Journal Your Way to Success With These 9 Essential Elements

We've all heard that writing in a journal every day can transform your life. But what are you supposed to be journaling about?

- ANNA DAVID

Richard Branson does it. Oprah swears by it. Julia Cameron has sold four million copies of The Artist's Way, which guides people through it.

It's a fact: Keeping a journal can make you more successful. As Stephen Covey wrote in Primary Greatness: The 12 Levers of Success, "Keeping a personal journal a daily in-depth analysis and evaluation of your experiences - is a high-leverage activity that increases self-awareness and enhances all the endowments and the synergy among them."

What do you journal about?

What to journal about depends entirely on what you want to get out of the process. Some entrepreneurs want to find more balance because they've been working themselves into the ground; others want to get their health on track; while still others want to set and meet professional goals.

Although I've kept some form of a journal since I was 6 years old, last year, I committed to doing it daily. But without direction, my thoughts would meander, and I'd veer off into directions that didn't matter to me - so I started asking myself what areas of my life were most important to me. Over time, I realized the questions I was asking myself were all based on nine essential elements. By focusing on them over the past year, I've not only accomplished more but also found a great deal of peace.

Why does self-care top the list?