Essay

Did you know the word ‘essay’ is derived from a Latin word ‘exagium’, which roughly translates to
presenting one’s case? So essays are a short piece of writing representing one’s side of the argument or one’s
experiences, stories, etc. Essays are very personalized. So let us learn about types of essays, format, and tips for
essay-writing.

Essay

An essay is generally a short piece of writing outlining the writer’s perspective or story. It is often
considered synonymous with a story or a paper or an article. Essays can be formal as well as informal. Formal
essays are generally academic in nature and tackle serious topics. We will be focusing on informal essays which
are more personal and often have humorous elements.

Types of Essays

The type of essay will depend on what the writer wants to convey to his reader. There are broadly
four types of essays. Let us see.

Narrative Essays: This is when the writer is narrating an incident or story through the essay. So these
are in the first person. The aim when writing narrative essays is to involve the reader in them as if they were
right there when it was happening. So make them as vivid and real as possible. One way to make this possible is
to follow the principle of ‘show, don’t tell’. So you must involve the reader in the story.

Descriptive Essays: Here the writer will describe a place, an object, an event or maybe even a
memory. But it is not just plainly describing things. The writer must paint a picture through his words. One
clever way to do that is to evoke the senses of the reader. Do not only rely on sight but also involve the other
senses of smell, touch, sound etc. A descriptive essay when done well will make the reader feel the emotions
the writer was feeling at the moment.

Expository Essays: In such an essay a writer presents a balanced study of a topic. To write such an
essay, the writer must have real and extensive knowledge about the subject. There is no scope for the writer’s
feelings or emotions in an expository essay. It is completely based on facts, statistics, examples etc. There are
sub-types here like contrast essays, cause and effect essays etc.

Persuasive Essays: Here the purpose of the essay is to get the reader to your side of the argument. A
persuasive essay is not just a presentation of facts but an attempt to convince the reader of the writer’s point
of view. Both sides of the argument have to presented in these essays. But the ultimate aim is to persuade the
readers that the writer’s argument carries more weight.

Learn more about Letter Writing here in detail.

Format of an Essay

Now there is no rigid format of an essay. It is a creative process so it should not be confined within
boundaries. However, there is a basic structure that is generally followed while writing essays. So let us take a
look at the general structure of an essay.
 Introduction

This is the first paragraph of your essay. This is where the writer introduces his topic for the very first
time. You can give a very brief synopsis of your essay in the introductory paragraph. Some paragraph writing
skills can be a help here. Generally, it is not very long, about 4-6 lines.

There is plenty of scopes to get creative in the introduction of essays. This will ensure that you hook
the reader, i.e. draw and keep his attention. So to do so you can start with a quote or a proverb. Sometimes
you can even start with a definition. Another interesting strategy to engage with your reader is to start with a
question.

Body

This is the main crux of your essays. The body is the meat of your essay sandwiched between the
introduction and the conclusion. So the most vital and important content of the essay will be here. This need
not be confined to one paragraph. It can extend to two or more paragraphs according to the content.

Usually, we have a lot of information to provide in the body. And the mistakes writers generally make
is to go about it in a haphazard manner which leaves the reader confused. So it is important to organize your
thoughts and content. Write the information in a systematic flow so that the reader can comprehend. So, for
example, you were narrating an incident. The best manner to do this would be to go in a chronological order.

Learn more about Story Writing here in detail.

Conclusion

This is the last paragraph of the essay. Sometimes a conclusion will just mirror the introductory
paragraph but make sure the words and syntax are different. A conclusion is also a great place to sum up a
story or an argument. You can round up your essay by providing some moral or wrapping up a story. Make sure
you complete your essays with the conclusion, leave no hanging threads.

Tips for Essay Writing

Give your essays an interesting and appropriate title. It will help draw the attention of the reader and
pique their curiosity

Keep it between 300-500 words. This is the ideal length, you can take creative license to increase or
decrease it
 Keep your language simple and crisp. Unnecessary complicated and difficult words break the flow of
the sentence.

