Tag: Stephen Covey

Challenging You to Keep a Journal

by Mershon Niesner

Keeping a personal journal, a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences, is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them. Stephen R.Covey, author

Have you ever wondered why people like Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, and Sara Blakely spent so much of their precious time writing things never to be seen by another soul? Because they knew the power of daily journaling. 

Here are just a few advantages of journaling: 

  • Writing what you’re feeling helps you clear your emotions, detach from the past, and vent any pent-up anger. You do this by transferring your emotions to paper which helps you get them off the hamster wheel of your brain.
  • Journaling helps you achieve your goals. Writing down long term goals is an important step to achieving success. Writing about what you want to do and/or have achieved each day to move you toward reaching your specific goals is what makes this happen. 
  • Keeps you in an attitude of gratitude. One of my favorite type of journals is a Gratitude Journal. Write what you are grateful for everyday. Keeping gratitude as a central part of your life keeps you forward thinking and positive. A similar journal is a Prayer Journal.
  • Records your life history. My former husband wrote in his journal every day for most of his adult life. When he died suddenly at the age of fifty-three, his journals were the history of his days on a Naval aircraft carrier, the weather, and what had happened in his life day to day life. 

Affirmation: Journaling can make a difference in my life.

Coaching question and request: How might journaling make a difference in your life? I challenge you to keep a hand-written journal for one week. 

PS I’m starting my new journal (see below) today. I’m with you all the way!

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Learning To Trust

by Mershon Niesner

Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships. Stephen Covey, author

After I post this blog, I’m heading out to particulate in my writers’ critique group. Twice a month, five writers come together to read and critique each other’s work. I’m bringing future newspaper columns for them to comment on and correct. 

Yesterday, my editor returned a re-written chapter from my book manuscript. Frequent evaluation isn’t for the faint of heart but it is a wonderful learning opportunity. For me, the important ingredient in the process is to trust those who are critiquing or editing. Trust that they have my best interest in mind, that they have expertise in writing/editing, and they are being completely honest in their evaluation. Difficult but gratifying. 

Affirmation: Through trust, I learn. 

Coaching questions: How do you feel about critiques or evaluations? Can your self esteem handle it? If you have a difficult question or problem to discuss, consider who you trust enough to help you evaluate.