Ep56_journaling
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Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Decide Your Legacy podcast, helping individuals and businesses unleash their pet. Potential. Join us every episode as host Adam Gragg discusses what is holding us back and how to find hope for moving forward. Along the way, we discuss developing healthy relationships and navigating life transitions while overcoming fear, stress, and anxiety.

Live the life you want, the legacy you decide.

Adam Gragg: So I remember about seven years ago, I decided, I ran across a bunch of journals that I had from twenty plus years ago, really from when I was 20, 21, 22, and I started to read them and look in them, and I got really embarrassed and I started to think, I don't want anyone ever to read this stuff. And so what I did is I had a fire pit in my backyard and I burnt all of them.

I greatly regret that now because I would love to be able to go back and reflect and see and not criticize my thoughts at that time. Today we're gonna talk about journaling, so welcome to the Decide Your Legacy podcast. We are gonna talk about the power of writing things down, journaling it, keeping a record, going back and revisiting it.

I'm your host, Adam Gragg, and if you haven't already done so, please subscribe to the podcast on Apple or Spotify or wherever. Get your content. It'll take you 15 seconds. Pull out your phones, give us a rating and review that helps the podcast to reach more people and help more people and grow organically as I've done.

Previous episodes, I wanna share two risks that I've recently taken. And so yesterday I actually, no wait. Monday I let a group on creating vision boards. And so it took pretty much most of the day and everyone left with this large vision board with pictures representing where they want to be personally, professionally, spiritually, financially, in one year.

And it was so cool to see the inspiration there. And so it was a risk for me cause I'd never done that before. It was brand new. And I've been saying yes to things more often. Like I. To all the youth leaders at my church. I actually go to two different churches, but I spoke at one of the churches about dealing and connecting with kids, and it's something I really probably would've said no to a couple years ago and been very anxious about.

And I'm also speaking later tonight to a group of psychologists, therapists, people about creating a vision. Real excited about that. I said yes to that as well. So I'm your host. Adam Gragg. I'm a legacy coach, speaker, podcaster mental health professional since 1999, started in a long time ago and my life purpose is helping people and organizations find transformational clarity that propels them to face their biggest fears. Those things that keep 'em stuck, often. Emotional fears so they can live and leave their chosen legacy. I also like to talk about stuff that you can describe to your six-year-old basic concepts. Not complicated. You can describe it to your six-year-old, and they're gonna understand they're gonna build a.

Grasp what we're discussing here, like in the last podcast on emotional regulation. They're gonna understand that you can step back and breathe and relax and not just blurt something out, which I was getting ready to do the other day with my sister, but I didn't. I also like to challenge my audience to listen not only as a student, but as a teacher.

Like you're gonna teach one of these concepts that you glean today, that you learn today to somebody in the next 24 hours. I do have a special guest today, and I'm gonna introduce him in a little bit and he's gonna talk to us about his experience with journaling and the power and transformation it's had on his life.

And I want you to start off, though, before I introduce him, I want you to think about as we jump into this topic, Some of the benefits that journaling can have on your life, that writing things down, I mean, it can give you clarity, it can help you to think things through. It can be a good memory tool. It can be a way to compare the past to the present, that sort of thing.

And what are some of the costs to not having this habit or really it can. Mean that you're not starting off your day right. For some people on a positive note, cuz journaling can do that and you're gonna learn about that, not remembering your ideas and insights, not letting 'em stick. You know, you can forget things and you can identify on the day some insight subconsciously that kind of comes to the surface and becomes a, you become aware of about yourself or whatever.

And if you don't journal, write it down. You're gonna forget that. So I want you right now though, to take one. Before we start here, write down for me, or if you're in your car, I want you to just speak it into your phone or I want you to stop your car, I guess, and pull off to the side of the road. Do something.

But I want you to write down what keeps you from journaling for just five minutes a day. If you don't do it, if you do it, then hey, you don't have to actually answer this [00:05:00] question, but what are your excuses for not doing this? It's silly. I don't have time. I don't know what your excuse is, but I want you to identify that excuse right now.