Do not make grammar mistakes, use correct punctuation and spellings. If this is not done it will
distract the reader from the content

Before beginning the essay organize your thought and plot a rough draft. This way you can ensure
the story will flow and not be an unorganized mess.

Solved Question for You

Q: What is a thesis statement of essays?

Ans: The thesis statement is a clear, one-sentence explanation of your position that leaves no doubt
in the readers’ mind about which side you are on from the beginning of your essay.

How To Write In Your Journal To

Improve Yourself and Achieve Your
Goals
Of all the things that have been helpful to me in personal growth and
goal achievement, using my journal daily is at the foundation.

Writing in my journal every single day is the glue that holds

everything else together.

My journal is the context for my dreams. It’s my favorite place to be.

It’s where the mental creation happens. And because my mental

creation recurs on a daily basis within my journal, the physical creation
is organic. It’s simple.

Achieving highly specific goals becomes very, very predictable.

Confidence becomes a continually growing loop where ideas quickly
become realities.
I’ve written extensively about:

 The benefits of journaling

 How I use my journal to get creative breakthroughs
 How I use my journal to write viral articles
 How I write in my journal to trigger a peak-state just before I start
working
 Why getting into a peak-state on a daily basis is essential to
achieving your dreams

In this particular article, I’m going to detail the nuts and bolts of
specifically how I use my journal, on a daily basis, to achieve any goal I
set.

To be clear: although journaling is something I believe should be done

on a daily basis, there are particular times and places in which it is
most effective.

1. When you’re out of your regular routine (whether away for a

weekend, having a “disconnected” day, or on vacation)
2. During your morning routine immediately upon waking up

Your journal is not only where you record your insights and
inspiration, but it’s where those insights become solidified and real.
Your journal is where you begin thinking deeply about your insights
and ideas, and where you strategize and plan the execution of those
insights and ideas.

Your journal is the context for making your ideas into something
much, much more tangible. You use your journal for:

1. Crystallizing and clarifying your ideas and insights

2. Affirming to yourself that you can make your ideas and goals real
3. Making strategic plans for making your ideas and goals real
4. Gratefully acknowledging the outside factors playing a role

The rest of this article will break down specifically how I use my
journal:

 when I’m away from my daily routine

 during my morning routine

… in order to:

 crystallize and clarify my thinking

 affirm to myself my ideas and idealizations will become a reality
 make strategic plans to make my ideas a reality
 to express gratitude for the brilliant things happening in my life

You Need Some Space to Reset and

Recover
In fitness, you push yourself to your limits during a workout and then
allow adequate time for rest and recovery.

It is during the rest and recovery that you actually experience the
benefits of your exercise.

If you don’t allow for adequate rest and recovery, then your workout
efforts are wasted. Not only are they wasted, but your future workouts
won’t be as good, because you won’t be rested or getting stronger.
You’ll plateau.
Herein lies the difference between calculated and systematic
productivity and being busy. Most people are always plugged-in,
always going, and thus are busy. Hilariously, they think being
busy is being productive. It’s not.

Similarly, your body needs rest and reset cycles from digesting food.
This occurs in the form of fasting. When you fast for 18+ hours from
digesting food, your body is given the space for recovery. If you never
give your body space to recover and reset, then you miss out on
countless benefits.

The same is true of your mind. The best ideas and insights occur away
from your work. They happen while you’re relaxing, or often while
you’re thinking about something completely unrelated.

When it comes to having clarity about your life and goals, you need to
give yourself a reset, regularly. The most successful people in the world
purposefully carve out time in their regular schedules for unplugging,
recharging, and resetting.

Take the famous example of Bill Gates, who took “Think Weeks” where
he would completely remove himself from work and all forms of
communication. All he would do is think, learn, and rest. And he
admits that his best ideas for Microsoft came during those rest and
recovery weeks.

You may not have a full week to rest and recover. Instead, you could
begin to schedule in “disconnected days,” where you take a day off
work and give yourself the full day to simply rest and recover. During
that time, it would be helpful to leave your regular environment, and
perhaps drive 30+ minutes away to get adequate space.

