4 Ways the Happier Mind Journal Will Increase Your Productivity In 2019

We've all got 24 hours in a day, and successful people want to make the most of those hours. Yet many of us, at one time or another, fall victim to endless social media scrolling and other time wasters that damage our productivity. 

If increased productivity is one of your intentions next year, you'll want the Happier Mind Journal by your side. This is how it will help you get more done and achieve your goals.

Clarify Your Purpose

You can't get anywhere if you don't know where you're going! The Happier Mind Journal offers pre-journaling assignments to help you find clarity about your goals. Whether it's for a business you lead or for you as an individual, goals provide direction and facilitate planning; they also help you keep your focus on the activities that move you closer to those goals.

When your purpose is clear, the action steps required to get there are clear. When your goals are murky, it's hard to know exactly what to do to achieve them and you end up wasting a lot of time. Your days feel muddled and confused, leaving you frustrated and stressed. Clarifying your purpose takes a little time, but it saves you untold amounts of time in the long run. 

Focus on the Good

Setbacks happen to everyone, but we don't get anywhere by dwelling on them. That dwelling steals valuable time away from our purpose. Instead, absorb the lesson and keep your mind focused on everything that's going right. By training yourself to think positively, you'll reap a wide variety of scientifically-backed benefits:

• Improved health, stronger immune system, increased ability to recover from illness
• Increased resilience
• Improved connection with others
• Increased compassion and open-mindedness

Interestingly, positive emotion can also help you recover more quickly from negative emotions—which are bound to happen to all of us at some point, whether it's via some bad news, a break-up, a professional setback, or another loss.

The Happier Mind Journal asks you to recall your happiest moments on a daily basis. It directs your mind to the positive and encourages you to be grateful for those joyful moments and events. A lifestyle rich in gratitude comes with its own mental, physical, and social benefits.

Reduce Stress

As you know, occasional, appropriate stress is a good thing. In a gym setting, for example, stressing the body with heavy weights helps it get stronger. However, chronic stress can take a toll on your mind and body:

• Muscle tension
• Headaches and migraines
• Panic attacks
• Asthma attacks
• Increased risk of heart attack, high blood pressure, and stroke
• Heartburn and acid reflux
• Increased risk of diabetes
• Nausea and stomach pain
• Diarrhea or constipation
• Abnormal testosterone production, sperm count, menstruation, and sexual function

Stress can also make you feel tired and cranky; when we're tired, it's hard to focus on the tasks and activities that move our lives forward—that is, if we can find the energy to work on them at all. Stressed people tend to fall back into old, easy habits rather than work on their goals. Clearly, it's essential to control your stress levels so it doesn't take over your life and your health.

The good news is that positive thinking helps reduce stress. Furthermore, to-do lists help us reduce stress because we know what needs to get accomplished and we have a plan for accomplishing it. We get satisfaction by completing tasks and seeing our lists get smaller. We feel in control because we're the ones adding to the list and completing it. The Happier Mind Journal gives you a way to do both of these things to reduce your stress and continue your personal growth journey.

Track Your Progress

Changes are often subtle and slow. That doesn't mean you're not making progress, but it does mean you might not notice the progress. Surely you've had a friend on a weight loss journey (or maybe you've been on one yourself). Every day they look about the same, but then one day you notice they've lost a lot of weight! That weight didn't drop off in a day, but the change was so gradual it was hard for you to see it until you remembered the person used to be bigger. This is true in many areas of life.

If you don't track your progress, you may be more likely to give up because your efforts feel worthless; almost as bad, you may make unnecessary changes (or fail to make necessary ones) because you can't see if your actions are effective or ineffective. Like Dr. Oz wrote, "Let me tell you, it's tough to stay motivated when you don't know if the things you're doing are moving you forward or setting you back. Unfortunately, just going by memory or overall feel isn't enough."

The Happier Mind Journal prompts you to track and make adjustments as necessary every 10 days. The overall 90-day framework is a manageable amount of time, but long enough that you can see changes from start to finish, particularly if you're following the guidance to monitor your progress. After that 90-day period, you're ready to reassess your mission, realign your goals, and tackle another 90 days.

When you set an intention to increase your productivity, you put a positive cycle into motion. Getting clear about your goals and creating an action plan helps you reduce stress. When stress isn't allowed to get a stranglehold on your life, you stay healthier and accomplish more—after all, if you don't feel well, it's hard to do anything but lie on the couch and try to get better. You get more done every day, and those tasks take you closer to your goals instead of away from them. This improves your motivation and dedication, and you feel happier and more successful. Tracking your progress reinforces those positive feelings and helps you avoid distractions and missteps that would contribute to negative thoughts, reduced productivity, and lower morale. 

2019 is your year, and you can bring your personal growth and goals into focus by the simple practice of journaling. Let the Happier Mind Journal guide your purpose and progress next year and beyond.