AlexShalman.comPractical Personal Development

After keeping a so called bragging journal, or at least a bragging section in my daily journal, I have more understanding of the benefits of this exercise.

A bragging journal is not designed to exhibit conceit, in fact, it can be a genuine source of confidence. It’s not boasting when you want a personal reminder of your tremendous accomplishments when the going gets tough.

Whenever something special happens, you do something extraordinary, or you touch, move, or inspire another human being, write it in this bragging journal.

Benefits of Bragging Journal

1. Builds Confidence. As mentioned in 10 Crafty Ways To Create Unshakable Confidence the bragging journal can be used to build confidence.

   How? Well, when you’re down on your luck, or just having an off day, you can get yourself back into the zone by reminding yourself of a wide range of awesome accomplishments.

2. Index Your Story. People learn best from stories, so it makes sense that we would want to have a large repository of positive stories that we are involved in. They’ll be useful later for proving a point, illustrating an idea, or writing a great blog post!

   You don’t necessarily have to write out a full story. Just a sentence like ‘Moved Marina to tears with Birthday poem’ is enough to trigger the full memory of the event and bring warmth to your heart.

3. Replication. Sometimes the most frustrating thing about winning (yes, there can be something frustrating about winning) is our inability to replicate the success. Imagine putting on a fantastic performance, getting a huge standing ovation, but not having any idea how you made it happen.

   Journaling might give us insight into the exact method, or chain of events that led to the victory, and allow us to do it again at our beckon call. One victory is great, but to be able to do it over and over like Tiger Woods is truly powerful.

4. Personal Insight. The very fact that you take the time to write something in your journal will be a very monumental insight into who you are. Think about it, if your victory is purchasing a shirt for 50% off than it’s clear that you value either fashion and/or frugality. Your victories might be standing up to your boss, winning a fight, not eating that cake, or finding a mate tonight.

   By tracking what you consider your victories, over time, you may get to know more about yourself. You may decide to (#3) replicate your success, or change the patterns of what makes you happy.

5. Builds a Habit. Journaling is a very valuable habit. There are hundreds of benefits to journaling, but even more benefits to building positive habits. When you have 1 daily habit such as journaling, you know that you have access to being a powerful habit maker.

   You could go ahead and make another daily habit, such as running, reading, or any variation of unlimited possibilities. The point is that journaling gives you a access, foothold, or peg if you will, into positive habit formation.

Update From Comments:

You guys in the comments below are making some great contributions. I’ll update here with a few.

1. Law of Attraction (Avani). “We think around 60,000 thoughts each day. By writing our victories down, we send a message to subconscious mind and to universe that this is right and important. ‘This’ is what you want (more).”

   That’s right. Whatever we think about expands. Putting focus on the things we are grateful for will open our eyes to more things that we are grateful for!

2. Build Relationship (Shilpan). “It can also apply to build a strong relationship. You can always be mindful about those moments of happiness together when a rainy day comes as it will.”

   I couldn’t agree more. We can use this opportunity to practice proactive listening and showing appreciate to our partners.

Thanks for your comments guys, keep them coming!

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