The importance of gratitude was something that’s been a true focus for me since two years back. In 2014 I had a simple journal that I wrote my ‘Thanks’ and other frustrations out. But for 2015, I wanted to switch it up. I decided to invest in a more interactive dairy that daily asks some power questions for me to answer. We all strive for being great daily, right? Enter: the Daily Greatness Journal – A Practical Guide for Consciously Creating Your Days.
I was attracted by the bright colors and the organized layouts, this book had me impressed and couldn’t sound more like the thing I needed in my life! This journal isn’t budget-friendly though, so when it came time for my birthday, I let my hubby know what I wanted ;)
The Daily Greatness Journal
When I got the book I was even more impressed by it. It’s got about ten pages of insightful instructions for how to get the most out of this journal and explaining you “the 8 Daily Steps” – your foundation to a life of greatness. It’s also got a list of self-awareness power questions to come to when you feel like you’re stuck in one or more of your “Greatness Blue Prints”. The greatness blueprint consists of 8 limbs that have to do with different sections of your life.
It’s actually a lot of work and reflection before you can go on and start using the actual journal.
It took me about one week or two to absorb all the information and do the exercises thoroughly in the Daily Greatness Journal. While I found it helpful and all to put goals and dreams on paper, it was a bit too deep than what I intentionally was prepared for. And I still haven’t really completed my greatness blueprint to be honest.
The daily greatness journal then consists of a 90-day planner, a weekly check-in and planner for the coming week, and a daily planner with different questions to be answered at specific times during the day. When you’ve gone through 4 quarters (a year), then there’s a tiny section for a yearly review.
So I thought I’d give this journal 90-days a go before writing a review. It didn’t come to that.
After about two months, which should have given me a habit, I started writing less and less in it. Nowadays I do an occasional check-in to at least write down my gratitude and boost inspiration. So with that said, here’s what I liked and disliked about this journal…
Liked
Gratitude & Inspired To-Do Section
– I wish the Gratitude-section would take a bigger part of the page, it’s one of the things I enjoyed the most. And the section of what I’m inspired to create or what would be fun to do today is a nice way to see at daily tasks – instead of seeing a task as “Answering Emails”, you would then be inspired to “Connect with people”.
The I AM Statements
– Starting your day with a winning mindset is can be powerful. I don’t know if I ever actually lived up to my morning statements throughout the day, however, I do think they made a difference on an unconscious level.
Evening Q: What was interesting or fun about today?
– I will almost every day, before we fall asleep, ask my boyfriend to name a few things he’s grateful for the day. It will usually be food lol But it’s a question that’s good to ask yourself! And by answering it, you’re giving thanks and value to the day and you end your day with on a positive note. Even when everything’s gone wrong, there’s always been something that’s worked out or been fun.
The Weekly Check-in
– While I haven’t always come around doing it thoroughly, I do like most of the questions and the way to plan for the coming week. For me, it sometimes felt like I would be better off with fewer questions during the day and focus more on weekly check-ins.
90-Day Planner – I did like the idea of giving yourself enough time to finish your goals. And most of the questions that are asked within the goal, “Why I’d LOVE to achieve this goal?” and “How will I FEEL when I’ve reached this goal?” It reminded me much of how goals are created in The Desire Map.
Disliked
It’s a Commitment
– The journal asks two things of you, and that is for you to start and finish your day with it.
While I was always able to check-in with it in the mornings, I could never seem to get myself that alone-time in the evenings that was needed to answer the rest of the questions.
It is Heavy
– Nothing you’d consider traveling with or have around during daily commute. Because my boyfriend and I go to see his father on the weekends, I’ve ended up with two blank pages per week. As the heaviness and size of the book made it inconvenient to take it with me. I sometimes tried to fill them in as I got back, but the weekly check-ins that are done on Sundays do take a certain amount of time and focus from you.
