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The Life-Changing Benefits of Journaling (with Chad Jeffers) · The Daily Writer

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: What would it take to change your life?
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Something radical?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: Something crazy?
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Something prohibitively expensive?
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: As it turns out, there is a very simple habit you can do every day that can radically change your life, and it's probably much simpler than you would ever expect.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Well, hello, my friend.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is Kent Sanders from Inkwell Ghostwriting.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to this episode of the Smart Business Writing Podcast.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: This is the show that helps you grow your business, amplify your authority, and increase your impact through the power of writing.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thanks so much for joining me today.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I have a very special guest, and his name is Chad Jeffers.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you maybe haven't heard his name before, there's an excellent chance that you've heard his music.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chad is a guitar player who has toured with country superstar Carrie Underwood since 2007.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's also played with Kenny Loggins, Keith Urban, who are two of my favorites, and many others.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chad has also written a book called Twenty-Five Notes for the Successful Musician: The Ultimate Guide to Making It in the Music Industry.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, Chad is the host of the Chad Jeffers Show, a podcast that helps entrepreneurs and creatives become performance ready, which I just love that tagline, because man, in any field today, you've got to be performance ready.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even if you're not a musician, you've got to be ready to perform at a moment's notice.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: So what a great concept for a show.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: Now, you might be surprised to learn that Chad is an avid journaler, which is what we're actually here to talk about today.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: Journaling has played a huge role in helping Chad be focused and creative.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm excited that he's here to share the specifics of his journaling practice and how it has impacted his life.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So let's get right to the conversation with Chad Jeffers.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Chad, thank you so much for being on the Smart Business Writing Podcast.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm excited that you're here with us today and excited to talk about journaling.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Kent.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me, man.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's great.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: I'm really glad to be here and good to see you.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: So this is actually really funny because for a while I I don't remember how I kind of crossed your path.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I actually I think it was through who's it through?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: I I forget how on online, but anyway, on Facebook.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: I saw the stuff that you were doing, and of course knew that you were a musician and very busy in that regard, and I thought, man, I want to find a way to talk to Chad.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I just need to find an excuse to have him on my podcast.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it came in this really interesting form last week in the Total Life Freedom community.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: I had put a post up about journaling, and you had this really awesome response, and I was like, man, you gotta come on the show and tell us more about this.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So so I'm glad you've prompted this episode.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, thanks for having me.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: This is great.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we're here to talk about your specific journaling practice, which I really loved, and uh just love all the nuances of it and some cool things that you've been doing.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Let's begin with uh with the beginning of this journey, really.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: How did you start journaling and why was that something that you got into?
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, with journaling, you know, I I guess like in high school, you know, you hear you see most people doing journals, or most of the time it's diaries.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And so for a long time I had this preconceived notion of what a journal was or a diary.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And my idea of that was like, I don't want any part of that.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_01: That does not interest me.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's like a pink diary, you know.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly, with you know, frou-fru stuff all around it.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I got to uh to college and to university at Belmont um where I read a book, someone recommended this book called The Artist Way, which uh Julia Cameron wrote it.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_01: So this book was released probably in the early 90s.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: And it it basically it's a it's a book of finding your creativity, and it's a 12-week kind of program that you go through and it's it's in depth.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: And it's basically it's it's as in terms of the deep work, is as deep as you want to go.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, some of it's a little bit psychological, you know, or or looking back in your past, if there's a block, is like, why is there a block?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Is there someone in, you know, when you were nine years old that said you'll never make it as a guitar player or as a writer, you know, or something along those lines.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And but one of the practices in this journal or in this book was um doing morning pages, which is a journal.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: And this is not a matter of one of those, once again, those little frou-frou journals or the cutie ones.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: This is literally an eight and a half by eleven notebook size, you know, uh page, and doing three pages of those every day, preferably in the morning.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: The whole premise of it is that you're getting the junk out of your head, and you're getting um just menial things that really that that don't contribute to what you need to do creatively.