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Matters Journaling

Matters Macro Journaling system is an extension of the Bullet Journaling System, with the added focus towards Personal Formation using a simple but extensible structure. Seven minutes at the beginning of your day, and seven minutes at the end of your day can change your life and help you focus on what truly matters in life. You don't have to be a novelist to succeed with Matters.

  • Plan Weekly
  • Journal Daily
  • Reflect & Collect

  • Each week a quick review of what's to come is established. Focus on what matters and note overall goals and tasks here. Not terribly detailed but rather a general overview of your focus and tasks/appointments you want to keep one eye on.

    • 1. Note your high-level themes or goals for the week
      THEMES/GOALS
      • Improve Cursive Writing
      • Get car issues resolved
      • Improve Business Plan

      Themes & Goals are not tasks. They are top level objectives, opportunities, and concerns. Themes & Goals are intended to help you have a lens to look at your growth & opportunities for that given week. They also serve as key indicators as your reflect and review past weeks ongoing. If a theme or goal continues to stand out over time, you know this is an area that needs even more intentionality on your part moving forward.

    • 2. Note ToDo's & Appointments for the week
      TODO's & APPOINTMENTS
      Call Auto Repair   Refine business revenue stream projections   Tues 2:00pm - Hair

      What are the known tasks and timestamps you need to keep one eye on this week? Note these here, and as you Matters journal each day, look back on this list to check yourself!

    • 3. Set up your habit tracker
      HABIT TRACKER
      • Practice Cursive
      • Memorize Proverbs
      • 2x bottles of water

      Habit Tracker is a seven day checklist approach to building new habits. The best way to rid bad habits is by forming new ones! Habit Trackers are a powerful tool that are stupid easy to set up and highly effective.

  • Each day quiet your spirit & focus your attitude. (M.A.T.) Then structure your tasks, exercise, relationship investments, and set up for notes & summary. (T.E.R.S.) Be as verbose as you like, but some may enjoy a more zoomed out Macro Journaling approach

    • 1. Start your day in quiet spiritual focus
      [M] Read PSLM 32 - The Lord is my strength. [memory verse] PSLM 15:1-3 EPH 5:4

      The human spirit is an undeniable and inalienable aspect of our existence. Neglecting the spiritual needs inside of us can negatively affect our ability to maximize our mental, emotional, and even our physical velocity. Meditation, reflection, prayer, feeling from your soul, and even hurting from your spirit are healthy practices that provide you the foundation to build on in all other aspects of your life. Regardless of religion or beliefs, developing spiritual practices will have lasting impacts on your personal wellness and formation.

    • 2. What stands out as spiritually actionable?
      [A] Continue refining my words in my impatience today.

      Moving on from your spiritual time in focus, take note of what particularly challenges you that you can take hold of and form into your day. Try to consider not just yourself, but also how you can impact others.

    • 3. What are you thankful for today?
      [T] Thankful for my kids today. I Want to be a better dad.

      Gratitude now is the key to unlock your best possible future. We live in a world of hurry, agendas, consumerism, and business. Thankfulness is a rare commodity one might say. What are you thankful for? What is something or someone you maybe haven't recognized just how thankful you are for?

    • 4. Note Tasks & Timestamps
      [T] Call Auto Repair   Set trash out   6:00pm - Dinner with J

      Track important tasks & appointments for the day.

    • 5. How are you moving your body today?
      [E] Upper Body Lifts   Run 1mi

      Feeling better. Looking better. Thinking better. These things sound nice. But the simple fact is that the primary obstacle of having a regular workout regimen is time. Leverage the accountability of Matters System to make progress each day. Rely on small progress, achievable exercise goals that are realistic and fit within your schedule and available workout equipment. If all you have is a chair and floor, there's a LOT you can do to tone muscles and get your heart rate up!

    • 6. Who is someone you need to reach out to?
      [R] Text Ryan   Call Mom

      As life moves forward on us, it becomes all too easy to simply lose track of incredibly meaningful relationships. It may be time to reach out to someone that's long overdue. It may mean working to restore a broken relationship and mend fences. It may mean to consider who in your life just simply needs you, or even who in your life it might be time to distance yourself from. To live well is to love well. Who are you working to love? Live and love with intentionality.

    • 7. Let the day roll on and jot
      [S] [quotable] "people who aim for nothing usually hit it." - guy at work ~ [memory] I simply could not believe the sun rays behind the sunset clouds this evening. It was stunning. ~

      ....and there you go! Hereon as you progress through your day add notes with tags and capture what matter to you. Memories, ideas, profundities, prayers... it's a wide open highway!

  • Wrap up each week with a short time of reflection. Look back through your Weekly plan, your Matters dailies, and try to identify themes and high/low points. Eventually, you will want to learn about Collections where you can aggregate your tagged notes within an indexing system.

    • 1. What stood out to you this past week?
      THEMES
      • My words, W.A.I.T. (why am I talking?)
      • Work is poppin

      A short reflection of what stood out to you thematically, good and bad.

    • 2. What are you proud of?
      PROUD OF
      • cursive is getting better!
      • invested in several relationships that needed TLC
      • got all of our yard work caught up!

      What are a few things you are simply proud of. Small wins, accomplishments, finding success in new habits. It's important to note the things that are going well and charging you up.

    • 3. What are you disappointed in?
      DISAPPOINTED IN
      • My words. Said a few things that just didn't need to be said.
      • Was passed up on for a promotion. Hurts.

      Take an honest look at what stung this week. Maybe you fell well short of a goal. Or a friend really let you down. It's ok for this area to be more weighted than what you're proud of. But if you notice a trend of many weeks, take that as a pointer to ramp up your Mindfulness and Thankfulness and orient your mind more towards small W's.

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Discover Collections

Collections are a great way to collate ideas, memories, task lists, and more. Whether you are short and to the point utilizing a more macro journaling approach, or more robust journal writing, collections offer the option of grouping dispersed entires into a sinlge list view.

Extending Matters