And to keep that in mind as we go through this information. And hopefully at the end of the podcast, that excuse is gonna be obliterated. It's gonna be obliterated. So let's go ahead and, and this is, this is Nick Bertram, and go ahead and introduce yourself and share a little bit about yourself, anything you want the audience to know.

Nick Bertram: All right. Uh, as Adam said, I'm Nick Bertram. I'm 67 years old, just about turn 68. Uh, Happy birthday. Yeah. , right? .

Adam Gragg: It's not tomorrow, is it?

Nick Bertram: No, it's not. It's the 20th, so I got a few days left. Alright. But so I started working with Adam probably two and a half years ago. Is that sound? I think so, because I started journaling in January 22nd of 21.

So it's just about been two years now of journaling since I started.

Adam Gragg: But I bugged you for six months to.

Nick Bertram: Yeah, you did. Yeah. And that, that, that was one of the things we had talked about it a few times and, and Adam had, uh, encouraged me to journal, and of course I, uh, probably neglected that part of the information.

But one of the things that. And I was whining to Adam about, can't organize my thoughts. I can't seem to remember what I had thought about the day before. And that disorganization kind of led me to think, well, there might be something to it. I need to try it. So that's what really got me started, I guess, is just trying to find a way to, to actually concentrate on.

My thoughts for that day and, and write 'em down. So I I did start.

Adam Gragg: Yes, you did. And can you also tell the audience just a little bit so they get to know you, uh, about your, your career and let's just say your, your family, your kids and wife and all that. Right.

Nick Bertram: I've got a wife, I've got two daughters. Um, both of them married have, uh, six grandkids.

I worked for the same company for 47 years now. I believe I, I started, uh, as a summer intern and, and stuck with the company. So that, to make a long story short, that was one of the reasons why I came to Adam in the first place, cuz there was just some need to try to find my way through that after working for that long and that intense, I was probably not, probably, I was a workaholic and.

When you start to see that winding down, you start to see that your identity is wrapped up in your, in your work and not a good thing. So that led me to a couple different discussions and led me to Adam. And so that was kinda the start of it. So yeah, I worked in the construction business for all my adult life really.

Adam Gragg: How long were you the C, how long? I mean, I know you just changed and kind of I did, you know, transitioned out of the CEO position, but how long were you the CEO of the company?

Nick Bertram: Probably.

Adam Gragg: Five years. For five years? Yes. Yeah. Okay. And one of your kids is a psychologist?

Nick Bertram: She is as well. She's a childhood psychologist down in Dallas.

Yeah. Works with the school system down there, so. Okay. She's always trying to figure out her dad, I think was the .

Adam Gragg: She likes to read the books that you read?

Nick Bertram: She does. She, she, uh, she gives me, uh, good pointers when it comes to reading material.

Adam Gragg: Okay. So what's your preference with journaling Digital paper.

audio.

Nick Bertram: I've always done it on paper and I like the idea of, of looking at the, at the page while I'm writing it. You, you can get apps on your phone to do it too, but I just, I like the idea of writing things down. It's, to me, it seems a little more structured and I'm probably a little old school, but I, I like the idea of paper and then I can got 'em stacked up there and I can go back to 'em easily, which I guess you could if you were doing it digitally too.

That's just the way I like doing it.

Adam Gragg: Have you tried digital?

Nick Bertram: I have not, no.

Adam Gragg: Have not. Just kind of stuck with paper. Yep. Okay. You know, as I've mentioned before, there is some evidence psychologically that things stick when you hand write it. So kind of a side note here on this is like you hand write things.

It does, it triggers more of your senses. I, I at once. And so

Nick Bertram: I, I think that's absolutely correct because if I write things down, I have to actually think about doing. and I've noticed that things stick with me more than what they would if I was to just record it or something else where I gotta go through the words and make sentences and make some sense of it Anyway.

