The Ultimate Guide to Keeping a Journal | The Best Book You've Ever Read

About this video

Kegley calls journaling the number one tool he has used for expanding consciousness and personal development, above seminars, books, exercise or speaking, and says his journal would be the first thing he’d save from a burning house. He distinguishes two kinds: a daily log / stream-of-consciousness diary, and what he advocates — a journal as ’the best book you’ve ever read,’ written by you, for you, distilling what matters to you, as historical figures like Leonardo da Vinci did. He uses a blank, unlined sketchbook (he names a roughly $10 Pentalic/Canson-style 11 x 8.5 inch sketchbook) and Pilot G2 pens in multiple colors, arguing lines stifle creativity. He divides it into sections: book notes distilled from highlighted and starred passages, gratitude (five things, citing research linked to Martin Seligman on gratitude raising happiness), brain dump for uncensored expression — ‘what you don’t express you repress’ — freedom/art, video/seminar notes, and business/goals. Entries he shows include 32,850 days in a 90-year life and the top five regrets of the dying. His closing advice: don’t censor yourself, there’s no right or wrong way to journal.

Key takeaways

• Treat the journal not as a diary log but as a personalized ‘best book you’ve ever read’ — your distilled insights in one place.
• Use a blank, unlined sketchbook and colored pens so you can write, sketch, and mind-map in any direction without constraint.
• Organize into 5-6 sections such as book notes, gratitude, brain dump, freedom/art, video notes, and business.
• Build book notes only from passages you highlighted, underlined, or starred while reading; don’t feel obliged to finish a bad book.
• Use the brain dump section to fully express difficult emotions on paper so you don’t repress them or take them out on others.

Episode details: published January 23, 2015 · 26:24 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Clark Kegley’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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