I’m a great ‘futurist’, but it’s sometimes what has happened in your past that forms the type of person you will become in the future. As obvious as that may sound, just think about it. A lot of people spend their time living in the past, thinking about how things were. Some people spend all their time living in the future, not learning from their current experiences. The secret has to be to learn how to do both.

When you keep a journal it’s a demonstration of your ‘interpersonal intelligence’; this type of intelligence is the ability to know yourself. It’s a very powerful intelligence and, by keeping a journal, it’s one that can be learned.

Here’s something for you to consider. Imagine it’s 20 years from now. You’re relaxing at home and you pick up your journal from 20 years ago. You read about the amazing year you had, the decisions you made and the people you met. You reminisce on the changes that seemed so big at the time and how you felt about the transformations taking place in your life. You realise that some of the decisions you made 20 years ago have culminated in the amazing life you lead now.

Let me share something with you. You don’t have to wait 20 years. You could start to write a regular journal now and in just one year you’ll be reading about this stage of life and it’s fascinating. I’m writing this chapter in Ibiza now, and while my kids are reading Harry Potter I’ve brought some old journals to read while I’m not writing. Even after a few months, it’s amazing to review your journal – I just can’t recommend keeping a journal enough.

So what do you write?

You could write everything you have done that day or you could simply focus on the key elements of the last 24 hours. I decide, depending on how interesting my day has been and, as I write my journal last thing at night, how much energy I have.

As for the ‘how?’, you can do it pretty much any way you like but I would advise you to write everything of importance. Don’t rely on your memory – it plays tricks over time. Capture your thoughts. Record meetings and introductions. It’s nice to be able to go back to the first time you met someone and read your initial thoughts about them. Write your worries and fears and what you are excited about. Capture humorous moments – it’s amazing to reread them. Document important conversations while they’re fresh in your mind. Add drawings of places and people; they don’t need to be works of art, but they’ll help you relive a moment. Above all, be your authentic self. There is no more interesting a subject than you.

By keeping a journal you can refer back to different times in your life and read about your intriguing personal experience during those times. It’s fascinating, like an opportunity to get a rerun of some of your favourite movies without having to pay for the DVD.