It helps in retain, it helps you think through and process the thing too. If you gotta put words to paper, it helps you think the thing through. Sticks with you,

what kind of paper journals do you prefer? I [00:10:00] mean that, or is there a specific, you know, type or something that you really find helpful?

No, I started on just a, they're just the small journal books.

I'm not sure what the measurements are of the thing. Uh, blank pages.

Adam Gragg: It's like a five by eight probably.

Nick Bertram: Yeah, it's probably a five by eight. And if the ones I used until this last one I got were just blank pages and I, I made it a. To write a page every day. It was easy for me to do that on just a blank piece like that.

There was not any structure, no specific lines.

Adam Gragg: Okay. And so what's that journal called you have right now?

Nick Bertram: This one is the best journal ever is when I just got, and I started it this year actually, cuz my other one just by some coincidence, ended at the end of the year and this one started and it's got a bunch of things in there that, that I think are helpful.

It's got d place, put date, uh, some things you're grateful for, which I've always done anyway, on, on, on my journal is, is do that. It's got some tips up front, some places that start different habits, uh, that you can keep track of, which is kind of handy really.

Adam Gragg: So have you preferred the structured kind of format where they already have some things in there versus just a blank kind of piece of paper?

Nick Bertram: I do like the structure. Okay. But that's just me. Some people I know I've talked to just a blank page is all they have and they, they like that. But I kind of like the structure of, yeah. Yeah, you mark it down, you see where you're at.

Adam Gragg: Yeah. No, that's cool. I think, yeah. So how did you, when you initially started, how did you start?

Like what was the process you used to get started? Besides me just saying, do it .

Nick Bertram: Yeah, that's it. Pretty easy. Really? You, you, you get a piece of paper and you write down your thoughts for that day. That's basically what you do. And when I'm writing, I get prompts from all kinds of, if I listen to a podcast, there's some things that jump up.

If. Listen to somebody at work and they make a message. If I listen to a sermon at church, well, there's as many as you can imagine, ways of getting things to write down.

Adam Gragg: Because that's really one of the big objections I hear from people is like, what do I write down at first? And you just shared some great things like just thoughts you've had during the day.

Right? Things you wanna remember. Exactly. And so then like, how do you know that's something I wanna write down versus like, I'm not gonna write that. Well,

Nick Bertram: I think there's no rules, right? You can write whatever you want to, so things that impress you there. You know, if you go through the day and there's something that you have gone through, or you heard somebody say something that struck you, that you remember.

Sometimes I keep a little notepad in my pickup or with me that I write down notes. So when I fill out my journal in the evening, sometimes I prompt that. If I have a devotional in the morning, which I do every morning, I try to write something about that. So otherwise I won't remember it past day two. So just prompts like that.

Things that either move you or inspire you or cause you to think about things is. All it really takes, it's not really much thinking. It has to, yeah. I mean, as far as the technique, it's just you write it

Adam Gragg: down and just kind of to highlight this, it really is, Nick is saying too, is it's not, don't make it complicated.

No. Like you, I mean, you, you could draw a little stick figures in there if you want it, or you could Yep. Put a, you put a picture of somebody in there, or, I mean, you ever do that, like draw pictures or I, you didn't do that ok. .

Nick Bertram: But you could, yeah. You know, you have to, I think you need to be kind to yourself when you're doing it.

If you miss a day, it is not the end of the world. You can either go back and fill it out or leave it blank if something doesn't make sense when you look at it, you have to be kind to yourself when you're doing. Pretty forgiving, I think.

Adam Gragg: And how did you, because how have you been? What's helped you to be kind to yourself in the process?

Nick Bertram: Yeah, you can, if you get to where you, you gotta do this, gotta write a full page and you gotta fill this out and then it becomes more of. Job than something that'll help you. And I, I think it's easier when you're doing a journal to be, and it, you know, I know there some people may share a jour, I don't share it because it's just private.

