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UnFollow: Question Everything with Melissa Wiggins

Season 4 Episode 11: Write It Down

June 05, 2022 • Melissa Wiggins

Master-certified Life Coach Melissa Wiggins is back with another quick nugget of truth to help you do life better. Write.It.Down. Grab a cuppa and tune in to hear the research behind why it matters and how you can use this easy tool to change your life.

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Melissa Wiggins:

Hello, lassies and lads. Welcome to “Coaching and a Cup of Tea with MummaBear. How are you today? (singing). I just thought I would sing a little bit. I hope that you are in your car and maybe you just dropped off the kids and you need a little inspiration for today. I hope to provide that.

Welcome to another new episode. I am loving these solo episodes, it is such a testament to “Start Before You're Ready,” which is one of the earlier podcasts that I did. And if you have not listened to it, you should stop listening to this one and go back and listen to it.

But essentially I started doing these solo podcast because I really wanted to push out a lot of the material that I was creating for my incredible EmpoweredLife group, which is my six month group coaching program. And it's so funny because it was inspired by one of my clients that were in that. And they said, "I just really wish I could send this to my son and to my husband." And I thought, "Hmm. I wonder if I could do short, mini podcasts that people could just share with their friends and would be really easy and short to listen to," and also give something at the end of each episode that people could actually go try, like a tangible thing.

So I've really been trying to do that. Hopefully in most of them, I have given you a little task, a little homework, if you will. So everyone seems to be loving them. A couple of episodes back, I did one called the “Wall of Wins,” and you lassies and lads have sent me all of your wall of wins and they are just life giving. I love it so much because there's nothing more delightful for a creator, right? If someone that's creating content to help you with your life, to see that you are actually doing it and then sharing it with your friends.

So onto today's episode, which is called, “Write It Down.” I know it's not super complicated. So you will also notice on this podcast that my goal is to make everything easy. I have on my wall downstairs, a sign that I had made by one of my incredible coaching clients. She owns this amazing interior design company. And I had her make signs for my house that really inspire me. And she made me one and I asked her to make it and it's called “It Is Easy.” Because I'm trying to train my brain to stop always thinking about what makes everything hard, and Write It Down is very simple.

Find the FULL transcript here: Season 4 Episode 11: Write It Down

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Melissa Wiggins:

But what is not so simple is the why behind writing things down is important. So, I thought that I needed to do this episode because a lot of the previous episodes, I have you writing things down. I have you doing the Power of the Post-It and the Wall of Winds and Thought Detoxes. And if you are like me, I need you to show me the research. I need you to tell me, where are the studies that prove that this will work? Because the reality is I have been in this growth world for 13 years now. And before that -- this is not a joke -- I would literally go to Glasgow with my mum and spend half a day in Barnes & Noble, perusing self-help books, when I was a teenager.

So, this has been my world for a very long time. I am no longer a teenager. I am a 38 year old female entrepreneur with a ton of kids. And so I live and breathe this stuff. And sometimes I think I can do a better job of just sort of letting you guys know why it's important. And for me, I often do that by explaining the research and the studies that are behind a lot of it.

So for Thought Detox, for example, in that episode, I gave you a bunch of questions and had you write down things, essentially. A detox, but for your thoughts. And I didn't do a great job of explaining the why of all of that's importantance. And so actually, when I was doing a little more research into this, I found this beautiful quote by Anne Frank. And I'm an Anne Frank freak. So I just love that era. And so she says, "The nicest part is being able to write down all my thoughts and feelings. Otherwise I might suffocate."

So a lot of people have resistance to, some people call it journaling, for me I call it my thought detoxing. There's a lot of resistance to it. And I find when I spend some time with my clients explaining to them, the benefits that research has proven on why you should do that, they are more encouraged to do it. It doesn't mean that it's less difficult to get started, but there's more reasoning than someone just saying, "Oh, journal, meditate, write it down." There's just more substantial information behind it.

