By Books Writer Denise Turney

Writing journals are the types of recording resources that help you stay on track. Even more, when you write in journals you can shift an idea from your imagination, allowing the idea to showcase itself out in the world. A journal is one of the friendliest truth finders.

Beyond Beautifully Designed Blank Journals

And you get to fill in the blank pages at your own pace. But, to gain continual rewards from writing in a journal, you need to commit to the work. If not, you might end up with a bookcase of beautifully designed blank journals that are free of your personal writings, clear of your inner work.

Do that and the hidden dreams, triggers, roadblocks and long-term goals buried deep inside of you might stay just that way – hidden. For example, if you want to open a vegan bakery, a location filled with plants and contemporary abstract paintings, you’re going to have to do more than concept the bakery.

Shift Beyond Imagination with Journals

As good as it feels, it’s not enough to concept and think about opening a bakery. You have to start shifting internally so that you take smart actions. In this instance, you could write your concept in a journal. Then, add detail and clarity to the concept. Other steps needed to shift the goal of operating a vegan bakery beyond imagination include:

• Detail it out – Sticking with the vegan bakery idea, add detail-detail-detail to the concept in your journal. What color do you want the bakery’s interior to have? Do you want a one-level or a two-level bakery? Would turning a tiny house or a traditional house into a bakery work? Will the bakery have a unique exterior design, the type of design that stands out? What days and hours will the bakery be open to the public? Could your bakery also serve as your living space, reducing your overall real estate cost?
• Local regulations – Discover if there are licenses needed to operate a bakery. Also, learn if there are certain types of ingredients you’re not permitted to use in your baked goods.
• Finances – Identify how much money you can afford to invest in your vegan bakery right now. After all, you can always invest more money in the business, as needed, after you start turning a profit.
• Headcount – At the start, determine if you’re going to be a solopreneur or if you’re going to hire staff. If you can’t afford to take on full-timers, you could hire two to three part-time workers to get the bakery up and running.

Answer Journaling Questions

Write answers to these questions in your journal. Consider using this journal to only write about a single goal. When you visit local small businesses, meeting with entrepreneurs to learn about what you need to meet local laws, write about those experiences in your journal.

Instead of simply writing what you did, expand upon the experience. This would see you writing about how you felt before you met with local regulators or local entrepreneurs and how you felt during and after the meetings.

Should you encounter inner roadblocks that show up as procrastination, anxiety or constant delays, set aside time to write about what you’re experiencing. If a parent, grandparent or another relative owned a business, write about your feelings around their business and your relationship with this relative.

Why is this important?

Making The Connection While You Write

You might expect to experience the same results from your business that this relative experienced with their business. On top of this, the expectation could be hidden in your subconscious. Leave this expectation unhidden and you might struggle to understand why you’re procrastinating or avoiding taking a necessary step in your business, all starting with the third year that you’ve owned the bakery.

Your journal writing could uncover the fact that your relative’s business suffered losses during the third year, forcing your relative to close the business. Let’s say you admired this relative, thinking that they were incredibly smart, courageous, insightful and kind. They weren’t the type of person you thought would ever lose at anything.

Yet, they had to close their business. Deep down, you might be expecting the same to happen with you, because you don’t see yourself as capable of exceeding what this relative you admire accomplished. At a subconscious level, fear could be leading you.

Make Journal Writing a Good Habit

By making journal writing about your goal a daily or weekly habit, you could spot this and other internal shifts early. Once you spot a shift, list smart actions that you’re going to take to pivot around setbacks, negative expectations and fear.

For instance, you might list three to six negative expectations that you have. Just don’t stop there. After you list the negative expectations, list how you are going to deal with those events should they actually occur. This helps to build confidence, showing you that you can effectively respond to a setback.

So Many Usages for Writing Journals

Other ways to use writing journals to shift beyond imagination are to:

• Put on a journalist’s hat and write about previous successes you have had. The more you write about prior successes that are related to what you want to do next, the better. Prove to yourself that you can achieve what you want. After all, look how many times you’ve already gotten the ball over the wall.
• Add pictures of you dreaming about what you want (the incubator stage) to you applying for licenses, paying startup fees and reviewing properties to operate your business from. Include them in your journal.
• Schedule events to celebrate each third step that you take to bring your vision forward, shifting it from imagination to where others can see it benefitting people in the world. Take pictures of these celebrations, however small or large they are. Make sure you add several of these pictures to your journal.

As you can see, there are a myriad of ways to pump up writing journals. Adding pictures, drawings, poems, song lyrics, flowers, etc. to your journal, you enliven these written personal recordings that much more. Who knows? Looking forward to adding to the journal might encourage you to continue doing what it takes to shift great ideas beyond your inner world, bringing them from imagination to real life in the world.