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And one thing I realized is that there's just a lot of stuff floating in this thick skull of mine.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and by writing, it helped get it out and clear the way for more meaningful um creative things.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: And uh so I started it back, I was probably about a sophomore in college, and through the years, you know, college that was only just a couple of years ago for me.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: Ha ha.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, me too, me too.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so no, it was back in the mid-90s.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, I graduated in '98 uh from Belmont.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh I've been keeping a journal ever since.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And soon after college is when I got my first road gig, which of course we're on the road, and every day is pretty much like Groundhog Day, you know, the movie where you know it's it's a different hotel, a different venue, and you lose track of time and you lose track of where you are.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: So journaling helped keep me grounded through all of that.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And and also at the end of the tour, I'm able to go back and and kind of relive some of the the the tour that I was on.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, that's awesome.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: I think this is important an important principle that I want to hone in on for just a minute.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: This idea of getting the junk out of your head.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Because as you said that, uh, it just occurred to me, you know, we all have junk in our heads, so many negative thoughts or negative emotions or just stuff that is floating around in there.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna come out some way.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that junk is gonna is gonna manip manifest itself in some way.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's through you know, anger towards other people, or if if we're prone to act out physically, we're gonna punch a wall or we're gonna, you know, want to cut off a driver or or do something like that.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it does occur to me that this maybe is the safest way to get the junk out of our head.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: There's not much danger in you know writing in it in a journal.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, for sure.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and one thing I've learned is you know, I I I think probably most of us have you know created, composed those emails, and then as soon as you hit send, you're like, oh man, I wish I could take it back right now.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like literally, like a second after you hit send, you're you're wanting to take it back.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: One thing I've realized with a journal is when I have a letter like that that I need to write, that I I can do it in my journal and tuck it away, and and I instantly feel better, you know, just by just writing it out.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: And once again, it's just getting that, clearing that junk out of my head and and the negative thoughts, and sometimes the self-talk, you know, getting that self-talk out of the head, and uh, you know, that that that's helped me dramatically with journaling.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're traveling and on the road with a group or with a band, when do you find the time to do that?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I know your whole day is filled with stuff, probably from top to bottom.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even though you're traveling, you're just it's constantly your day is probably in motion.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: How do you find the time to do that when you're on the road?
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Well, uh so whenever you first start out as a musician on the road, you're doing pretty much everything.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: But as you work up, hopefully, um, you don't have to do as much because it's more just about you being an entertainer, being the musician, being on stage.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever I tour with Carrie, a lot of times, uh Carrie Underwood, a lot of times during the day, we you know, we're still at the hotel while the crew is setting up the stage and getting the guitars restring and everything.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, a lot of times I'm I'm at the hotel, and this is a time for this is kind of the me time where I can go out, and normally I go out in the city and find a cool little, you know, like a bar grill or a coffee shop or something where I can set up camp, and that's where I find time to write my journal.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And that it one, it gets me out of the hotel room, two, it lets me see a little bit of the city or at least what's in that surrounding area of the hotel.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: And three, it gives me time to write in my journal.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the other the aspects of the artist's way, besides journaling, another exercise, is doing artist dates.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_01: And that's going out and doing something that, and you're by yourself, and so it's it's doing something that you normally wouldn't do.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So going to an art museum or going to a crafts fair or a gardens of some sort.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times when I'm in certain cities, I'm able to go out and experience some of these things that I normally wouldn't do.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: So I kind of covered both bases of doing you know an artist date and then also writing in the journal.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: That's cool.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_01: And and of course, every city it's different.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: So every day it's it's something new and it keeps being on tour and being on the road, it keeps it fresh and um just seeing some some new sites.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: So that has to be an important aspect, I would think, when you're touring, because you're playing essentially the same songs over and over and over again.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to doing artist dates and journaling and doing things that are filling your creative well, when you're doing the same songs night after night, doing the same set list, and I'm sure there's some change-ups, you know, uh depending on probably a lot of different factors.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: As a musician and as a performer, how do you keep that excitement going?
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: Or or does a big crowd naturally give you excitement just on its own?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I assume it does, but how do you keep that freshness going when you're doing kind of the same thing night after night after night?
