by: John Cunningham

One great benefit of being part of the MorningCoach® community is getting the Get It Done - NOW! Journal. This planner has been called “the phone book” because it is so big. I call it the book of dreams, because it serves as a comprehensive tracker of how I am getting from where I am to where I want to be.

In Sacred 6, JB says, “I tell my story in my Journal. I focus on not telling some negative story filled with day-to-day drama. Instead it is a story of victories and success....The more positives you can see in your life, the more positives you will be able to create in the future.”

Looks Can Be Deceiving

Once you get your physical journal or download the digital version and look at the first few pages, you may feel overwhelmed and file it for later use. Don’t do that. Instead, spend some time looking at the sections: preparation, months (starting with December) and days. Don’t worry about filling in information immediately, instead peruse the journal and look at what information is being asked for. It’s comprehensive; after all, it includes so many concepts that JB has developed over his 15+ years as a motivator. As a result, you do not need to include everything... Just cherry-pick what suits you. 

 You can start the plan at any time of year, so begin with defining where you are now and what you want to accomplish, then start walking.

Getting Started

Start with the pre-December pages. Take some time to think about the planning tasks and give yourself a few hours over a week or two to formulate responses in your mind to these questions. Then at the end of your budgeted time, start writing in your answers. This is just for you (and maybe your family or business partners). It’s a private document, so just make sure the responses are meaningful to you. These initial pages will serve as your map as you cruise through the year.

The daily, single page sheets include a model of how to manage your day. From Daily Focus and Sacred 6, to Five Minute Visualizations and Positive Moments, the journal covers your entire day. You may not use all the sections, and that’s ok. I’ve found that when things begin unraveling, the answer can be realized by including one of the routines on these pages (I.e. add a gratitude or track consistency). This is really helpful.

"Reduce your plan to writing. The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire."

- Napoleon Hill

How I Use the Get It Done - NOW! Journal

If you are a person that learns better by seeing, let me show you how I use my journal. Hopefully it will give you some ideas for incorporating it into your daily routine as well.

To start with, I am using an iPad and the Good Notes application for my journal. Any note-taking app or program that lets you start with a PDF template and annotate it will work just fine. At the end of the week, following my weekly review, I add a new page to my notebook. This page includes things I am working on over the week, i.e., Sacred 6, the book I am reading, my goals and a centrally focused gratitude for the week.

Once that is done, I copy that page and create a week’s worth of pages. I then I go back through and include information for specific days. If you have themes for your days, include those. Personally, I don’t usually use that part of the document. I use the misc section for my daily tasks, like writing a blog post or following up with a client. Then, I fill in my schedule.

As my day progresses, I will check off my goals that have been achieved, make notes of how much I read and other accomplishments. I also will scheduled items for other days if they are during the current week, or in the notes section for future weeks. I also use the notes for insights and considering next actions. This is helpful when I get to my weekly review.

Weekly Review

Once a week, usually on Saturday morning, I look at all my journal pages and track what has been accomplished and what I’ve learned. Then, I'll make plans for the following week. It may be that something has shifted in my Sacred 6, or I’ve gained new insights that need to be acted on. These things will guide future action. Then, it’s onto laying out the next week.

Quarterly Review

This week, (March 31- April 2) I am taking a work-cation to do a quarterly review. This will start by checking into a nice nearby hotel, and focus on a thorough review of what has happened in the last three months and create an action plan for the next three months, and some planning for beyond that.  

"The simple act of writing down a goal and making a written plan for its accomplishment moves you to the top 3 percent."

- Brian Tracy

As I prepare for this endeavor, some of the things I need to do are already materializing. I am beginning to understand what I need to do to improve my guitar and Japanese skills. The plans I’ve been working on for marketing my business since January are beginning to bear fruit. The books and courses I need to study have revealed themselves over the last couple weeks, and now I just need to actively chart all this stuff into a plan. I’ve never been so excited to work on something. It’s going to be a great week!

Tying It All Together

Getting started and incorporating new systems is hard. It requires patience and accepting that there is a learning curve. If you jump in and burn the bridges to your previous organizational system, you will find you can use the GIDN Journal to be as high-level or detailed as you want. The beauty is that everything is on the page. So if you are not doing something, or realize you need a routine enhancer, the guide has suggestions about what to do right on the page. Don’t be overwhelmed, find your own way to use the Get It Done - NOW! Journal to map your future success. Remember, a goal without a plan is just a wish.

I’d love to hear how you are using the journal. Let me know in the discussion group!