podcast - why i journal instead of talking to ai
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[00:00:00] Welcome to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I'm your host Johnny Ha, an ultra runner endurance athlete, and yes, a guy who's had an inhaler prescribed since birth. Despite doctors telling me I could never play soccer nor run a marathon, let alone a hundred K ultra. I prove them all wrong. This show is where I share everything I've learned from breathing techniques to mindset shifts to help you become the athlete and the person you truly want to be.
So if you're ready to achieve your goals, despite limitations, let's get started.
I use AI every single day to run both of my businesses athlete with asthma and e-learning partners. However, when it comes to my thoughts, my struggles, and my self-reflection, I don't talk to Chad, [00:01:00] CBTI journal. And I believe that journaling does something that AI never can. Today. On the show, I'm gonna share with you why I journal instead of talking to cha GPT.
Now, I have talked to Cha GPT about. Everything in my life ranging from wind to failures, to just daily thoughts and struggles to unpacking how I'm feeling about different situations, and I've even used AI to journal. But after some reflection and really thinking and considering the impact of continuously talking to chat GBT, instead of using my favorite tool, which is pen and paper.
As part of my morning routine and as part of my routine before bed, I have discovered that journaling is way more powerful. I'm gonna share with you [00:02:00] three reasons why a journal, instead of talking to ai. Right now, number one, paper versus screens. We all know in theory that we shouldn't be on our phones all day.
There's a reason why that keeps track of our screen time that we can set limitations on our screen time and phone usage. And there's a reason why we can buy specific glasses that have a blue light filter. Now I need glasses for more than just protecting my eyes from blue light. But in general, as a society, you and I both know that screens are not good for us.
That's why when I'm talking about journaling, I'm not talking about you taking your phone and and writing in your notes app. Yeah, that might be a little bit better than journaling back and forth with AI just because of the other reasons I'm gonna share with you later on in this episode. [00:03:00] But this whole episode that I'm sharing with you today is all based around the fact that you use pen and paper over.
A electronic device in general, not just avoiding using AI for your journaling. So along with the fact that screens are just bad for you to be interacting with all the time. Here is why I choose paper writing slows.
Thinking when you write something down on paper, or I guess on a board like I'm doing right now, it literally slows down our minds. It slows down how we process things. It slows down the go, go, go, go. Instant gratification and busyness culture that we have when we write. We're able to start processing what's going [00:04:00] on versus when we use screens or we use our phone or computer or tablet, then what we're doing is we are creating stimulation.
We are stimulating our minds not in a healthy way. When you do this first thing in the morning as part of a morning routine, you are setting the tone for your day. You are stimulating or overstimulating your body, your mind. Right away. First thing in the morning when you do this before bed. So you do this as part of an evening routine.
You are like Johnny. Yeah. You know, I journal every morning and every evening and I use my phone. I put it in my notes app. It's really nice. 'cause I can search through, I can look it up and I don't have to buy a new notebook every month. Well, what you're doing is you're [00:05:00] stimulating things you are not allowing.
Your mind to slow down your thinking so you can actually process to ground yourself. So when I write in my notebook, it is so grounding for me. I'm able to take all of the fast forward thinking that occurs in my head, put it on the paper and ground myself, calm myself. I invite you to do this as well. And this brings me to reason number two, why I journal instead of talking to chat GPT thinking versus laziness.
Yes, there are numerous studies that are coming online. About how continuous usage of AI and specifically using AI incorrectly promotes laziness and it promotes it [00:06:00] neurologically. You are literally you and I by using AI incorrectly. We are training our brains to stop thinking. We are training our brains to be lazy.
Yeah, this is crazy. And this is probably the reason why I went from journaling every morning for a couple minutes and talking to chat GPT way too long about analyzing different things after journaling to throwing that out. And 100% focusing on journaling is because I started seeing. Laziness come into my life here is exactly what happens when you and I are prompting ai.
Typically, we are asking it a question or asking it to do something for us, but when it comes to journaling, what [00:07:00] all end up doing or what I've done in the past is I will ask. AI or I have asked ai, why do you think I'm failing a certain way? This happened, this happened, this happened. My HRV numbers are like this.
I trained like this last week, I slept like this. What do you think's going on? So when we're asking questions, and this is what I do when I journal, is I ask questions. I ask myself questions instead of asking AI questions, when I ask Chachi BT a question, what happens? I get an answer, an answer that I didn't have to think about.
