Success Journal

This video is delightful at many levels. It is totally spontaneous and the magpie plays its part beautifully. The magpie demonstrated the State Awareness traffic lights. It can be seen testing me and daring to go out of its comfort zone. It demonstrates the yellow 'caution' traffic light and the give it a go attitude.

The timing was perfect, I had a brand new success journal and I was about to move house, so my time with this bird was coming to a close. I achieved a couple of goals for my success journal in one hit, Yay!

The magpie goes from its yellow traffic light awareness state of caution, with it testing me with the foot peck, to quickly being comfortable standing on me is testimony to how fast birds can learn. This magpie was naturally cautious of me for a long time. But once it decided I was safe it became quite comfortable.

This video embodies many of the principles taught on this website, such as:

1. Giving it a go.
2. Making the most of the situation.
3. Using the learning journal.
4. Setting the goals and working towards them--it was a process to get this magpie to befriend me over a long period of time.
5. Holding of the Learning State so it finally happened with a very cautious animal.
6. Being resourceful to give a meaningful video while doing my best to manage an evolving situation with a timid animal.
7. Allow the outcome to be the best that could be made at that time. A rare moment with something special took place and I actually captured it. I had no plugin microphone or tripod ready for recording.

The success journal acts like a big overview. This is a right brain activity, as it engages the bigger picture of one's life. Writing thoughts onto a page helps to empty the backlog of stuff in my unconscious mind. Then I feel clearer so I perform better. The journal is like a vacuum cleaner clearing the mind and thinking processes.

It assists with whole brain learning and life context. Your adding details and insights helps sharpen your left brain and grow the habit of improvement.

As it is a physical book and written by hand, that makes it tangible. This activates the kinesthetic aspect of learning. It is great to randomly flick through it and see symbols and colors. Mine has normal writing as well as mind maps and doodles. It is a fantastic place for a monthly and yearly mind map.

I sometimes make a motivation grid. This is a grid of days and weeks where the hours given to an activity like study are recorded. I do this with website development hours. I can chart how I am being productive or not. It helps me to track if I am doing the important activities as they are the only ones that have time recorded. If the hours fluctuate I can refer to the date in my diary and see why I got side tracked.

The journal also serves as an overview and summary function. This helps processing and secures long-term memory.

Primarily the success journal is used to assist with projects, hobbies, studies, goals, and personal development. It is a central place where the important material is collected. What is important in your life that you want to improve? Set that as a topic for reflection and focus.

It is the place to dig deeper, understand and pick yourself apart with honesty (pillar No4). To self-evaluate in a nice way and make distinctions of what can be improved or what was a win. It's about taking the time to inquire and figure out the causes.

The journal is an excellent place to reflect on skill sets that you are trying to develop. For example, when did you remember to use the traffic light State Awareness exercise? What was the effectiveness of going into the Learning State? This helps develop a new habit faster because you're putting in time and attention. Doing this demonstrates to the unconscious mind that it is important. The unconscious mind then will assist.

Developing creativity is a key aspect of the success journal. Put in all the ah-ha moments, creative ideas and inspirational thoughts. This affirms the creative process of the unconscious. My journals are full of amazing ideas. Some I try out immediately while others I go back to many years later and give it a go. It’s quite exciting to go hunting through a pile of journals looking for that inspirational idea a few years later. "I know it is in here somewhere!" When the current situation is mixed with an old inspiration, often something new and brilliant results.

The development of emotional intelligence can be accelerated with reflection from the place of the Learning State. Observations can be recorded regarding emotions and how they were responded to. How quickly was the State Awareness traffic light identified? How easy was it from being in this state to give a response, or did an undesirable behavior and emotion happen? You can see your emotional intelligence growing when you look back into the past. This gives that sense of accomplishment.

The success journal can also be used as a personal diary. It can be a great place to vent. The act of putting it on paper helps the unconscious mind arrange and process it within your psychology.

The success journal is a great place to put where you failed at things and the reason why you think that might be. Later you make it deeper insights as to why if you write these down. You'll be really surprised how at a future time you can reflect upon those and go 'yep that was the time I made that change'.

If you like mastering a hobby put your learnings in the learning journal. Then you go back, reflect and come up with a deeper understanding of something you are passionate about.

Mind mapping and diagram doodles are excellent. Yearly and Monthly goal mind maps spark possibilities. Project or research mind maps are also very useful. An idea captured is one you can always find again.

In summary the success journal is a central place where you put your learnings, aspirations, and desires. It can also be a good place to vent your emotions. That is, better out than in, per the prime directives of the unconscious.

Reflecting and writing help the habits of being successful, planning, and responding to situations. You'll learn how you tick inside by reflecting. This reflection confirms to the unconscious mind that something is important so learning and habits change (prime directives 12, 16, 17, 19 leading to 20).

One of the best aspects of the success journal is over time the changes can be seen. It is great to look back and see your competencies grow. Looking back to see what helped (or not) in a prior time can be helpful.

As discussed in the video you can also use a phone app or something like that with a password if you don't feel safe with the people around you peeking into your privacy. Another option is to use coded and vague language for certain things. It is important you feel safe so you can be honest (Law Zero) with yourself. That way you will be able to move through situations and issues that may otherwise continue to cause problems.