The newsletter which curates & delivers the best mind hacks, mental health tips & high performance strategies to you every single week.

🧠 FEAR HACK

The Timeless Practice (Used By Benjamin Franklin, Einstein, Da Vinci & Others!) To Think Deeper, Process Emotions & Boost Mental Health!

To kickstart this week's newsletter, let's talk about journalling — the simple, yet powerful practice that hosts an altitude of incredible mental health benefits…

We'll answer the questions of what is journalling, what are the benefits & how can you get started with journalling (or mix up your practice if you always do this if you'd like)...

Starting with...

Q1: What Is Journalling?

Well, it's writing...

Except, the main distinction being this & typically 'writing' is that with journalling the goal is not for anybody to see or read it… it's just for you... (like a dairy, but more manly 😆 )

At which point, you might wonder, what's the point of writing then if nobody is going to read what I wrote?

Well, it's because the process of writing itself produces amazing benefits, which include...

Q2: What Are The Benefits?

Benefits include:

• Reduced stress levels: What journalling essentially does is force you to think about, reflect on & to put into words not just the events, but the emotions of your life...
  
  Doing this naturally offers you a little bit more distance between you & these thoughts / emotions, usually minimizing their effect & lowering their emotional intensity, including the reduction of stress/anxiety.
  
  And since stress is linked to virtually every health problem or condition, it makes sense that journalling can actually contribute to the betterment of your physical health, including healing disease or health problems.
  
  This is proven by quite a number of studies now which show that people who started a journal practice (with effects starting at as little as 15 minutes per day) not only saw a significant decrease in their stress & anxiety, but also started to observe a reduction in various stress-related symptoms & health problems...

• Decreased worry, anxiety, fear (even cure phobia's): Based on similar underlying concepts, journalling can help reduce worry, anxiety & even fears (potentially even helping to get rid of lifelong fears of phobias) by enabling people to express their feelings & experiences in an organized, structured, disassociated way...
  
  Put another way, journalling can help put things in perspective, making it far easier to recognize any irrational thinking or thought patterns that may be contributing to the anxiety or fear in the first place…
  
  (journalling can also help individuals gain insight into their triggers, allowing them to plan ahead & develop coping strategies for when they encounter those triggers in the future).

• Improved creativity & better problem-solving abilities: If you notice, the brief list of people who journaled throughout history, you'll find these people are generally very 'creative' individuals — this practice may have something to do with that too!
  
  That's because, through journalling, you're allowed to explore thoughts & feelings as we've established which provides us with the benefit of creativity…
  
  As you journal, you'll likely find yourself forming new or novel connections between ideas that you didn't form better (a.k.a. creativity), including ways of using those ideas to solve problems in life (a.k.a. creative problem-solving.)
  
  Another benefit is...

• Better memory, recall & faster learning: Multiple studies have now found that when you journal on events & experiences in your life you not only improve your recall of those specific events, but become better & more accurate at recalling all kinds of events & experiences in the future (a.k.a. better memory.)
  
  And in general:

• Improve mental health & emotional wellbeing: Putting it all together, the practice of journalling can help to alleviate stress & anxiety (providing physical health benefits as well as mental & emotional ones) but improve your brain function, mental health & emotional wellbeing overall as you become more effective in recognizing, categorizing, exploring (even transforming) your own thoughts & feelings!

Which bring us to:

Q3: How Can You Get Started?

You can journal on many different things (gratitude journalling, dream journalling, travel journalling, etc) but there are 2 main types/buckets/ formats for journalling to begin with...

These are:

1. Open Journalling

This one is simple: You just open a page (ideally a physical piece of paper or notepad, rather than a digital device as this uses more muscles/contributes to better memory) & you just write...

No prompts.

No specific suggestions.

Whatever pops into your mind, you just write it out on paper.

Trusting the process.

2. Structured Journalling

With this 2nd type of journalling, instead of writing whatever comes to mind, you just specific questions or prompts to guide your thinking & journalling down a specific path...

Some examples of great journal prompts that force you to think deeper, connect with your purpose & can greatly improve your life might include:

• If you were creating your own dictionary, how would you choose to define the words ‘success’ & ‘happiness’ in that dictionary? What do these words mean to you?
  

• If you could snap your fingers & become a master at any 1 topic or skill, which one would you choose & why? How would mastering it change your life?
  

• A few little things I can do to be the best possible husband / wife / partner / parent / friend / family member this week include...
  

• What have been the greatest compliments you've ever received from others? And what made them so memorable for you? (note: this prompt will likely lead you to discover what you value most in life as well as help you connect with your greatest qualities.)
  