And that's, that's the way I've kept it.

Adam Gragg: So you haven't shared it with anybody? I have not, no. You shared stuff with me. a thought or something like that.

Nick Bertram: I mean, yeah, , but for, for the most part, no, I don't.

Adam Gragg: Have you shared with your wife anything?

I have not.

Okay. No. Yeah. You ever get afraid that someone's gonna read your journal in?

Nick Bertram: You know, that's interesting question, but that I do kind of, because I don't know why, cuz there's really nothing in there that's very earth shattering, but. It's the thing, you know, it's private, so Yeah.

Adam Gragg: And I think you want it to be something you feel safe with. Like I know in my, in the front of my journals, I always write first degree.

When I get a new one, I put my name, my number, my email address, and I put $50 reward if returned without looked in. . Actually, I don't put the without looked in, but I need to, I want to. I don't, [00:15:00] gosh, you know, cuz sometimes in my journals, if I'm really frustrated or angry, I might journal something like, man, you know, I hope they.

You know, and I don't, I've never got to that thing. I don't, I don't really want someone to die, but it's like I, this is a freeform kind of, this is really what's going on in my head. Right? Yeah. And maybe I'll afterwards say, I don't really mean that, but I, I don't wanna have to like write in a way that I think someone's gonna be reading it.

It's safe. And that's really why I burned some of those. Not that I had said stuff like that, but it was silly things that I'm like, oh my gosh, why did I, why, why was it so important to me at that time? You know? And so I just, but then I look back, well, at 21, that's okay to, that's that important to you, you know?

Nick Bertram: But you need to feel free to write down whatever you comes to your mind, you know, where you can go into something. worrying about what somebody is gonna criticize or think about what you're writing. Yeah. I think that's important that you, you need to be free to write down your thoughts and your frustrations and your victories and, and that kind of stuff, which,

Adam Gragg: and lock it in your safe when you're done.

Nick Bertram: Mine's laid around the house, but you know, .

Adam Gragg: Okay. I remember when I did go back, I just, this came to me, but one of the things I had written in my journal is like, my life's gonna be over if this relationship doesn't work out. And it was a gal I was dating when I was a senior in college, and I remember I wanted it to work out so bad that I had written that.

And I was like, it was no one's fault, but I was just embarrassed. I mean, but there were other things too, but it was. Really emotionally powerful and charging. But again, I regret it greatly that I burn 'em all. So, but I didn't burn the ones from 25 on. Yeah. So I still have those. That's good. I mean, I can still go back to those, just that, oh well, you know, can't do anything about that now.

So what do you think and what has been for you? Some obstacles? To actually doing this consistently.

Nick Bertram: I think just for me, it's just taking the time to sit down without a bunch of distractions. You know, I, I've tried doing it with the TV on or other things, but just to sit down and take it doesn't take a lot of time.

But that's the biggest deal, just sitting down and doing it. You know, we all get busy and there's a hundred things that we think we need to get done, but just taking the. To actually concentrate on it.

Adam Gragg: Mm-hmm. , how much time do you usually take in a day or,

Nick Bertram: you know, I do it in the evenings. I don't, I I, I know some people do it in the mornings.

I do it in the evenings, cuz that way I've got the whole day there that's kind of fresh and I, I got some of those thoughts that I want to put down before I go to bed. But if I, if it takes me 15 minutes, I'd be surprised. I, I don't really keep track of the time because, I tried to fill up a page. Go till.

I think I'm just scribbling for, for just to take up some time. So I, I don't, I don't know for sure. It's, it's not a lot of time. 1520 minutes.

Adam Gragg: 1520 minutes. Yeah. And see, one of the reasons I was, and I've been talking to Nick about doing this podcast for maybe a year, and one of the reasons I wanted to do this so badly is because, He, I saw a shift in him from like, I got to do this to like, I want to do this.