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, it's it's kind of a complex question because a lot of it is part of it is that's part of being a professional, is keeping it fresh.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, you know, that's that's where I think you a lot of times separate the amateurs from the professionals.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: Where, you know, I have gone to see concerts and you know, the the guitar players, what we call navel gazing or uh shoelace.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they're they're just looking down, playing their guitar, and they don't really care about anything except just getting through the show and and moving on.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas being a professional, obviously we we rehearse so much that the music is in your bones, in your veins.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you can wake up at three o'clock in the morning and you're like, oh yeah, that line.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, and you you you can sing the line that you're you're playing at a certain song.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and for me, a lot of times being a professional and being on stage, um the the newness comes in terms of the crowd and interacting with the fans.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: This last tour, the the uh uh Cry Pretty Tour 360, the stage was in the middle, so there was people all around the stage, and they had pits where people were in the pits on the floor.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: So it was really cool to be able to look out and and really interact with people and get that energy from them, which goes back into playing the song and makes it new.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's kind of the best of both worlds.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: You're getting the newness with something that is extraordinarily familiar and in your system.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: So to me, it's it's kind of the perfect marriage.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've been to some really interesting places on your tours, and you you just before we did this call, you sent some really cool pics.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: So you do this, you've done this thing where you take a picture of your journal in the place where you are.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to walk through some of these if that's cool, because these are fascinating.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: One the most interesting place that or one of the most interesting places you mentioned is Saddam's Palace.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to, in my mind, concoct a reason why an American musician would be in Saddam's Palace, but there has to be a really cool story there that I would love to hear.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: There is back in 2007, 2007.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I went, I've done two USO tours.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So I did one in 2006 and then I didn't went back in 2007.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the 2007 was with an artist named Granger Smith, which is a Texas artist, and um and literally I didn't even know him.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I showed up at the airport and met the band, and then we flew to Kuwait, and then we flew into Iraq, and we just would bounce around to different um FOBS uh Ford operating bases.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so we had um every day, once again it was kind of like Groundhog Day, two Blackhawks would land, we'd throw the gear in one, and then we'd hop in the other and fly out to remote FOBS and entertain the troops out there, which was just extraordinary all in itself.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: And some of the things we got to see and do, um, yes, we got to shoot some really high caliber rifles and blow some stuff up, which is worth the whole trip in itself.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: We got to lace uh so some old munitions with uh C4, which the the Moldovians are the ones that actually um that they're responsible for blowing up old munitions, and so we helped them you know put C4 on all these old bombs.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and then one of the places we stayed was in Saddam's hunting palace.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: So Saddam had multiple palaces throughout Baghdad that he would just uh he would get bored and build another one.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, to have that kind of life.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: What do you want to do today, dear?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh let's build a palace.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, exactly.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_01: And so uh the one that we stayed in, that we slept in was the hunting palace, and it was uh right across from um Afa Palace, which is another one of his palaces, but that's the one that that we landed uh a couple of bombs in there, but it it the buildings withstood, and so that's where the coalition forces had their offices.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: So we were right across the water from that.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: And um, so yeah, it was amazing.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: We would go out at night basically and watch some of the war happen.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we had see the flashes in in a distance and we could hear it.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: And from time to time we'd get um, you know, one of our soldiers would come out and say, uh, gentlemen, could you uh step inside for the next 15 minutes?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, sure, yeah, what whatever, sure.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_01: So then we'd go inside and we're like, why did he want us to come in here?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: Then all of a sudden you just heard a boom, and then the windows would rattle and everything, and he goes, Okay, you guys can go back out now.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: And we're like, I think I'm good.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'm gonna stay stay in here.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so um his palette and they still had all the furniture from from when he was in there and everything, and uh, and it was really interesting because everything was gold and it it was kind of it it looked expensive, but as you got closer, everything was just more of just uh just a facade of everything.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: But that's fascinating.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it was fun.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now the first picture that you sent, uh I'm curious where this is, and I don't know if you have this up in front of you.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's uh it looks like you're right in front of a stage area.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm seeing a Yamaha drum set, lots of mics, amps, things like that.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious what that is.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: That is David Letterman studio.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's cool.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: How would I have not known that?
