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 — hello@thejournalingguy.com

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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

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

Do get in touch with any questions you have and of course your feedback is really important too. Email me - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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 three of our New Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 3). Today, I talk about one of the best Journaling Techniques there is, for beginners... but, one that I still use to this day!

THE BRAIN DUMP - This is he first technique that I used on my Journaling Journey and it's still one that I use all the time. Taking those ruminating thoughts out of your mind and write them down in your Journal.

It couldn’t be simpler

• Set a timer for five minutes
• Open your journal
• Start writing
• Whatever comes into your head

Job Done

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

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

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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.

Welcome back to our NEW SEASON! This is the second episode of our New Journaling Foundations Series of The Journaling Guy Podcast (Season 4, Episode 2).

If you've not listened to Episode 1, I'd highly recommend tuning into that first before giving episode 2 a listen.

Today, I'm answering probably the second most asked question about Journaling... EVER! What sort of Journal should I use? - Spoiler Alert ‼️ The best sort of Journal is the one that gets written in... it's as simple as that!

This week's Mission is this:

Open the front cover. Write today’s date. Write your name. And underneath it…

Write one sentence. “This is where my journey begins.” And if you want to continue writing, please do. If you don't, it's ok, because you've started!

Remember, this is NEW for this season, I have extras for you over on Substack. Included in those extras are:

• Bonus audio that never made it into today's podcast 🎧
• Deeper reflections on my first Journal 💙
• The full assignment written down
• Bonus reflections

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 - hello@thejournalingguy.com

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.