Yeah. Almost like he was reading a really great book. Yeah. And he couldn't get home to get off work and read the great book again. Yeah. And so when I noticed that shift, I'm like, holy cow, this is actually, yeah. Significant. And it was like, I, it was motivating me because, I mean, like I said, Beginning of every podcast, at least I try to, you know, I'm a fellow traveler.

I struggle. I've been journaling for a long time, but I go through dry spells. Yeah. And I go through seasons where I don't want to do that. I mean, I, it's the last thing I wanna do is journal. Yeah. And you've been consistent. And it is, it is like a, like an exciting book. I mean, are you excited about it at the end of the day?

Nick Bertram: It is. Yeah. I, I like writing down, you know, there's some days, of course, I don't, I feel like, yeah, I just need to do something else. For the most part. Yeah, I like putting down those ideas and one of the things, it's such a big deal. I love going back and looking at two weeks ago or a year ago even, and looking at what I wrote and some of my thoughts.

See where you're at and what, what is good and what is bad,

Adam Gragg: and so what is something that you have gone back and looked at? This may require you to be a little vulnerable here, but something you've gone back and looked at and you've been inspired by or surprised by. When you've gone and reflected on it,

Nick Bertram: you know, when I started my career was I was trying to get to the place where I could retire and, and put someone else in charge of the company, and that whole process was something that I.

Journaled about, you know, about stepping back and letting others take some of the control, the day-to-day stuff, that really, when I look back on that, I can really see the progress that I made as an individual and letting go of some of that. And the thought that when, which was a big deal to me cuz you know, you kind of get your, or I did my identity wrapped up in that.

And so there was a struggle to kind of leave that behind and go to the next chapter and. So going through [00:20:00] the journaling and when you read to it, you can see those steps that I've made in reaching out to other people, Adam being one, uh, being more involved in the church, uh, with family, other things like that that you, you, you see those, you, you write about 'em, you know, I need to.

I can remember in a journal I, I need to be part of a men's group at church and through that process now I am. So you can see the rewards pretty clearly in there from that. And you see some of the disappointments that say, yeah, I really didn't do a good job on that. There's several things in there that I've worked on for two years and still aren't, you know, I look at that and I think, man, I haven't gotten anywhere with that.

But you know, that's part of the process Without the journal there. Sometimes you forget some of those struggles and some of the things you went through. So it's a, it's a tool to help the next day.

Adam Gragg: And how do you usually feel after finishing journaling?

Nick Bertram: I, it gives you a sense of, I think a piece about, and not all the time, but a piece about that you've thought through something and maybe if you, especially if you made a decision or you think that.

come to a better place in, in how you thought about things. I always write something in there about. What I'm grateful for today. And I remember you talking about that to me cuz I, I can get kind of, uh, and I, I suppose everybody can, but I can get pretty negative about things. But when you stop to think about all those little things that are, are positive, that, that, that's helpful.

So those kind of deals, when you, when you get done writing that down, you think, yeah, that was, that was a good thing that happened today. And it becomes, and gives you a sense of contentment that, listen, you know, I've looked at this and come to this conclusion and it's good.

Adam Gragg: You see the good things and you notice the progress in your life and it's been able to clarified that for you.

So, so I'm not done asking the questions, but if you found this podcast helpful, please subscribe. Hit the link to my new online course video. It's called Shatterproof Yourself, and it's seven steps to clarifying and establishing your legacy. Creating a foundation to build and live your legacy. You don't wanna miss that.

So what were your hesitations to get started?

Nick Bertram: To be honest with you, I didn't see the benefit of writing something down and, and there is a struggle. Writing to me is not something that become, that's easy. So there's a struggle of actually writing down in. In my world that I live in, that's about doing something that a lot of action, but that you gotta sit and think about it.

So it's, it's just a struggle to get the words in the right place and all that. So you're, so you, that was a hesitation. Well, I gotta sit down. I have to, I gotta make myself do this every day. that you, you get over that fairly quickly. What's

Adam Gragg: a better way of thinking about it than I have to . I want to, I want to, I can I get to

Nick Bertram: Exactly.