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: I should have known that.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it does look different in pictures, it for sure looks different in person, but it is freezing cold in that studio.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you ever remember seeing David Letterman, but uh the studio, it would be it had to be like 48 degrees, 50 degrees.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um it was freezing in there, and so uh I think that particular shot was in the the summertime because I remember coming in from the it was like 95 degrees outside and then walk in to freezing and the guitars, of course, you have to leave them sitting there for a couple hours for them to acclimate, but but yeah, that was that was a lot of fun.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Even during the taping, it's that cold.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, and so apparently David Letterman likes it that cold so he uh doesn't sweat.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I can see that, and it kind of fits his personality you know to a degree.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, gosh, I watched a lot of Letterman growing up.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and this is the pre-beard, you know, now he's got the big mountain beard.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, he looks like this looks like Gandalf or something.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: So there is a picture here.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh okay, this is I don't know if you're looking at these one, two, three, four, five.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_00: The fifth one from the bottom.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, it looks like the the image I uh that comes to my mind is Vienna.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure this isn't Vienna.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: It is uh Ireland, actually.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: Ireland, wow, I'm way off base with that.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: So which is uh I should have guessed from the it looks like a Guinness in the window.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it is.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that was out with uh Keith Urban when I took that.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: And it so I mean as I'm rattling this off to you, um, I haven't looked in these things forever.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I just uh I right before I call here, that's when I went and looked them up, and it's amazing that it triggers all the memories as soon as I see it.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, oh yeah, that was that was Ireland.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if I didn't have this picture, I wouldn't remember at all.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_01: I can't remember yesterday, much less.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, that was in 2004.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, uh one last one I'll ask about here.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's one you've got your journal in front of it looks like a fence with razor wire.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's uh talifar, uh talifar, I believe is how you say it.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_01: That was uh part of that same USO tour in 2007.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, and so that was that was kind of our day was um you know being in these razor wires and everything.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_01: It was it was pretty uh pretty intense.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Can you give us a little bit of a rundown about your pen and your physical journal?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because I've never seen this kind of a journal before.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's really unique looking, and the pen's unique looking too, so I'm wondering if you can tell us more about those.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so when I started out in journaling, and this is for anyone that's starting out now, um, I I was a poor student in in college, so I had no money.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever school would start, um, you know, Target and all these places would have the you know just regular size notebook notebooks for 18 cents or whatever it was.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: So I would go and buy the whole year, you know, for two bucks or whatever it would be.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: And um, and then once I got out of school and I was on the road, I thought, man, I'm spending a lot of time with my journals, so why not just invest just a little bit more?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, it's it's it was something that I do all the time.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_01: And that's when I found um there was a I live here in Franklin, Tennessee, and there was a a store downtown, like in the the Franklin Square is like very hometown and small town fill.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so I went into this this little store and and they specialize in in stationery and and things of that nature.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So they had this journal, it's it's a Russell Hazel journal, and um, you know, they're fifteen or twenty dollars, which most people would say that's expensive for a notebook, but whenever you're to me, that's the cheapest shrink that you could ever find.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I regularly pay that much for for a nice journal.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: So um anyway, so that's that's why I started getting the Russell Hazel, and um, so I still use that, and and since then I've I've gone to uh Brandless, which is one that I use now, which brandless they make knives and a lot of things for your kitchen, but um they're they're super cheap, but they're a hardback, so I can write, I don't have to have like a clipboard or anything like that.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's got a hardback, so I can it's easier to write.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I've kind of figured out you know what works for me.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh the pen is a rotering pen, which is a a European I bought it sometime when I was in Germany or somewhere over there, and uh, and I've just had it ever since, and I still have it right here today.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_01: I use it all the time for journals.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now, is that the exact same pen that you've used for a while?
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is it that's it's just a different version of it?
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, that's that's well, there's some of those that I I don't think I had the the road or the road train, but um yeah, most of those like at Saddam's Palace and yeah, so it's the same pen.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: What would you say is the connection between your journaling and your music?
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Is there is there a connection in your mind where the journaling just helps you to be a better creative and a musician, or is it more of a hey, it improves my life, which naturally is going to improve?
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and and back to what we were talking about earlier.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think for me as a musician and and as a writer especially, you know, when it's time to create, the everyday life furniture is not in the room.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: So whenever I'm in more of a creative room, it's the walls are you know, everything's white.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: And if I want to lighten it up, I can paint it yellow, or I can, if I need to write something dark, I can you know dim it down.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: And and so with with writing often, it helps me once again get that that junk out, but also it helps me in the practice of long form writing.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: And by the way, this is never I'm never using a computer to do journaling, it's always by hand, long form, in in the eight and a half by eleven um notebooks.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: And it it helps me keep the pen moving.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: So on days where nothing is happening, and in my journal, I'm writing, you know, today is really nice outside, and blah, blah, blah.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And and um um I don't have anything to say.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I'll write out.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: I don't have anything to say.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: What else is going on in my mind?
