Treat these exercises like a toothbrush for your mind and be consistent-do you ever stop brushing your teeth? Do you ever not do it before you leave the house?.

These exercises help your brain focus on what you want to do and experience, refresh your mind morning and night, and help you to have a more positive mindset on a daily basis.

You’re in a twilight zone, a different brainwave state early in the morning and late at night, so working on yourself at these times will help you to reprogram your brain and build better habits.

When you write it down it goes into your subconscious and becomes an anchor in your mind to guide your focus throughout the day.

People think success has to be complex and difficult, but simple is best-it is hard for someone to be consistent if they’re trying to do a huge amount of work.

You can always see areas for improvement in your life but by writing it down in a positive form you avoid seeing it as a problem and instead, see it as an area for improvement and then you can find solutions to get there.

Write your answers as if you’re already doing it - e.g.

This last question might sound negative but you want to identify habits that aren’t serving you - e.g.

What were 3 amazing things that happened today?.

You can do this exercise with anyone in your life: ask a loved one or a friend.

We usually think of all the things we didn’t do or the things that went wrong, but there’s always something positive that happened.

you shared a nice experience with your spouse, received a compliment at work.

Before sleep, you can reflect on your day and the amazing things that happened.Consistency is the most important thing, just like with anything else in life (exercise, healthy eating, etc.).You will see a difference after you practice for only a few months.Journaling is much easier when you have some structure to what you are writing.Using these questions every morning hones your brain in on what you want out of the day, helps you focus on what will you do to make the day great.List your daily affirmation: one line reaffirming to yourself who you are and who you want to become.List 3 things in answer to the question: “what would make today great?”.Our brain is a muscle, we have to use it - so to experience gratitude you have to practice it.Without gratitude, even if you’re a powerful person, you won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor.Try building the habit of thinking of one thing you’re grateful for when you wake up.Alex & Mimi were able to create the life they did because of gratitude.Gratitude can increase your happiness, and as a state, it can transform your life.TED Talk mentioned: The Happiness Advantage TEDx Bloomington.The book mentioned: Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor.Taking 5 minutes to journal is simple and effective, and you can treat it as a habit like brushing your teeth. We all have 5 minutes to use journaling to change our life.

Given most of us only have 5 minutes in the morning, he asked himself how can we get the same effect in 5 minutes as if we were doing something for 1-2 hours?.Five Minute Journal was inspired by a friend of Alex’s who used to journal for 1-2 hours a day.Your morning is one of the most important times of your day to set the overall mood for your day.We’ll give you some reflections you can use in your evenings too, and go over why building a journaling habit will completely transform your life.

In this conversation, we delve into the inspiration behind the Five Minute Journal, explain the power of gratitude, and give you a quick routine you can use every morning to supercharge your brain. They’re here to tell us how we can get the same effectiveness from journaling for five minutes a day that we would only otherwise get from working for 1-2 hours. They have helped thousands of people around the world build the habit of journaling and made the habit accessible and sustainable. Today’s guests are entrepreneurs Alex and Mimi Ikonn, founders of Intelligent Change and the Five Minute Journal. Journaling is a powerful and practical way to focus our minds for the day, seek gratitude, transform our lives and achieve our goals. In just five minutes in the morning, we can supercharge our minds to achieve happiness throughout the day. We’ve spoken about the power of journaling on the podcast before, but how many of you are doing it every day?

5 minute journal questions