I get to do this every day.

Adam Gragg: And what are the common hesitations you believe other people probably have? Well, I'm in addition to that one. I mean, like, yeah, I hear from people like, that's silly. That you know at what's the point? What benefit would that be? But I any other come to mind?

Nick Bertram: I if you're, if you're afraid of what you might write down and have to look back.

You may, there's some fear about that it, once you got it on paper, if you say that there's some thought there that you put on paper, you have to look back at it. It's, you have to face up to certain things. If you write it down, it's there in black and white, right? So, That may be a hesitation with, with some people,

Adam Gragg: that fear of somebody reading it or fear of them reading it and feeling just like I did when I was, you know?

Nick Bertram: Or yeah. Fear 42. Fear of reading it yourself and saying, well, this is, this is who I really am and this is what I'm struggling with. And sometimes it's easy to displace that and say, yeah, you know, but this brings it to the, to light, I think.

Adam Gragg: Yeah. So how would you suggest somebody else start the habit.

Nick Bertram: I think you just start, and you may have to make yourself do it like any habit.

I, I guess you'd call the habit to do it. Now. I, you know, after a while you'll get to do it because like I say, you want to do it, but I think it's just like forming any other habit. You just, you have to like drinking a glass of water in the morning. You just have to make yourself do it and, and. Go on .

Adam Gragg: So did you drink a glass of water this morning?

Nick Bertram: I did. That's, that's a habit that I, yeah, I, I do.

Adam Gragg: Yeah. How long did it take before it went from, I gotta do this to, I want to, I'm excited about this.

Nick Bertram: Well, I, I think several months is probably well into it. Yeah. By the time, you know, you really get to where you. You're ready to write and in the evening or morning?

I guess it depends on when you wanna do it, but yeah,

Adam Gragg: and that's something I think about, like it takes 21 to a hundred days to establish a habit. It's like a must do this. Like you're gonna drink 32 ounces of water in the morning before that first cup of coffee, which [00:25:00] is what I'm, which is what I actually am 70% successful at doing.

which is okay. Which is success to me. Took me a hundred days of doing that before. Yeah. I felt like I could do this. Yeah. Pretty consistently kind of thing. I, I pee a lot more in the morning, but That's okay. So couple other questions and then we'll wrap things up here. I think, I guess we haven't addressed this in depth.

So what do I journal about? Like what, what do I really journal about? Do I just free form write or what do I, and you've given a lot of different good ideas here, but what other ideas might there be? Because I mean, I can think of. Of my own. You can get, and I'll even put a link in the show notes to an article that has good journaling prompts.

Yep. It's like 50 good journaling prompts and you can just pick randomly a number out of from one to 50 and then just write something mean that randomly. Or you can, my Legacy Jar, I've used to journal, I've just picked a question out of that and I've journaled on that. It's one activity you can do, but I know that gets people stuck quite a bit.

Yeah. So what touch do you have on that?

Nick Bertram: Well, I've, I've, at different times, I've done different things. For a while I wrote about people. Had a important place in my life and, and some of the characteristics of them. I have vacillated sometimes between work things and personal things. Uh, you know, there's always something going on at work that you can write about or personal things.

I listen to a lot of podcasts, like I mentioned before, so that's always a sort. Good books. If you read something that day from a book, that's something you can write down that'll cause you to think,

Adam Gragg: uh, Any fa any books that have helped you more than others with journaling?

Nick Bertram: I couldn't, couldn't, I couldn't say right offhand.

Adam Gragg: Which one? They're not necessarily specific. They're not books about journaling. They're other, no. Other topics. Right? Not, yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Nick Bertram: Gotcha. Any kind of book really. I, I read a lot and, and like I say, I'm going to church, if you hear a sermon or you have that interacting with interaction with somebody, those are good things to write about.

I, I find, so there's really. Nothing's off limits that, that you can write about.

