitter @jasonwomack - if you have another question, please do let me know! Following are some of the Q's and A's for you...

Q1. Do you move your "next actions" from your journal to another digital list?

Q2. What's the benefit you have in separating "ideas" and "next actions"?

Q3. What do you think about using different journals, for business and personal (family, finance...)?

These are GREAT questions. Of course, I'm halfway tempted to ask YOU, the reader, to share YOUR ideas about these prompts. Please do leave any ideas you have in the comments, or via twitter ( @jasonwomack ) and I'll respond there as well!

Ok, so Answer 1: One glance at www.outlookdashboard.com or www.lotusnotesdashboard.com and you'll see some options. Of course, it's going to depend on your own workload. For some people completion is the name of the game, and each day they are coming up with, and finishing, their daily tasks.

For me, I keep my own "overall" list management system "in the cloud," this way I can keep it current, access it from anywhere, and trust that I've got all my options ready. About every 48 hours I'll go through my "back pages" of the journal (see Video #1 here) and add anything that needs to go into my online/distributed list management system. (Of course, that synchronizes to my iPad, iPod, BlackBerry and Desktop computer...)


Answer #2: My job is to connect new dots, to see things before other people do, and to synthesize and contextualize what the next 36-60 months of work will be like. It's SO easy for me to come up with more "to-dos," tasks of things that need to be done as soon as possible, and that's why I must have a place where I "force" myself to simply think. Someone who mentors me through thoughts and words (and, we did a great YouTube interview together some time ago) is the author Dan Pink. We share an interest in what drives people to want to do, be and have their best.

One of the things we talked about in that interview we did was the relative importance of setting pen to paper as a way to deepen the thinking, and get lost in thought. And, finally, don't take my word for it. Try it for a week or so...keep a piece of paper off to the side, and anytime you think of something to DO, write it down there. Don't interrupt yourself to go and DO that thing, write it down, and look at it later (within the hour or the day or so...).


Answer #3: I have a short answer to this one...and, it's more of a prompt:
How many places do you want to have to review, when you want to see what you thought? And, "what if" you have a thought about work, while you're thinking about your family...?

I keep one journal at a time, I get about 2 months' use out of it, and I do go back through them quarterly and annually.


Ok, you're turn! What else can I say, what else can I show, what else can I share?