Cultivate and Harvest Your Wisdom

Having worked in the learning and wellbeing space for close to four decades what I know for sure is that there is nothing new under the sun, simply different ways of looking at and packaging information. So, I love it when I find a new twist on an age-old idea which makes it more meaningful, practical and useful.

This week I came across a twist on journalling when listening to Chip Conley on the Good Life Project podcast speaking about his Wisdom books, aka a type of journal. I love the renaming of such a book too as it makes it sound like a more useful activity.

Many leaders, entrepreneurs and influencers purport that journalling is part of their morning routine but what are they writing about and what do they do with this information? It’s left to the rest of us to guess and wonder what their secret sauce is.

It was therefore enlightening to hear Chip explain how to use a journal or wisdom book to make impactful change in your work and personal life. He has turned wisdom book writing into a practice which is not just about recording incidents, ideas and thoughts but about metabolizing your experiences more quickly so you can cultivate and harvest your wisdom. Now that sounds very useful.

How to do a wisdom book practice

This is a summary of Chip’s steps as explained on the Modern Elders Academy website and on the Good Life Podcast .

1: Set aside quiet time weekly to reflect on your week. To make this easier, you may like to keep notes during the week of things that happen and what you think about them.

‍2: In the areas of personal, professional, spiritual and physical ask yourself “What were my most difficult lessons this week?” It could include a first-time experience or a “did I make that mistake again?” kind of lesson. Record your lessons in your Wisdom book (hard copy or digital). These lessons are the raw material for your future wisdom.

‍3: Now consider what you learnt from these lessons and what wisdom you can gain from them: how can you use the lesson/s moving forward to make positive change in your work or personal life?

Spread the wisdom

Chip also explained in the Good Life Project podcast that sharing wisdom is key to making positive change thus this exercise is useful to do with your partner / family and work team so everyone can learn from each other. How great is that?