We overestimate our ability to remember and usually attempt to keep everything in our heads. Keeping a journal frees your mind from using precious energy to remember and allows your brain to spend that energy processing information. Processing information improves our chances of solving problems and achieving ideal outcomes.
Writing Things Down vs. Journaling
Research shows that most adults can keep 5 to 9 items in mind for a short time. In other words, the information can be lost if it isn’t written somewhere relatively quickly. It is impossible to memorize all errands, appointments, shopping lists, and other tasks except for a small group of people. For the rest of us, writing things down can prevent us from missing appointments, forgetting important details, or failing to do our part in a group setting.
A fitness journal helps organize our thoughts, feelings, and insights more deeply and deliberately. Journals can be written, typed, drawn, or spoken. Some journals are for any purpose, like a notebook or personal diary. Other journals, like FitTrend, travel journals, productivity planners, or project journals, focus on particular themes or objectives.
Keeping a journal records important information
Nowadays, there are so many things that can grab our attention. We constantly need to stay on top of our lives and can easily fall victim to information overload. Our brains can’t keep up with all the information, tasks, distractions, and responsibilities. Keeping a journal is a simple yet powerful way to keep information in one place without spending extra brain power to remember it. Therefore, that brain power is available for other important things.
Keeping a journal helps organize your thoughts
Think of your brain like your desk. Each task, errand, and thought are pieces of paper scattered about in no particular order. It becomes another Post-it Note on your desk whenever you have something new to remember. When you need to find something, you have to sort through them to locate it.
Journaling is like sorting your Post-it Notes of tasks, errands, and thoughts into piles. Each pile represents specific types of information. Instead of just throwing another Post-it Note into a pile with every new task, errand, and thought, you take a moment to review the information. You may reword it to be more precise, add more details, or throw it away.
Regardless, you pause for one moment to reflect and then file it into the proper pile. As a result, you can quickly locate the information instead of wasting valuable time and brain energy.
Keeping a journal helps clarify your priorities and goals
We come up with great ideas all the time. However, health goals such as losing weight, getting in shape, or eating better are often too vague. Journaling can help define and break priorities into specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound goals.
Keeping a journal keeps you motivated
No matter how much willpower you have or accomplishments you’ve made, motivation doesn’t last. In the beginning, you have a lot of energy and eagerness to start. As the days pass, you slowly lose that energy until the goal seems too far away to achieve. Your motivation begins to waiver, progress slows, and you lose your will to continue.
Keeping a journal that tracks your journey is very motivating. It allows you to see progress towards your goals. Furthermore, visualizing your success helps reinforce your commitment, resolve, and chances of success.
Keeping a journal enables high-level thinking and focus
High-level thinking occurs above memorizing facts or repeating something the same way as it was said. It requires doing something with the information. We must understand it, connect thoughts to facts and concepts, categorize and manipulate it, combine the data in new ways, and apply it.
Your journal contains a record of your entire journey. You can apply high-level thinking at any time while reflecting on your progress and goals. Furthermore, high-level thinking can identify successes and failures. Overall, it is an opportunity to make course corrections, change strategies, or maintain focus on the current goals.
The Takeaway
Journaling has many benefits. Not only does it let you record and organize your thoughts, but it also lets you visualize your journey, share your progress, achieve your goals, and stay motivated.
FitTrend’s mission is to help you along your self-improvement journey, promote an active lifestyle, and help you achieve your goals. Our journal can help you track your workouts, weight, mood, calories, and more. Also, FitTrend allows you to connect supported gadgets to your account to make it easier for you to update your journal automatically. Create your account today and start using FitTrend for free!
Disclaimer: No content on this site should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