Adam Gragg: Which, you know, what I do is I start my day, I write down my daily five and five, then I write down something I'm worried about the rest of the day. Yeah. And so I like to do it in the morning and then I, whatever that is, cuz I wake up pretty negative usually.

Right. That's not where I wake up. Like dreading whatever. And I'm not a positive person in the morning. Yeah. I. And so if I can write down, just get it on paper. This is really what I'm worried about today, and then I can write down what I can and cannot control about it, and then what a healthier perspective might be.

If I'm really stuck. Then I start answering questions like, is that worry true? You know, how would I act? How am I acting? Because I believe it's true. You know, who would I be if I didn't have this thought? If I could let go of it, what's a healthier, better perspective? And then what's one action I can take?

And I've really thought and toyed with doing a blog post that has my journals for a week, and then kind of like deleting it so people could come in and kind of see and peek into what I write about maybe. Yeah. But then I thought, what I really write, honestly at that point, you know . That's right, that's right.

I know you wanna, you wanna, honestly, I can do, I mean, I probably hold back on some things that I. Because then I think Absolutely. And Adam Adam's wor, I'm gonna list this podcast. Adam's worried about something silly. Yeah. You know, I mean, or I'm not talking to that guy. He's wacko . So I don't know. That's kind up in the air as far as something I'm thinking about.

Yeah. But you, I it's, there's so many different options out there and I know there are some great books. I've never discovered one that's like my go-to journaling book, but I have discovered some articles that I would say our kind of go-to how to get started and I'll, I'll reference those in the show notes as well.

But I think more than anything, it's so. Doing it like you, and it has been a habit you've established and worth it. So do you ever think you'll give this up?

Nick Bertram: No, I don't. I, I wish that I would've did it since I graduated from high school or even before, so I guess that's something that everybody should be encouraged to do.

But no, I don't, it has become that important to me in my thought process of working through something. As you age, it kind of, you know, you start to think a little bit more about what's next, and this certainly has helped in that. What's

Adam Gragg: so, what's next? More journaling, . More journaling. So yeah. Well, has it, has it, has the journaling helped you clarify your goals and vision?

It has that. Okay. Yep. What's something that surprised you about your goals and vision now for your life and focus and things you do with your time and everything that probably was came out of the journaling process?

Nick Bertram: I think the whole thought about being of service to others. I probably didn't think about that a whole lot.

And I know you mentioned it on podcasts before. About serving others should, is should be part of your purpose in life. And so I know I wrote several pages about purpose and that, and so one of the things is I'm in a mentoring program and, and that came directly from that thinking through the what, what I needed to do.

What do you mean by a mentoring program? Well, I mentor a guy that's been in prison or was in prison, got out and,

Adam Gragg: and then help him to transition back into, help him to transition. So, So you've been to prison?

Nick Bertram: I, I've been to prison. I haven't really been a [00:30:00] prisoner. That's good. There's a, there's a difference.

Adam Gragg: you've been in the prison? I have been in the prison, yeah. Yeah. It's, it's not a fun place, is it?

Nick Bertram: No, it's a, it's a, it's something.

Adam Gragg: Yeah. Yeah. I've been to prison too, but not as a prisoner. So there's some final parting shots on this. Like I love moleskin journals. They're real high quality, they're expensive, but for some reason I like 'em.

It may be because they're made in Italy and I'm Italian, at least. I don't know. But I like those. And I also have purchased. Very formal journals and found those very helpful, that have questions and everything. And I do have a dream of making and decide your legacy journal, which Nick has, I will give credit for.

So I'm gonna give him a royalty if that ever gets made and sold cuz he, he's pushed me on that right there. So you can have a journal for like a vacation. individually. You can just take a journal and this is my vacation journal and then I cover it with, and then it's all the stuff that came out at that time.

Or you could have a journal that's for just your business and you're just journaling ideas and everything related to starting this new business or doing this new venture or whatever. So they can be very specific. You can ask other people to put their thoughts in your journal. I have my assistant, my legacy assistant, Gavin has done that and shown me where he's just had people write.