Evening Q: What Have I Learned Today/What was Today’s Lesson
– Though a great challenge to answer, it’s not like you learn something new every day? Or is this just me? It came to the point that I realize that, even though we may learn something new or see something different every day, it’s not like we’ve actually learned and start doing things differently. So technically, you haven’t learned anything. On a second thought, this question would fit better as a weekly or monthly check-in.
Evening Q: What Skill/Habit Can I Develop Further and What New Mindset Do I Want to Adopt Into My Life
– The daily Q’s are different for each day, but kind of imply the same message only formulated differently. After a few weeks, I didn’t have much to “develop further”. I’m not saying I’m perfect, but that this question becomes annoying after a while and fits better as a part of the 90-day planner/check-in.
Evening Q: What Would I Like To Let Go Of
– I think this should be a part of the weekly check-in questions or 90-day planner. Preferably, something you’d ask yourself once a month. I don’t have a lot of drama in my life. So it’s hard for me to find something to let go of once a week or more when I surround myself daily with things I like. And as you go through this journal, this question will become irrelevant, because you will be filling your days with greatness.
Evening Q: What Challenged Me Today That I Can Grow From and What Would I Like To Create Instead
– It’s not every day you get challenged. And even though this question isn’t asked every day, it’s still a question I dislike. It would suit better to be asked in a weekly or monthly check-in, not occasionally in the middle of the week.
Weekly Check-In Q: Where Can I Be a Better Leader?
– Maybe a rhetorical question (as with all of these) about what role you have in the world, but I personally can’t help to not relate it to have something to do with your workplace, because next question is…
Weekly Check-In Q: Do I Need to Upgrade My Communication Skills – Um, being a loner – but not one who’s afraid to voice my opinion – this question becomes irrelevant to me. And annoying. Because I don’t know what to answer? It never is a problem for me and I’m not faced with daily meetings with people.
Conclusion
As you can see, I’m mostly hung up on the repetitive questions that just don’t do it for me and becomes annoying to answer after a few weeks. Though I might write down certain gratitudes twice or more; it doesn’t become as half as irritating as to trying to figure out what challenged me today and how I can grow from it several times a week. Because that’s just not how I see or go about my days. If something feels difficult, I either don’t do it or I pull through it. There’s really never any reflection behind it and I don’t feel like it’s ever needed.
I haven’t seen anything but good reviews on this journal and that’s why I was sure I wanted it. So I feel sorry this is not the most positive review. Perhaps it’s just the way my aspie-brain is wired and the frustration I sometimes have with these kinds of things. While I’m usually good at thinking outside the box, I have more difficulty answering simple question than the average person – especially if they are rhetorical or not exact in what they seek. So this journal became more of a challenge than I expected for it to be. And the demand of checking in twice a day didn’t become my cup of tea. I felt like a failure and off my 90-day schedule when I hadn’t reported back in a week and left empty evening Q’s because I didn’t make time to answer them.
I’m mostly sad that it turned into a chore, and that to “catch up” I left a few blank pages. This book is too expensive to leave any blank pages.
Is this journal for you?
If you know you have about 15-20 minutes, both morning and evening; then about 30-60 minutes on Sundays; and you don’t get bored by repetitive and challenging questions, and you have a job where you meet people. This journal is for you.
But if you can’t seem to stick to daily check-ins; don’t really have the mind to answer rhetorical questions, and travel a lot, you are better off putting your money on something else. Because you will in no way finish this journal by the next year without leaving blank space.
There’s been talks and requests about doing a thinner Journal, but as for now Dailygreatness also offers a Yoga journal, Training Journal , Wellness Journal, Parental Journal, Business planner, as well as bundles that may be more fun and focused. Nonetheless, the Daily Greatness Journal is a beautiful and inspiring journal to have! And you can definitely see that there’s been very much work and thought put into it. So if I haven’t put you off, you can purchase it buy clicking the link below and receive 5% off!
UPDATE 2018: During late 2018 they’ll be releasing newly designed journals with gorgeous new covers!
