Joe's Journaling Framework
What follows below is the framework I use for my personal journaling. Its origins stem from the framework I used when I was 12 years-old and started to keep a training log for my development as a canoeing athlete… and continued to use through our success at the 1992 Olympic Games.
In 2013, I transitioned it into a more practical use for adult life. It’s gone through some iterations since then but the basic practice that you see below is what I use now even though it is still evolving!
There is no obligation to use these exact questions but my hope is that this will help you to get started and ultimately find a rhythm and format that best serves you.
In this practice, I am mostly guided by a few questions in which I write for a few minutes in the morning and then a few minutes in the evening. But as there are no set rules to this, you can choose to write one time per day, mix the questions up, or do something more free-flowing like, "Today I feel..."
Here are the basic questions and framework that I use to guide my own writing:
Morning Journaling
Daily Practice
The first section of the practice is guided by two areas - purpose and guideposts.
I write my purpose (the same purpose each day) first thing at the top of the page. Finding and identifying purpose is a deeper topic, but journaling is a great place to experiment and see what feels good to you.
Just below purpose, I choose a few key elements of my day and pursuits that support my purpose - I call these guideposts as when practiced, they help establish my daily path. Beside each guidepost, I write out a short series of five-six values that are like a word map for each guidepost. Then, I move into the Morning Questions.
The Daily Practice part of my journal writes like this:
Purpose
Enjoy this experience through the full engagement of connection, creativity, health, and wealth.
Guideposts
Outlook: awake, love, curious, simple, equilibrium
Energy: set, move, nature, flow, replenish, whole
Coaching: listen, ask, connect, trust, collaborate, evolve
Create: reflect, develop, align, sharpen, patience, share
Morning Questions
Unlike the Daily Practice section above which remains the same each day, the following questions tap more into where I am and how I am feeling at this moment in time.
What is my outlook for the day?
This is not a task list but more like overarching themes and high level aspirations. Think about what kind of attributes this day is asking you to bring forward?
I tend to stick pretty close to the same values each day that correspond with the most elements of my day (actions and/or roles) - sort of like a daily reinforcement.
T.O.M? (short of "Top Of Mind")
This can be one of the more challenging spaces in my journaling practice but one of the important additions to the practice. Simply said, this is the space to move my current feelings, thoughts (and thought loops,) or mood on to paper and reflectively expand on them via a few sentences (or more if desired.) No judging or changing - just noticing and accepting.
Naturally, this space varies a lot every day. But, over time, being able to see that gap between aspirational values and current state every day has been immensely helpful in making daily decisions.
Relationship Focus?
This is placing a little bit of intention and attention towards the people of most importance and people with whom you might interact that day.
For what I am grateful?
Just a simple gratitude prompt.
Typically, my morning journaling practice takes about 5-10 minutes.
Evening Questions
What went well today?
What could have gone better?
What's a reinforcing choice I made today? (an action that reinforces the bigger picture and the right direction)
Who did I serve today?
The evening practice usually takes no more than 5 minutes. One interesting note about the evening journaling - back in September of 2021, I started to do this in a notebook that allows me to journal about the calendar day in the same space for a few years. So now, in mid 2023, my evening journaling takes place directly under the same entry I wrote on the same day a year earlier - something I'm enjoying a lot!
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You can use all or some but ultimately, if you try journaling like this, evolve the practice into making it your own. I believe that using a framework like this one can be a nice start though.
I also find that writing with a pencil (or pen) on real paper feels good for me. The act of moving the pencil across paper has a nice flow to it and something different than tapping characters on a phone or keyboard.If you begin, I'd encourage you to start small but do a little every day. No judging what you write - just observe and notice. Please give the exercise a few weeks to develop some feel.
Of course, please feel free to ask any questions and please feel free to share any progress or feedback too - joe@joejacobi.com
Thank you for reading!
With gratitude, Joe
Joe Jacobi
Olympic Gold Medalist, Performance Coach & Author
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