U-Journaling: 17-Question Journaling Process by Otto Scharmer

U-Journaling is a 17-question journaling process developed by Otto Scharmer and his work at The Presencing Institute. The aim of this process is to access deeper levels of self-knowledge and self-knowing, clarify intentions, and create the future you desire.

There are various versions of this process floating around the internet, but this is the one I was guided through a Mindvalley Pro Coaching Session.

Begin by finding a quiet place and allot at least 40 minutes to complete. Read each question, and whatever comes to mind begin to write your answers. Don’t spend too much time on one single question. It is recommended to let the answers flow intuitively.

1. Challenges: Look at yourself from the outside as if you were another person: What are the 3 or 4 most important challenges or tasks that your life currently presents?
2. Self: Write down 3 or 4 important facts about yourself. What are the important accomplishments you have achieved or competencies you have developed in your life?
3. Emerging Self: What 3 or 4 important aspirations, areas of interest, or undeveloped talents would you like to place more focus on in your future journey?
4. Frustration: What about your current work and/or personal life frustrates you the most?
5. Energy: What are your most vital sources of energy? What do you love?
6. Inner resistance: What is holding you back? Describe 2 or 3 recent situations (in your work or personal life) where you noticed the voices of judgment, cynicism, or fear preventing you from exploring the situation you were in more deeply.
7. The crack: Over the past couple of days and weeks, what new aspects of yourself have you noticed? What new questions and themes are occurring to you now?
8. Your community: Who makes up your community, and what are their highest hopes in regard to your future journey? Choose three people with different perspectives on your life and explore their hopes for your future. What might you hope for if you were in their shoes and looking at your life through their eyes?
9. Helicopter: Watch yourself from above (as if in a helicopter). What are you doing? What are you trying to do in this stage of your professional and personal journey?
10. Imagine you could fast-forward to the very last moments of your life, when it is time for you to pass on. Now look back on your life’s journey as a whole. What would you want to see at that moment? What footprint do you want to leave behind on the planet? What would you want to be remembered for by the people who live after you?
11. From that (future) place, look back at your current situation as if you were looking at a different person. Now try to help that other person from the viewpoint of your highest future self. What advice would you give?
12. Now return again to the present and crystallize what it is that you want to create: your vision and intention for the next 3-5 years. What vision and intention do you have for yourself and your work? What are some essential core elements of the future that you want to create in your personal, professional, and social life?
13. Letting-come: What in your current life or context provides the seeds for the future that you want to create? Where do you see your future beginning?
14. Letting-go: What would you have to let go of in order to bring your vision into reality? What is the old stuff that must die? What is the old skin (behaviors, thought processes, etc.) that you need to shed?
15. Prototyping: Over the next three months, if you were to prototype a microcosm of the future in which you could discover “the new” by doing something, what would that prototype look like?
16. People: Who can help you make your highest future possibilities a reality? Who might be your core helpers and partners?
17. Immediate Action: If you were to take on the project of bringing your intention into reality, what practical first steps would you take over the next 3 to 4 days?

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