Want 5% OFF your journal? Click links below to shop!
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Tell me in the comments below:
What kind of journal are you using for the moment?
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DailyGreatness Journal
Inför 2015 ville jag uppgradera min vanliga text-dagbok till något mer interaktivt. Jag föll snabbt för vad boken Dailygreatness hade att erbjuda, med dagliga frågor, mantran, samt både veckovis och 90-dagars incheckningar. Den har inga fasta datum, så man kan hoppa in när man vill! Dagboken är inte billig, så när det var dags för min födelsedag så gav jag pojkvännen en hint.
När jag sen hade boken i mina händer vart jag ännu mer imponerad av den! Den har ett dussintal sidor med insiktsfulla instruktioner om hur man får ut det mesta av denna dagbok och som förklarar om de “8 Dagliga Stegen” – din grund till ett liv i storhet! Den har även en lista med kraftfrågor som man kan vända sig till när man känner sig fast i en eller flera av ens “Greatness Blue Prints” – denna består av 8 grenar som har att göra med olika delar av ditt liv. Det är faktiskt en hel del arbete och eftertanke innan du kan gå vidare och börja använda den boken i sig!
Det tog mig ungefär en vecka eller två för att ta till all information och göra övningarna ordentligt innan jag kunde börja använda dagboken. Även om jag tycker att den är bra för att sätta mål och drömmar på papper, så var det lite för djupt än vad jag var egentligen beredd på. Och jag har fortfarande inte riktigt fyllt i allt under “the Greatness Blue Prints” för att vara ärlig.
The Dailygreatness består då av en 90-dagars planerare, veckovisa-incheckning och planerare för den kommande veckan, och en daglig incheckning med olika frågor att besvara vissa tider under dagen. När du har gått igenom 4 kvartal (ett år), så finns det en liten avdelning för en årlig översyn.
Så jag trodde jag skulle ge den här dagboken 90 dagar innan jag skrev en recnecion om den. Men tyvärr höll det aldrig så länge. Efter cirka två månader, vilket skulle ha gett mig en vana, började jag skriva mindre och mindre i den. Numera gör jag en enstaka incheckning där jag åtminstone skriver ner min tacksamhet och öka inspiration. (Läs den engelska tabellen med vad jag gillade och inte gillade med boken)
De repetitiva frågorna som dök upp blev väldigt irriterande att svara på i längden. Även om jag kan skriva ner vissa tacksamheter två gånger eller mer så är det inte ens hälften så irriterande som att försöka lista ut vad som “utmanade mig idag” och “hur jag kan växa från det” flera gånger i veckan. Det är inte varje dag man har något utmanande, eller så kanske det är bara hur jag ser på mina dagar; om något känns svårt, så gör jag bara inte det längre eller går igenom det. Det finns liksom aldrig någon reflektion bakom det och det har aldrig behövts för mig.
Vissa kanske känner att de kan karva ut en kvart på morgonen och på kvällen, samt 30 minuter på helgerna, men för mig och mitt schema så gick det bara inte ihop. Sedan är boken alldles för stor och tung att resa med, vilket gjorde att helgerna vart aldrig ifyllda.
Jag är ledsen om detta inte vart den mest positiva recensionen då alla andra verkar älska den. Kanske är det hur min Aspie-hjärna är kopplad och frustration jag har ibland med vissa enkla saker. Medan jag är vanligtvis bra på att tänka utanför boxen så har jag dessvärre det svårare att svara på enkla frågor än en vanlig människa. Dagboken blev helt enkelt mer av en utmaning än förväntat. Det här är ingen billig dagbok, och jag hoppas iaf att med denna recension hjälpa dig om huruvida detta är en dagbok för dig, och så du vet exakt vad du bör förvänta dig av den.
Dailygreatness erbjuder även andra dagböcker med specifika mål som Träning, Yoga, Hälsa och Arbete, som kan vara värt en titt på.