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_01: And it's amazing that sometimes that's the moment that something deeper comes up where I'm like, oh, you know, I haven't thought about this in a while.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I go down that rabbit hole of exploring that.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: And because there's nothing else at the forefront of my mind, I'm able to access something deeper that I'm able to explore more, both in my journal writing and then sometimes something creative.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: comes out of that.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Once again, as what Julia Cameron talks about is in journal right journal writing, it's it's you know you're writing junk junk junk junk gold.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know you you find you're like oh wow um as a songwriter I write a lot with a lyricist that's all she does.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: She's she's about 80 years old she's written big old hits had Grammys she doesn't sing doesn't play it's just lyrics and watching her work in terms of words that are put together and how that can evoke different emotions just by reading words and the the structure of them it it baffles my mind.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Me writing in a journal it's that same exercise where I'll see two or three words together and I'm like I don't know why that that really connects with me somehow.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of times I'll put in the back of the journal kind of different columns um kind of the special phrases or something.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: So when I go to write a song I can just go back to that back page and I've got a list of stuff that that's already connected with me.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: And so if I'm writing by myself or writing with a co-writer you know I can throw out different ideas.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think about this idea or this this phrase or this sentence and it it's it's it's a starting point.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of starting with a blank sheet of paper as a writer it's something that I can go off of.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's great.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: I find the same thing too whenever I'm I'm journaling although I I haven't done it as consistently as as I probably should have but just the act of even saying like you mentioned I don't have anything to say today just that act kind of your hand and the pen and the paper it really gets your creative juices flowing.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it's almost like like you said it's the cheapest therapist you'll ever have well and and and sometimes I'll look back in my journal which by the way the other part of journal writing is the action for the writer it's not writing a journal so that someone can read it down the road or that you can pass it on to another generation.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's not about that.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_01: If that happens and you're dead and gone and someone reads it, who cares?
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_01: But for me it's it's all about the action of of what's inside me and getting it out.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know and a buddy of mine said hey what do you think about we were talking about something it was pretty deep and he said what do you think about that and I said I don't know let me write it down and I'll tell you what I'm thinking.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_01: You know because a lot of times the process for me thinking now is writing it and seeing because it it helps take away some of the emotional um kind of the the emotional baggage that's going along with it while it's stuck inside my head.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: So once I write it down it's more in black and white concrete form and um so to me that that's that's one aspect that that has helped me you know just in thinking in general.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So would you recommend that people give this a shot this particular way of journaling morning pages.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I know obviously you love it as well.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So for someone who's listening would this and they haven't journaled before would this be a great avenue to try it you think?
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely and and there's different ways of doing it.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you know a lot of times I will do morning pages and actually sometimes I'll do morning pages at night.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know if there's a lot that's going on during the day I'll go and write it down because it clears my head to go to sleep and I'm not thinking oh I need to do this tomorrow or I you know I can't forget this I need to do this tomorrow.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know and those things once I have it written down it it's it's it's done.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah there's there's actually there's three different ways that people can get started with this.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So there actually there's more than three ways but these are the three ways that I I think are way good ways to get started.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_01: First one is a bullet journal and with a bullet journal it's basically keeping track of your activities of that day and where this has come in with that people some people I've coached in the last couple of months oh let's just say if you're you know your day's like a groundhog day and you can't keep track of what you're doing every day just hypothetically saying if you're quarantined and you can't and you don't have any other interaction with any physical human not that this would ever happen but just in case it would bullet journal is a great way to just look back over your week and because for me sometimes I get so caught up in the weeds at the end of the week I'm like what did I do this week?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_01: Even though I know I did a lot but I I can't recall I'm like oh I did sort of do that but this is a way you can say look Monday I did this Tuesday you know you've got a track and so bullet journal is the first way the second way is the the five minute journal which has become very popular recently and it basically gives you it's a journal like that you purchase that gives you prompts in terms of gratitude list in terms of some of your goals and some of the things that you want to set out to accomplish that day.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_01: So as it suggests it it's about five minutes a day.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then of course the the third way is morning pages long form uh three pages if you can or if you want to just set a timer for 15 minutes and say hey look for the next 15 minutes the only thing I'm doing is this journal and um to me that has been very beneficial so that I'm not thinking oh three pages is going to take me four hours to do.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know because I start I start concocting all of these things in my head that are false narratives but I'm thinking I don't have four hours so I'm not going to do it today.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas if I go okay 15 minutes I've got 15 minutes let's do that.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: The other thing that that's helped me a lot um there's so many times that I find out that I I waste a lot of time during the day because I only have 10 minutes before this next call or 15 minutes before this next conference call or Zoom call and I'm thinking okay well I can't start anything whereas now whenever I do journaling I can say okay look calls in 15 minutes I've got 10 minutes I can do you know easily except still be ready for my call and I'm not quote unquote starting or stopping anything it's just writing in my journal.