I get an answer without having to put any work in. On the other hand, when I ask myself a question, I grow. You grow. [00:08:00] This is. The most powerful thing about journaling. You are already journaling in a paper notebook, and I do this as part of my morning routine. Every single day. I have videos and episodes all about this on my YouTube channel and in my podcast.
My morning routine right now, as of recording this, I start with calculating my HRV every morning heart rate variability, have a whole episode about that. Then I do my EFT, which is my. Tapping technique. Then I go through my goals. I go through my mantras, and then I journal. I journal. I ask myself questions, and when I ask myself questions, I'm able to use my brain to grow.
When you outsource the answer creator, you promote laziness. I highly recommend that you do some of your [00:09:00] own research. Yes, you could ask Chat GPT, but you can also go to Google. You could do your own research about how interacting with AI and outsourcing your thinking to AI is hurting your brain. And eventually, if you do it long enough, you are going to be underutilizing.
Parts of your brain that you are going to have to rebuild at some point if you even realize that you have lost these parts of your brain that you consider the consequences. When you asked chat GPTA question, you're gonna get an answer, but it's not an answer you came up with. It's an answer chat GPT came up with.
When you ask yourself a question, you're also gonna get an answer. It's not gonna necessarily be instant though. This morning when I was journaling, I asked myself questions and then I sat for a while, used this beautiful brain here, and eventually [00:10:00] came up with extremely powerful answers and. Saw growth. I know that it is tempting to outsource your thoughts to chat GBT.
I know that when you aren't feeling well, it can feel very good to be able to get an immediate question answered and figure out why you feel the way you do. And I'm not saying that you shouldn't interact with AI for specific situations. I use AI all the time to run both of my businesses. What I am saying though.
Is this is just like running, just like training for anything. As athletes who, and I, let's say you have a goal to run a marathon. Well, you can't just outsource your miles.
Let's [00:11:00] say that you have someone else run the miles for you. That doesn't help you. Let's say that we're, you're watching this three to five years in the future and you can have your own AI robot at home that goes running with you. I. Don't care. If you have technology that runs for you, it doesn't help you complete the marathon.
Same thing. If you wanna lose weight, you have to be the one that makes the conscious decisions to eat healthier, eat less, work out more. You count. Outsource, losing weight. So when we're looking at growing, when we're looking at journaling, when we're looking at getting our questions answered, you can't outsource that.
You can't outsource thinking. I mean, you can. But if you're not the one doing the thinking, then you're also not gonna be the one growing. AI is gonna continue to get better and you're gonna [00:12:00] continue to get worse. And number three, release versus analysis. Here's what I mean here. The whole purpose of journaling isn't necessarily even to get your questions answered.
I used that as an example in the last point because I think it's exponentially more powerful for you to use your brain to answer your own questions, to really figure out how whatever you're journaling about. Is actually affecting you 'cause you know you much better than AI knows you, and that will always be the case.
What I'm saying is that for me, the most powerful part about journaling is I get to write it down and release it. Going back and forth with a computer doesn't help when it comes [00:13:00] to getting my thoughts down on paper. Well, AI. Organizes and analyzes. Paper absorbs paper takes what is in your head and releases it, and this is so powerful.
This is why I journal, I journal to get my thoughts outta here, into here. So I can feel lighter when I'm going back and forth with chat GBT. It's actually giving me more information. It's giving me more information to think about. Yeah, it's organizing it, but it's also taking all of this organization and analysis and just.
Causing me to become overwhelmed, analysis paralysis instead of releasing, releasing and freeing. So what I do is I [00:14:00] share multiple things with my journal. And I recommend you do this as well. I share wins and losses. I share gratitudes and disappointments and everything in between,
and I share it because I'm having a conversation with myself. I'm taking what's up here, getting it in here, celebrating my wins. Mourning my losses and becoming a better person every single day. Now, I want to hear about how you are journaling in your life and maybe how you have taken AI to an unhealthy level.
Maybe you watch this or listen to this episode and are like, oh my gosh, yeah, I [00:15:00] need to redefine my relationship with ai. I'd love for you to share your story about journaling in a comment below, and if you want access to any resources that I have, including my Healthy Living Guide or even looking to how we can work together, I have links in the show notes and in the YouTube description.
I'll see you in the next episode.
Thanks for tuning in to the Athlete with Asthma Show. I hope today's episode inspired you to overcome any perceived limitations you may have. Remember, your health and wellness journey isn't about perfection. It is about progress. So I invite you to take a small step right now towards your goals, and if you found something helpful here, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the podcast with others on a similar path.
Until next time, keep challenging yourself [00:16:00] and redefining what's possible.