Not like read his journal, but like, we'll share your thoughts on this. Yeah. And that's kind of cool cause you look back and like, well, what was good in your life? And I mean, I may ask a random stranger to do that. And then, You know what? What are five things you're grateful for? Write it down or something.

I mean, that could be interesting as well. You can have fancy journals. I've seen if you go on Amazon, I mean you can see some crazy, fancy, any color you want. Even with Moskin, you can guys kinda get any color you want. You can just not take it seriously. I know. And that is maybe that will inspire you by having some nature on the journal that gives you this inspiration as you look at it.

And I've seen people that have the same color black journal ever. I mean, I have one buddy who's been journal. For longer than me and he gets the same plane. Black Journal gets just, you know, stacks of 10 of them at a time off Amazon and Yep, he's always got 'em there and has 'em labeled like the dates on the outside and can see 'em that way.

So any parting shots and ideas that you wanna share?

Nick Bertram: Something I mentioned before, I think you just have to be, like I said, kind to yourself when you're doing this. It doesn't work one day. That's not the end of the world. You've always got tomorrow. Yeah. You don't have to start off fancy. I think as you do it, you'll grow into it.

You'll that rhymed. Yeah. Right. . So I think that's a, that's, that's my la my comment on it. You just have to be kind yourself and do as much as you can and, and not, yeah, push it. You don't want it to be like a. A job or a, yeah, something you gotta, you gotta do because you gotta do so you want, you want to do it.

Adam Gragg: Would you be comfortable with someone if they had questions about journaling, emailing you? Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Okay. So can you give your email and contact information and, yeah, my, your home address and your cell phone number. You want my security number and your passport? No, your email's great. So it's Nick bertram it.

Nick Bertram: Well yeah, it should be Anne Bertram. , N B E R T R a M two, the number two, I guess I should say. and@outlook.com.

Adam Gragg: Okay. That's how you can reach Nick. And I got, oh, yeah. One question. Do you write in cursive or do you print?

Nick Bertram: I, you know, I gotta look, tell you the truth because it's become such a habit, I guess.

This is, oh, that's cursive.

Adam Gragg: Kind of printing cursive. Did you learn cursive in school growing as a kid? I think so. You did? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I learned cursive too. It's kind of a lost start, as you can

Nick Bertram: see. It's not very uh, I like it legible .

Adam Gragg: It only matters if you can read it. Yeah, I can read it. You can understand it.

And that's exactly what you want right there. So. So on a skill one to 10, I want you to rate yourself on how well you are journaling, or even say how. , your attitude is about journaling. If it's a 10, it's like, I'm excited to do that. If it's a one I'm not, or if it's a 10, I do it all the time. I want you to rate yourself and then I want you to decide what you want to rate yourself in a year.

In this area, you wanted to be a 10, a nine, a seven, something like that. So what insights did you gain from today? What's one tool that resonated with you today? And go ahead and teach that to somebody. Talk to somebody about it. It could be your six year old in the next 24 hours. Remember, Adam's 30 70 rule insight is 30%.

You're gaining insight today, but action is 70% of transformational change. You'll have to apply something from today. There's no way. To make change without being vulnerable, taking risks, deciding, choosing, doing what Nick did he just put pen to paper and decided, so I got this new course in production.

It's called Shatterproof Yourself Complete. It's gonna be something you can purchase. And also I mentioned in the show notes, you can get an abbreviated version. It's gonna be an hour long video. Shatterproof yourself. Seven Steps to creating a Foundation to deciding, living and Leaving Your Legacy. I'd love to come out to speak at your place of work or over Zoom. Make it your mission [00:35:00] to live the life now you want to be remembered for 10 years after you're gone, you decide your legacy. No one else. I appreciate you greatly, and I'll see you next time.

Intro: This show is part of the ICT podcast network. For more information, visit ICT pod.net.