Day 2 - A Guide To Personal Problem Solving
Background:
Everyone experiences brain fog or moments when life feels overwhelming. It’s like being underwater or trying to find your way in dense fog. You know something’s off but can’t pinpoint the cause or solution. I’ve been there. I sought advice, but rarely found solutions that were sustainable, repeatable, and tailored to my unique challenges. Then, I discovered journaling.
My mind, easily overwhelmed, found clarity through journaling. Writing down my thoughts each day provided direction and created mental space. Within days, I realised journaling wasn’t just managing my overwhelm—it was solving deeper issues and providing a new and much needed perspective to problem solving. The mental fog wasn’t the problem; I was just using the wrong approach.
Why it works:
Journaling is like putting your mind on paper. It’s easy to give advice to others but hard to do so for ourselves. Journaling creates a separation between you and your thoughts, allowing you to see issues clearly and from a distance. This objective view makes it easier to identify core problems and devise solutions. Reading your journal entries is like analysing someone else’s problems, enabling you to offer advice without the noise and personal bias of your inner thoughts.
Application:
Any time you feel mentally unclear or are struggling with an emotion or problem, take a sheet of paper or use a journal (which I recommend) and simply just write or feel free to follow a simplified framework below:
Write out what you are currently experiencing.
What drove these experiences (personal and external).
Step back and view the content from a third person perspective.
Write down advice you would give to this paper version of yourself.