Hey everyone, Happy Easter!

I’ve been in a bit of a productivity rut recently. I have been slightly sick, quite busy and a bit behind on many different projects, meaning that I have felt quite overwhelmed.

While preventing burnout is one of my core mantras, it’s sometimes inevitable that this happens.

When it does, I think journaling is one of the most powerful techniques to help you escape a slump. I’ll explain why in this newsletter 👇

This morning, I sat down and decided that I needed to do something productive, so I started journaling. Taking some time to reflect helped me realise that I was feeling stressed because I had lots of different projects that I felt I was falling behind in.

I wrote down all of the different areas of my life, and what projects I had for each of them. From this, I realised that it was actually my short-term projects, not my long-term ones, that were stressing me out most.

This exercise was extremely easy to do, and let me understand what action I needed to take next. This afternoon, I was able to smash out some of the tasks for one project, and I’m one step closer to being back in control.

While this was useful, the way that a lot of people journal doesn’t achieve the same outcome. The reason why is metacognition.

Metacognition refers to thinking about thinking. This involves finding patterns in the way you behave and what influences them.

Without metacognition, it’s easy for journaling to lead nowhere. You can think about what happened and how you feel, without ever taking the step to think about why you felt that way, or how you can change your feelings.

In my case, I could have thought - I’m feeling bad because I haven’t done much work. I need to force myself to do it.

Instead, I thought a bit more and realised - I’m feeling bad because I haven’t done much work. This makes me feel like I’m letting people (including myself) down. I also think that what I’m working on is really important, so I should be easy on myself and give myself the time to rediscover that passion.

Taking the pressure off was actually what helped me do my work in the afternoon, not forcing myself to do it through brute force.

Over time, you can discover patterns in the things that tend to make you feel burnt out and unfulfilled. This can empower you to find and target possibly harmful self beliefs.

Here are some journaling prompts to help you think metacognitively:

• What has happened, and how do you feel about it? (dump your emotions)
• Why do you feel the way that you do?
• Do you think someone else would feel bad about it if they were in your place? In what circumstances would they not feel bad about it?
• What do you care about that has made you feel this way? Why is caring about that important?
• Do you notice any patterns of behaviour here that manifest in other areas of your life?

I hope you’re not in a rut at the moment, but if you are, give journaling a go!

- Emil