• What are the 3 qualities that you admire most in people & why? (note: this one meanwhile will likely reveal qualities that you might want to develop more of in your life, pushing you towards becoming better & better every day.)

^ These prompts above are actually taken out of the 360° Journal that we offer which curates 180 of the best, most thought-provoking & life-changing journal questions/prompts to help you do more, be better & transform your life in the most amazing ways…

If you'd like to learn more about the journal (which we ship to you anywhere in the world) & pick up your copy, you can do so here »

And if you’d like to receive rundown’s of top habits (like journalling) practiced by the world’s most successful people now & throughout history (as well as scientifically-proven to elevate your health, fitness, mindset, income, relationships with others & more), check out other, companion newsletter which does this, called:

‘Mighty Habits’

As a subscriber (also free!) you receive detailed breakdown of these very best of the best ‘habits’ that you can possibly build to transform all the important areas of your life…

👉 Click here to claim your V.I.P. access for free »

💭 QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Most people operate under the assumption (also spread by the self-help industry & guru’s within it) that ‘who you are, your identity, your ‘true self’ is something ready-made just waiting for you to find, or discover…

“Find yourself” the advice reads, “Connect with your true self”…

This quote challenges this paradigm, suggesting that maybe who you are (‘self’) is not something that you need to ‘find’ or ‘uncover’ at all, but something that you have to create, make, format, design…

“Create yourself” this new perspective reads instead & with every decision, action, you’re creating/choosing the version of you that you truly want to be… 

What do you think? Let us know… 💭 

✅ RECOMMENDATION

Free: Deeply Understand The World Around You, Make Smarter Decisions & Achieve Your Goals Faster!

If you haven’t subscribed to our newest, companion newsletter yet, you’re missing out: It’s titled…

‘Frameworks For Life’

…& it’ll teach you new concepts, frameworks & strategies for working smarter (not harder) & achieving your goals faster!

As part of it, we’re doing the heavy lifting of researching, studying & curating the best ideas, insights, concepts, frameworks & mental models to help you make more intelligent decisions & get ahead in life... & sending those to you (in simple terms, easy to implement) every single week…

…ultimately, helping you to achieve more of the results, the success, happiness & wellbeing you truly deserve in this life!

👉 Click here to claim your V.I.P. access for free »

💡 CREATIVITY HACK

The Creativity-Activating Power Of Showers & Baths!

Research conducted in collaboration with the world’s largest showerhead supplier found that 72% of people around the world report having experienced new ideas in the shower… 

Throughout history also, many top writers, artists & other creatives would even shower many times per day (or bath many times per day)... not because they were dirty, but because they wanted the creativity boost this simple practice offered...

Nietzsche, Nikola Tesla, Steve Jobs, Maya Angelou, just to give a few examples...

Of course, you don't have to be so extreme in your approach, but the next time you feel creativity stuck, maybe hopping in the shower (or taking a hot bath) isn't the worst idea in the world…

You can also look to follow/apply the underlying reasoning for why showers help spark creative breakthroughs…

The explanations from top psychologists, neuroscientists, creativity researchers & experts alike, are usually 2-fold...

Firstly, what hot showers, baths & other forms of ‘heat exposure’ do is they relax/de-stress you (as we covered in detail in a previous newsletter which you can read here) & that relaxation allows the mind to explore the more far-flung, far-fetched connections that true creativity usually requires...

So even if you don't want to shower/bathe multiple times a day to attempt to spark creative insights, you can look for other ways to relax/reduce stress so you can also be more creative…

The other reasoning for why showers inspire creative insights is the rhythmic/monotonous flow of the water & how this allows our mind to wander off/day-dream…

In fact, it's one of the only real times left in our days where we allow our mind to just drift off in this way (which the rhythm flow of water helps induce) also thanks to the fact it’s a place in which we don’t bring our phone or other distractions…

Mind-wondering/day-dreaming is great for creative insights & breakthroughs (which the shower helps bring about)... but you can also induce this state in other ways by simply allowing time in your day when you're not doing anything or not distracted by other things, going for a walk, sitting free from other stimuli, gazing off into the distance & other strategies.

So, whether you apply this directly or indirectly, be sure to use these insights to be more creative & generate more brilliant ideas / insights that can transform your life (or even the world!) 🤩 

If you’d like to learn more about creativity & other strategies for unleashing yours, check out the complete Potencia course, titled:

"Creativity Unleashed: How To Tune Into Inspiration, Effortlessly Generate Brilliant Ideas & Become An Unstoppable Creative Force"