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: So those would be the easiest ways I think to get started.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_01: And once again you don't need to get caught up on buying a fancy journal or you know they can get expensive like you know the$50 or$100 leather bound gold putting your name on it and everything.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: It can be literally a a 25 cent notebook from uh from the drugstore well for all the perfectionists listening I think this is really refreshing because even just a little bit of journaling is helpful.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's not like you've got to go man I got to set aside 45 minutes every morning to do this big process.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: So even something like the five minute journal could be really really valuable and beneficial.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah and even with the five minute journal it's not something you have to go buy you can literally just say okay I got five minutes what am I grateful for today what are my um goals for the day and you know maybe even what can I do in the next 10 minutes to help me achieve one of these goals and it's it's an action it's an action process and um because there's so many times where I'm like I've got so much to do I don't even know where to start and a lot of times it's like okay what's the next step?
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: What can I do in the next within five feet of me what is one thing I can do to help me toward one of my goals and a lot of times of course once you get get that first one then the next one comes and and you're just rocking right along.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah and that gratitude component is really really essential.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: How do you find that gratitude when you're writing that down and expressing it and really thinking about it how does that help you in your life?
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's a game changer.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_01: For one thing it it's extraordinarily hard for me to be grateful and fearful at the same time.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times whenever there's fear that comes in in in whatever form that may be in you know there's a lot of times I will pull out my journal and jot down a gratitude list and think about all the the cool things and the the things that I'm just the things that are in my in my life and the people that are in my life that I'm grateful for.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: And um you know and and I'm not gonna lie a lot of times when I'm writing this gratitude list there's you know the water works comes on you know tears fall because it is something that I'm um you know I I think that that's one of the s the the spice of life is having those people around you and just being grateful for that.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_01: I love that and knowing it.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know I mean there's a lot of times people oh well they know that I'm grateful for them and for me a lot of times it's write it down and tell them.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them that you're grateful for them because they may not know.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah exactly that maybe they don't know if you don't say anything.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean how would they know?
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's like that old kind of trope of you know the husband who who says to his wife well I told you I loved you you know 25 years ago and wasn't that good enough don't you still know that I love you well no it has to be expressed continually.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Which had this has been a blast this has been a lot of fun.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've learned a lot and I want to thank you for responding in that initial Facebook post in the TLF community total life freedom for those who I've I've been in it so long now I just call it TLF and assume the whole world knows what it is.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: But that has really prompted me to revisit journaling as a discipline in my own life and something I really need to practice on a consistent basis.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: So so thank you for that that's that's had a substantial impact on my life.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: It well it's my pleasure and as you can tell I I love talking about this.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_01: I could talk about this all day because it it has made it and a very uh just very impactful in my life in in doing journals and and as you can see you know taking all my little pictures throughout the world with it's kind of a side project but one day it might be a coffee table book or something.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's a fantastic idea.
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: How many pictures would you say that you have of your journal in different places?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh I don't know thousands.
• 32:20
  SPEAKER_01: I mean well in every major um US city and you know on the USO tours and um you know Sydney Opera House and Kensington Palace and USS Ronald Reagan when we landed on there to entertain the troops you know I guess that would make an awesome book.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love that that could be so much fun.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: I've never heard of anything like that.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah I'd say go for it.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: Of course that's what I say to everybody is you know you got to write a book about that you got to write a book.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's because that's you know I I live and breathe books.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: So that's always going to be my response but in this case it it's really true.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know that would make a compelling book.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: How can our listeners connect with you and so your music and your work and all the cool stuff that you're doing yeah well on um all socials it's Chad Jeffers J-E-F-F-E-R-S.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_01: Of course I got a podcast the Chad Jeffers Show on all platforms.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh music wise uh you can check out uh Penmonkey which is my band uh years ago P-I-N-M-O-N-K-E-Y uh Penmonkey was the guy that used to set up the bowling pins um at a bowling alley before the days of automation and uh and of course anytime Carrie Underwood is on TV or live come see us live hopefully we'll get back to work here pretty soon but um I'll be on stage with her.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Cool that'd be a blast are you coming to St.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: Louis anytime soon we normally do yeah I love St.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: Louis I do too I do too St.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: Louis is a good place.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: We've got some cool performance venues around here.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah yeah and uh the largest stained glass window in the world is that right is it something like that yeah really I've never heard that I'll have to check that out you think I would know something like that living living in St.