During these disconnected days, you could spend a good amount of

time thinking, relaxing, learning, and then writing in your journal.
The reason you want to get out of your day-to-day routine and
environment is so you can step out of the trees and see the forest. You
need some fresh air. You need to breath and reset — just like fasting for
your body — from the constant stress of going.

During these disconnected moments, it’s best to remain fully present

and unplugged from your work and life. This is very hard for most
people, as most people are addicted to their technology and work.
Hence, psychological research is finding the importance for
psychologically detaching from work on a daily basis. Only those who
truly detach — mentally, emotionally, and physically — can re-attach
when they start working again. In order to get absorbed and engaged in
what you’re doing, you need to rest.

Rest is where you grow and recover, so that you’re empowered to get
better and better at your work (or fitness) when you’re there.

So you want to get away. Completely outside of your busy life and allow
some time to reset. A crucial component of this resetting is pulling out
your journal and writing a lot.

But before even writing in your journal, you want to get your mind in
the right place. That’s why taking 30+ minutes to get out of your
regular environment and preparing yourself mentally is key. While
preparing yourself, you may read or listen to some inspiring content.
You may do a workout. Or talk to a close friend or family member who
always seems to put you in an amazing mood.

You want to put yourself into a peak-state before you start writing.
Naturally, being out of your regular environment will trigger positive
emotions, especially if you know you’re going to spend the next few
hours diving deep into learning, recovery, planning, and visualization.

Other specific strategies to enhance your journaling experience are

meditation and prayer. There is a great deal of confusion regarding
what meditation is and what it’s for. The mainstream belief, which
stops so many people from developing meditative habits, is that
meditation is about stopping your mind from thinking.

This isn’t what meditation is for. Meditation is for getting clear on what
you want, and ultimately, about living a better life. Meditation can take
on many forms. As can prayer. To me, both go hand-in-hand. And
giving yourself some time to pray and meditate just before you write in
your journal puts you in an elevated mental state to write from.

You want to write from a position of confidence, resolve, hope and

expectation. This mental context will determine the quality and depth
of the ideas and emotions you experience while you write.

Without this mental preparation, your efforts will yield minimal results
at best. To quote Charles Haanel, considered to be the father of
modern self-improvement: “Remember that no matter what the
difficulty is, no matter where it is, no matter who is affected, you have
no patient but yourself; you have nothing to do but convince yourself
of the truth which you desire to see manifest.”

Of course, your elevated state can and does occur after you’ve start
writing, especially while writing what you’re grateful for. This whole
process, the pre-journaling routine and the journaling process itself, is
intended to take you deeper and higher into yourself, your dreams, and
your ambitions.

Once you actually start writing, here are a few things that are helpful to
focus your writing on:

 Start with gratitude and appreciation for everything happening in

your life. Take plenty of time to reflect on and write about all the
details of your life and relationships. Write about all the people who
matter to you. Write about how far you’ve come. Write specifics
about what is happening, and what has happened, since the last
time you had a recovery session. Recording your history is a crucial
 component of journal writing. It provides context to your ideas,
goals, and plans.
 Be radically honest with yourself about what’s going on in your
world in your journal. After you’ve just expressed gratitude and
appreciation for the brilliance (and struggles) in your life, you need
to be honest with yourself about where you’re not showing up.
While in a peak state, you need to commit to making specific
changes. Write down the key changes you need to make to achieve
your dreams and ideals. Write down everything that comes to mind.
Journaling is a powerful therapeutic and healing tool.While writing
about the things you need to change, openly write about the
frustrations and difficulties that have led you to where you are.
Write about why you’ve struggled to make these changes in the past.
Be very honest and vulnerable with yourself. No one else is going to
read what you’re writing. The purpose of this writing is for you to
get clarity, and to re-establish your priorities and focus. If you can’t
be honest in your own journal, how can you expect to be honest in
the rest of your life?
 Write about your big picture dreams. These c