Mind your P’s & Q’s: Part V

Part Five of our P’s & Q’s of Journaling series looks at another area that journaling can really help with: Planning and Questing. These two might appear to be essentially the same thing — but there is a key difference. Planning is a logical, objective-based, measurable process. Questing, on the other hand, adds in a component of dreaming and of envisioning the possibilities. Let’s talk a little further about these two areas.

V. Planning & Questing

Planning

Life is a journey, but by definition, a journey holds a destination at the end. What is your destination? Do you know? What do you WANT it to be? This is where planning comes in. It’s been proven over and over that people who write down their goals have a much higher chance of succeeding than those who don’t. This applies to all areas of life, from fitness to business to personal goals. In our journals we can explore our big picture ‘end goals’, then break those down into staggered goals — what do I have to do this year toward my end goal? This month? Today?

Techniques that can help us to maintain our focus include basic to-do lists or tracking forms, or as Jillian Michaels mentions in her latest book Unlimited, a goal pyramid. Deciding what you want out of life, and then organizing your life with plans, goals and objectives to help you get what you want creates a more vibrant and exciting daily existence. To help with this process, try our workbook Journaling the Journey, which has lots of  guided exercises to assist you in your personal discoveries.

Questing

What do I mean by Questing? Well, the definition of it is:

1. The act or an instance of seeking or pursuing something; a search.

2. An expedition undertaken in medieval romance by a knight in order to perform a prescribed feat: ie: the quest for the Holy Grail.

Questing is what knights in shining armour do, it’s the act of searching out the idealized version of your  life. What are the higher goals that give meaning to your life journey? Do you want to start a national charity? Give 10% of your income to good causes? Make education available to all? There is usually a deeper purpose that you want to see exhibited through your life. When you are thinking, pondering, writing about what you want your life to look like, don’t forget to include the humanitarian values you want to express. How do they fit in? In which way can they be folded in to your life plan?

Don’t let the daily grind of chores and responsibilities distract you from your life purpose. Writing down your dreams and visions of an ideal life can keep you motivated to become the person you know you can be. A good way to keep these ideals before your eyes is to create a Vision Board — clip images  which speak to your vision of a fulfilled life from magazines or print them from the web and pin them onto a corkboard or glue to a large sheet of posterboard. Let this visual reminder inspire you, while your written out goals and objectives give you specific steps and actions to take in order to make those dreams a reality.

Your journal can act both as a creative and an accountability partner. Dig deep to discover the big dreams, and then focus on the small steps you’ve planned which lead toward your ultimate vision!

Related posts:

1. Mind your P’s & Q’s: Part III
2. Mind your P’s & Q’s: Part I
3. Mind your P’s & Q’s: Part IV