1. BUILDING A HABIT OF SELF REFLECTION
Reeta Banerjee
reeta@stanford.edu

2. WHY JOURNAL?
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Journaling builds self awareness
When you know yourself, you can make
better life decisions.

3. MOST PEOPLE TYPICALLY WRITE ABOUT
THEIR INTERESTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
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Facebook Interests
reveal hobbies or
favorites
Twitter posts & people
you’re following reveal
your topic interests
Linkedin skills show
what you’re good at

4. WHAT’S MISSING?
Info about yourself
Facebook
“About me”
Fun interests (hobbies)
✔
Topic interests
Skills
Bright spots
(moments of personal
success)
Development areas
Personal Goals
Values
Twitter
Posts
Linkedin
Skills&Expertise
✔
✔

5. WHAT’S MISSING?
Info about yourself
Facebook
“About me”
Fun interests (hobbies)
✔
Topic interests
Skills
Twitter
Posts
Linkedin
Skills&Expertise
✔
✔
Bright spots
(moments of personal
success)
Development areas
Personal Goals
Values
THIS IS WHERE JOURNALING CAN FILL THE GAP

6. EVERYTHING THAT’S WRITTEN ABOUT YOURSELF
ONLINE IS WRITTEN FOR A PUBLIC AUDIENCE
What’s missing from online records?
Things that you learn about yourself that you
don’t necessarily want to share with the world

7. PEOPLE THINK JOURNALING
REQUIRES A LONG BLOCK OF TIME
•
Actually, writing down one experience and
one lesson learned on average takes less
than 5 minutes.
•
The test:
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•
Students self reported how long it took them to
write a Daily Self-Insight.
The average time to write that one thought is
less than 5 minutes.

8. JOURNALING GETS EASIER IF YOU ADD IT TO AN
EXISTING SYSTEM YOU USE
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Dropbox
Evernote
Paper Notebook
Binder
Verbally dictated note to a phone
Using an existing system means that there’s
one less habit you have to create in writing
and storing information about yourself.

9. ONE THOUGHT EVERY DAY ADDS UP TO A LARGE
REPOSITORY OF SELF REALIZATIONS
You can use the repository anytime you need
to make a big life decision.

10. THOUGHTS/FEEDBACK?
Would love to hear it!
 reeta@stanford.edu
