3 Things

How I use a journal exercise to have my best day every day.

Several years ago I was taking a morning walk, around 5 or 5:30 am. Kara and I were living in a very nice apartment in Sugar Land, Texas, and there were a handful of businesses local to us that were open at that time of morning. Among those was a Kroger, which had a Starbucks inside, and a Starbucks, which did not have a Kroger inside.

These morning walks were almost always a prelude to taking my laptop or iPad to one of these Starbucks so I could sit and write and work for the day. I had a home office, but “getting out” was something I valued. The whole point of a career like mine is that I can be anywhere and do my work. So I should, I reason. I should get out, from time to time.

And if I’m going to get out anyway, I should get a little exercise. Get some fresh air, do a bit of light cardio, get my blood moving.

And if I’m going to walk anyway, I should also use that time to enrich myself. Listen to a podcast or an audiobook. Listen to a YouTube video. Find something motivating, inspirational, informative.

This progression is how I first encountered a podcast from Tony Robbins, in which he broke from the script and talked directly to the producer, who was outside the recording booth.

The link to this podcast is lost to me, at this point. And I don’t have a word-for-word quote of everything Tony said. But I remember clearly that he was talking about defining and achieving goals, and he decided to loop his producer in so he could have a working example.

He asked his producer if he had any goals. The producer, silent on the other side of the glass, must have nodded, yes. And Tony asked how it was going. The producer must have shrugged, given a pained smile, smirked and tilted his head to the side.

Tony asked him if he thought his lack of progress was due to a lack of ideas, and the producer must have indicated that, yes, that was probably it.

That was when Tony stopped talking to the producer—in my mind, at least—and started talking directly to me.

This next bit is completely paraphrased, so don’t go taking it as a direct quote from Tony Robbins. This is all out of my head. But the gist is here:

“Ideas are easy. Everyone has ideas. And everyone can generate ideas that help them achieve their goals. Here’s what I want you to do: For the next 30 days, I want you to commit to writing down three ideas, every morning, that you think would help you achieve your goal. Don’t edit yourself. Don’t worry if the ideas are possible or even if they’re any good. Write down three ideas every day for 30 days, and at the end of that month you’ll have 90 ideas. One of those is sure to be good. Probably most of them will be good. And now you have things you can try, to get moving toward your goals.”

I was walking through the parking lot of a Shell station, backpack on my back, AirPods jammed into my ears, when this wisdom hit me. And I practically ran to the Starbucks with no Kroger inside, so I could sit down with my little pocket Moleskine journal and write the first of my three ideas.

I did exactly as Tony directed. For 30 days I wrote down three ideas, every day, for marketing and promoting my novels. And, just as he recommended, I didn’t edit. Whatever crazy thing came to me, I wrote it down.

And, just as he promised, at the end of 30 days I had 90 marketing ideas. Now it was time to go through them, find the ideas that I thought were best or that I could do right away, and get to work.

The result was that I started doing things that really, genuinely improved my book sales. In fact, a lot of those ideas are still part of my marketing strategy today—they’ve even gone beyond just marketing my books and have influenced the marketing work I’ve done for others. They’re some of my best tricks.

Seeing the success of this, I thought, “What else can I apply this to?” So, for 30 days I wrote down 3 Ideas for other things:

3 ideas for losing weight and getting in shape.

3 ideas for improving my relationship with Kara.

3 ideas for for books I could write.

3 ideas for where I’d like to live.

There’s no bottom to this bucket. This system works as advertised, and it goes on forever.

Writing 3 Ideas became part of my daily routine. And then, it grew.

I keep several journals, writing in them each morning—a Bible journal, a philosophy journal, a journal of my affirmations and prayers, a journal of story ideas, a gratitude journal—I kind of keep adding to the list. But one of my journals, one of my most prized bits of morning routine, is my “3 Things” journal.

Every day, using the DayOne journaling app, I write down several groups of “3 Things”:

3 Ideas —

This is the same list as I wrote about above, though now it tends to be less specific and more general. I usually write down any three ideas that occur to me, about any topic. Sometimes it’s marketing ideas, sometimes it’s ideas for articles. It can be almost anything. And if I’m dealing with a particularly tricky and sticky issue in my life, I may focus on a specific topic for a time, so I can generate ideas to help me deal with it.

3 Blessings —

Blessing people and things is a pretty powerful way to live. We don’t do it enough. The most some of us ever bless anyone is when they sneeze. But the truth is, blessing is you sending your own good will to someone, asking God to give them (or it) your favor. I bless three people or things or events every morning, because I think that’s an amazing way to start my day. It’s a blessing to myself, in the end.

3 Joys —

I start each of these with “I love...” Expressing love for things is another undernourished part of our lives. So every morning I say things like, “I love taking walks on cool Autumn days.” “I love when the draught ends and we get all the rain we need.” “I love pan sausage and scrambled eggs.” It doesn’t matter what it is that you love, it only matters that you acknowledge that you love it.

3 Gratitudes —

“I’m grateful I can walk” was one of my gratitudes this morning. So was “I’m grateful for Tony Robbins.” At times I’ve written things like “I’m grateful for Kara,” and “I’m grateful for God’s Word” and “I’m grateful for chicken wings.” What you’re grateful for may or may not be grand and profound, but it still matters. Gratitude is so powerful—it shapes us. It changes our perspective. It nourishes us. It’s something we should do far more often than three times per day, but this is still a wonderful way to start each morning.

3 Pieces of Wisdom —

Sometimes I’ll quote someone (Tony Robbins, maybe... or Marcus Aurelius, or anyone who inspires me). Sometimes I’ll ask a question: “What would you do with the power to grant someone one wish?” Most times, I write down whatever freeform idea comes into my head. I’m good with paraphrasing complex ideas into pithy sayings, sort of writing “taglines of wisdom,” so I do that. And most of the time, maybe all of the time, I’m writing these for an audience of Me. But despite that, I share these 3 Pieces of Wisdom every single morning on social media (including on Substack). And the result of that has been surprising. People like them. They respond. They share. And I think that means that these 3 Words of Wisdom are going out and changing the world to make it a slightly better place than it was three sentences ago. That makes this one of the most worthwhile exercises in my day.

My 3 Things journal is just a small part of my morning ritual, but it’s possibly the most important and most impactful. It’s simple. It’s easy to keep up with. I don’t overcomplicate it, I’m using bullet lists here.

But through these simple lines, God speaks to me. I see paths I might have missed before. I reassure myself, comfort myself, nourish my soul. And I bless and love and serve others—what I consider my mission. The point and purpose of Kevin.

You don’t have to do as I do. Maybe writing that many things, even just three things at a time, is intimidating to you. But I would recommend at least starting with those 3 Ideas.

Tony was on to something with that one.