And so I thought that was a great quote to get us started, right? "I might suffocate." And that is sometimes how we feel when we get into these modes of self critic and our ego runnning wild where we're seeing all this mean stuff to ourselves. If you write it down, if you do a thought detox and you do it, yes you are going to feel better. Yes, your self awareness is going to grow substantially. Yes, you're going to see solutions that you would not. I think iif I give you a super complicated math problem and asked you to figure out on your head, it's unlikely that you're going to be able to do that. Unless you're my client, Diana, who is a bookkeeper and a legend with numbers. Okay?

But if you're not her, then you're probably like me and you need to write things down in order to solve them. If you write down the math equation, you will be able to figure it out. That's how you need to think about your thoughts. That's how you need to think about the reason behind why you should do this. But there's also studies, lassies and lads. There's so many studies. I literally could talk for an hour on the different studies, but I've summarized it down to two that I think are helpful.

So one study is that 33% more success is available to you, lassies and lads, if you write things down. If you set a goal, for example, and you plan it out, but it's in your head and, roughly you think you're going to do this, this and this. That's better than not having it in your head. However, this particular study by Dr. Gail Matthews from Dominican University proved, showed us, did the research on actual people and proved that there's a 33% more success available to you lassies and lads, if you write it down. Okay, why would you not want that 33% more? I don't know about you, but I am always looking for any extra percent or edge that I can fight. Okay?

Now, a lot of the time on this podcast, I'm talking about goals and I'm talking about moving the needle forward and growing and a lot of you are entrepreneurs. A lot of you have big demands on your life. You run nonprofits and you're speakers and coaches, and it's a lot. The other side of writing it down. The study that I thought was super important for you lassies and lads to know about, is a study that basically, it's just amazing to me, proved, showed, did the research on actual people, that when you write things down, the anxiety and depression levels in people is lower.

So if you are listening to this and you suffer from anxiety or you struggle with being in the present or have periods of depression, writing it down has literally been proven to make it less so.

It's like when I discovered that if I drank a lot of water, my energy level is so much higher. I've known for a long time water is very good for you, but then I actually started researching it. And I did the same thing with sleep. I have read every book on sleep and I will do a podcast on sleep, lassies, because I honestly believe it's a secret weapon that people must know about. We know about all these things. We think about them. We know going to the gym and we know writing things down and we know meditation and journaling and solo time. And we know all of these things and they're shoved down or through it constantly. Right?

But for me, what has changed with my clients and for me personally, is when I know the research or the true studies behind what you're telling me, I am just much more likely to get in line or get on the bean and buy the ticket. Okay?

So that's just been on my mind. I want all of you to become more self-aware and part of that comes from writing down. Right? You can voice memo yourself and you can talk to a friend, but it is not the same as writing it down. Period, period, period. Okay? I feel like I'm getting so serious in this episode and it's only because I just really believe in the power of it and I want you to start doing it. And so my challenge for you, because at the end of every episode, if you have listened to the solo episodes, I'm trying to give you something to do. I'm trying to give you something that I think will help.

I would love, for you lassies and lads to send me, DM me, you can find me @coachmummabear on Instagram. You can send me an email. My email is on, on the information on the website. You can do all of those things and send them to me. I want you to be writing things down. I want you doing the Thought Detox. I want you doing Power of the Post-It. The Wall of Wins. Set yourself that challenge, and it will change your life. Lassies and lads. And I want that for you. These things that I am giving you on the podcast are so simple and so easy on purpose. Okay? On purpose. This does not need to be hard.

All right lassies and lads, if you love this episode that I was super serious on, please share it with your friends, share it on Instagram. Tag me. Let's have more people listening so that more people get to have an Empowered Life. Also Empowered Life is opening up. If you are listening to this in real time, we begin in August of this year and we coach for six months together with an incredible Empowered Group. And I am so excited. I would love to interview you to see if you are right, and to see if I am right for you. I don't just take anyone into it. I really try to create a beautiful group that's in line with each other, that will really be powerful for each other. And that I feel like I can serve. So if you're interested, you know where to find me @coachmummabear and also melissawiggins.life

Have an amaz-balls day. You guys are amazing.