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Louis pretty much my whole life but I I guess I don't I still have a lot to learn.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Well chad this has been a blast thanks again for uh being on the show today I appreciate your music uh appreciate your heart for artist and creativity and I'm just so glad that you're adding so much value to the world through your music and also teaching others about journaling.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: This is really important.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I appreciate that and appreciate you making time to be on the show.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome Kent thanks for having me appreciate it.
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well that was a really fun conversation with Chad it has definitely reignited my desire to get more into journaling and to take it even more seriously than I already have.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: Here are my three biggest takeaways from this interview number one you cannot be fearful and thankful at the same time Wow when Chad said that it kind of just blew my mind because that's a fantastic insight and for me that's worth the whole interview right there.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: That's why gratitude is important.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you're feeling fearful or anxious take a moment to write down a few things that you're thankful for.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: Takeaway number two is the value of documenting your journey.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know it's always amazing when I go back and reread my old journals there is so much that I've forgotten, so much that would have been lost if I hadn't taken the time to write it down.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of value in recording what's happened in your life and then reflecting on it and then later going back and reading it to see how you've changed and how situations have gotten resolved or sometimes to see how situations have not gotten resolved and it gives you the motivation to resolve them.
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_00: Well journaling is an important way that we learn and that we get better.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really important tool for personal growth reflection and all kinds of good things in our lives.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then takeaway number three is some ideas for getting started with journaling.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now I don't want you to feel intimidated by this I think journaling is something that you've got to set your perfectionism aside and you just got to jump in and do it and figure out what works for you.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now of course taking action and just jumping in and doing it is a common theme that I talk about on this podcast.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: But the reason is because we often just hesitate until we feel like we can do something correctly or we can do it quote unquote the right way.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: But with journaling I want to encourage you to set that aside and just pick one of these three ways that uh that was mentioned in this interview and just pick one of these and go for it.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is the bullet journal method.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: Number f number three sorry I'm I can't even I'm recording this like 11 p.m and it's been a while since I've had caffeine today so uh I think my vision's getting a little blurry or something.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Or maybe I'm just getting older and I need to increase the font size on my computer screen.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_00: Either way let me start this over here are three ways to start journaling.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Number one is the bullet journal method number two is the five minute journal method and number three is morning pages.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Chad talked about morning pages and you can Google the other two but the important thing is just to get started and to see how it benefits your life.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Me personally I have journaled lots of different ways over the years.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: Currently what I do is um I switch between a morning pages practice which is a little bit longer and a five minute journal method uh which is where you just have a few things that you go through and um and that takes literally like five or seven or eight minutes or something like that.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I like that when I'm feeling rushed because I feel like you still get like 75% of the benefits of a longer journaling session without all the time investment.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_00: So pick one of those three and and just go for it and see what works for you.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give a huge thank you to my special guest on this episode Chad Jeffers.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure to check out Chad's websites which are ChadJoffers.com and also his website which is specifically for musicians backstagenotes.com and when you go to backstagenotes.com that has a free download on the six steps to becoming performance ready.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now Chad has also written a book called 25 Notes for the successful musician the ultimate guide to making it in the music industry.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: In addition Chad is the host of the Chad Jeffers Show a podcast that helps entrepreneurs and creatives become performance ready.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go to the show notes for links to all that great stuff.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: And Chad is putting out some amazing stuff not just for musicians but also for creatives in general so make sure and check all that out there's some really good stuff there.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: And also thank you so much for listening.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: As always remember that you can find lots more resources for writers at KentSanders.net.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time remember that your writing has the power to change people's lives and I'll see you in the next episode