How To Journal Like Jim Rohn

“If you help enough people get what they want, you can have everything you want.” - Jim Rohn

In the field of personal development, though a lot of names come to mind especially nowadays with so many self-help gurus out there, it’s safe to say that Jim Rohn is one person that makes it on top of many lists. Known as a great speaker and author, he’s as inspirational as he is influential not only because of his success. Beyond his rags to riches story, the real reason Rohn is a big name and beloved by many is because he spent most of his life sharing his knowledge by teaching others how to become successful themselves.

One practice that Rohn truly believed can help with success is journaling. In fact, he used to encourage everyone who attended his seminars to keep a journal of their own. Just by looking up his speeches on YouTube or any other streaming platform, you’ll notice that he never fails to mention it, emphasizing at every turn how invaluable journaling is—and for good reason! After all, science has proven that journaling has many benefits that can improve our lives in general. With that in mind, it’s not surprising it can greatly contribute to our success, too.

In today’s article, let’s take a look at Jim Rohn’s journaling practice and how we can emulate it to build our own success story!

1. Journaling provides much needed space where solutions can grow.

One of the best things that Rohn uses his journal for is figuring out how to solve problems. He does this by writing down what’s wrong and it’s during the written retelling that a solution takes shape and form. But how does it work?

Writing and describing your thoughts about something—your indecisions, uncertainties, and challenges—“creates a space between you and the problem”. This process allows you to see things from a different perspective, a perspective you might not have considered if you hadn’t written the problem down at all. In Rohn’s own words:

“As we reread what we have written, we create a new picture in our minds to replace the distorted picture we have been working with. And once we finally see things as they are rather than as what we think they are, we can then see our way clearer to make them better.”

Journaling gives us the chance to be more objective when facing our problems and, as a result, we don’t only gain more understanding of ourselves, we also get the opportunity to find a resolution for whatever may come our way.

2. Tracking your progress is key.

Rohn is a big fan of keeping track of things, most especially on paper, and one that he considers vital to success is keeping track of our progress. It’s one thing to set a goal, which is as important, but a big part of goal setting is also “stopping periodically to access and measure one’s progress”.

There are numerous ways we can keep track of how we’re doing no matter which aspect of our lives we’re talking about: simply talking about it stream of consciousness-style is fine, but keeping a habit tracker can work, too! How? A habit tracker gives you a visual representation of the progress you’re making and how far along you’ve come, which can give you the motivation needed to keep going! Rohn once said, “Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” So it’s paramount to continue a cycle of motivation and habit so that you always have the energy to keep improving while working toward your goal.

Not sure whether you should start a habit tracker right now? Check out this article for four reasons why you should.

Important: A journal you’ll want to write in is vital if you’re going to be using it at all. According to Rohn:

“Bear in mind that a journal should be capable of going wherever you go. A journal that requires more space than your briefcase permits or more room than your desktop allows for you, more often than not, it will be left at home: gathering dust instead of thoughts and cobwebs instead of observations.”

3. Learning from mistakes through journaling.

Though Rohn believes that it’s unforgivable to make the same mistake twice, he does add that “it’s never too late to make adjustments and revisions in your thinking” and goes on to describe how “better decision making comes from better thinking habits, and better thinking habits come from practical experience.”

But what does journaling have to do with all this?

Practical experience is only useful if we’re able to remember what worked and didn’t as we navigate situations and make decisions in life. And what better way to take note of them than writing them down in our journal?

By going back to previous entries or simply rereading the one we just wrote down, we can gain more understanding of certain things especially when they go wrong. We can reflect and learn, and then avoid making the same mistakes—all the while armed with more knowledge on how to be better.

Conclusion

These are just a few pearls of wisdom from Jim Rohn on how journaling can assist us in becoming as successful as he is. Of course there’s a lot more to do and change—mindsets to adjust and self-discipline to develop—but the simple process of writing on paper is a great start to building all these things and more.

How has journaling helped you become more successful? How has it effectively solved your problems and changed your perspective of a problem or situation? Let us know in the comments—we’d love to hear from you!