Journaling isn’t new. In fact, in an age of Youtube and Instagram videos, journaling is becoming a lost art! But, it holds so many benefits for young athletes, especially gymnasts. Below I’ve outlined my Top 5 benefits of journaling:
1. Journaling Requires you to write out your goals:
Just having an idea of what your goals are in gymnastics, makes them kind of unclear. But by writing down your goals, you can clearly see what it is you are trying to accomplish. You take ideas from out of your head to something you can physically see everyday. Writing down your goals plants the first seed in accomplishing your goals!
2. Accountability:
First off, what does accountability mean? Accountability is basically accepting responsibility. Setting aside 15-20 min a day, everyday, to journaling holds you accountable. Throughout practices and the day, you know that at a certain time you’ll have to write in your journal. Nobody wants to write in their journal that they did nothing to get closer to their goals that day. Instead, knowing that journal time is coming up everyday, you want have something of worth to write in your journal! You want to make sure you did something to get closer to accomplishing your goals.
3. Building Confidence:
Sometimes, as you attempt to learn new skills and routines, you may feel discouraged. Attempting something over and over again can become frustrating. A journal is evidence of past success. Before you start working on a new goal, you can look back and read about your past successes. This will help motivate you to get to work on the new goal with a feeling that—just as you’ve been able to achieve other goals in the past—you’ll be able to achieve new goals that you set for yourself. This continues to build your confidence as you accomplish and set new goals!
4. Preserving Memories:
Your journal allows you to record your progress. Even if you have some setbacks or failures, A journal allows you to record your progress. If you’ve encountered setbacks while trying to achieve an important goal you may be feeling discouraged. When you feel like you’re losing your motivation to keep moving forward it’s a good idea to take out your journal and look back at the progress you’ve already made toward the achievement of your goal.
In addition, even if you’ve made several failed attempts at achieving a goal, looking back at what hasn’t worked can be helpful in coming up with new approaches which could work.
5. Preparing for Competitions and Practices:
Your journal helps you set goals for upcoming competitions and practices. You can see what your goals are and what it is you need to do to accomplish these goals. You can track your progress as you get closer to competitions or the end of a session