Journal Every Day .. Or just Draw a Picture– Rehearse your Identity in 10 seconds!

We’ve all heard that expression and it’s true! Especially when we know the importance of maintaining a daily journaling practice but don’t have the time to write a long journal entry.

Q: How do we make time to 1) remind ourselves of the important priorities that we set for ourselves 2) plan our day 3) measure our progress 4) reflect on that progress?

A: Pictures. Mantras. Short-hand!

We can create a short-hand version of the message to express these meaningful concepts.  Aside from a time-saver, a picture helps you build mental visualizations. Just like a movie, it engages more senses than a lecture or an article, thus evoking a more meaningful reminder of how we want to live (THAT’S ALL MENTAL TRAINING IS … CREATING MORE MOMENTS OF PRESENCE WHERE WE CAN DELIBERATELY CHOOSE TO BE THE PEOPLE WE WANT TO BE.)

To speak to the power of mental visualization, in “Can’t Hurt Me”, David Goggins tells a tale of hearing the “Rocky Music” and picturing himself as Rocky getting up after a merciless beating by Apollo Creed, refusing to quit, and breaking Creed’s spirit.

Another SEAL, Mark Divine (author of The Unbeatable Mind), uses a mantra “ Look good, feel good, I should be in Hollywood” to get through buds.

The point is– mantras, video representations, and pictures are a great tool to quickly focus our attention and remind us of the men and woman we want to be. The more we recite, envision, and reflect on our reminders, the more quickly we can back on track after we get knocked off track.