✏️just write. Secrets for reluctant writers to find the MAGIC and get rid of the resistance

What’s up, students? I don’t care if you’re in middle school, high school, or college — it doesn’t matter. Look, I want to encourage you: write, write, write.

I’m going to talk a little bit about writing and why it even matters.

What’s up? My name is Seth Perler. I work with struggling students to help them navigate this thing called school and education so they can have an awesome life.

Most of the students I work with struggle with things like organization, time management, using planners, having late or missing assignments, suffering grades — all of that stuff, right?

So if that’s you, and you’re in this time where you’re not physically in school and you have to motivate yourself, I know that’s really hard right now. But you still have things to do, and you still have to get those things done.

What I really want to encourage you to do is write — but write for yourself. Journal for yourself, not for anybody else.

I know you already have schoolwork to do, and yes, get that stuff done. But during this time, there’s such a huge temptation to spend your time doing things that, in the long run, are meaningless and don’t really add value to your life.

The last time I played a video game was in 2003 because I realized I was spending one, two, or three hours a day playing some stupid game. I started thinking, “What else could I be doing with that time?” I could be doing things that actually improve my life and bring something meaningful into it.

There are other changes I made too — like I don’t really watch TV anymore.

But writing is different.

You have something to say. Whether it’s journaling, poetry, drawing, songwriting, stories, books, or articles — you have a voice that deserves to be heard. You have passions, things that matter to you, things you care about, and things that are important to you.

One of the best ways to develop those things is through writing.

So I want to show you some of my journals. These are real journals I’ve had for many years, and I want to talk a little bit about them.

Most of my journals are cheap.

This one is called a “Vision Journal.” This is where I write down things I envision for my future. I set goals for myself and write ideas that help me change my life. This journal helped me start my own entrepreneurial, blogging, and vlogging business — the thing I do now.

This journal helped me create a vision and invent the work I do today. It’s very powerful.

This one is just a random cheap journal with all kinds of notes in it.

This is called a Moleskine journal. Some have lines, some are blank. You can draw in them, write poetry, brainstorm ideas — they’re great journals.

Here’s another Moleskine. I like them because they’re small, easy to carry around, easy to throw into a backpack or take on an airplane.

This one is a cheaper Moleskine because the nicer ones can get expensive.

This leather-bound one was a gift. I usually wouldn’t spend thirty dollars on a journal, but I do use it.

This old journal is one I used to write memories in — things I wanted to remember that impacted my life. We all meet people and experience events that affect us in positive or negative ways. I love looking back at these journals and remembering how people or situations shaped me and how I responded to them.

This one is a spiral notebook. It has sticky notes and loose papers stuffed into it. It’s full of random thoughts and ideas.

Here’s another Moleskine with blank pages and sticky notes marking different sections. I use sticky notes a lot to track ideas.

Anyway, those are just a few examples. I have tons of journals. Journaling has impacted my life so positively that it’s almost unbelievable.

One of the biggest problems we have as human beings is something called the unconscious mind.

What that means is that a lot of times, you’ll do things automatically without really thinking. Later, you look back and think, “Why did I do that? I knew I shouldn’t have done that.”

The reason we know that is because there’s a part of us — our gut, our intuition, our deeper awareness — that already understood something, but it stayed unconscious and quiet.

Sometimes those quiet thoughts go unheard, and that can get us into trouble.

The more aware we become of what’s happening inside our minds — the thoughts and emotions driving our decisions — the less robotic and automatic we become. The less we’re just running on habits and patterns.

The more conscious, mindful, and present we are, the more we can actually think through situations instead of reacting automatically based on emotions or old habits.

We don’t want to live like robots.

And so much of life becomes habitual and automatic.

Writing and journaling slow us down. They help us pause and hear what’s really going on inside ourselves. They help us process things in a healthy way, work through problems, and come up with amazing ideas.

Journaling is also a great way to think about what we want to create in life, how we’re going to solve problems, and where we want to go.

Write down your goals.
Write down your dreams.
Write down your ideas.
Write down your art.
Write down every idea you have.

Start journaling.

Write about the problems you’re having.
Write in the morning.
Write in the evening.
Write three pages a day — I don’t care.

Just get into the habit and stick with it for a while. Try it many times. See what it feels like. Dive into it.

Allow the magic of writing to become part of your life and benefit you.

Anyway, thanks so much for checking this out. If you liked this, give it a thumbs up, share it, subscribe on YouTube — whatever.

I hope you have a great day. Stay safe.