Laura L. Rubin: Journaling Is the Most Underrated
Performance Tool You’re Not Using

In a world selling you expensive solutions to problems you already have the tools to solve, Laura L. Rubin is making a different argument: the most powerful creativity and wellness practice available to you costs nothing, requires no special outfit, and fits in four minutes.

In this episode of FOMO Sapiens, Patrick McGinnis welcomes Laura L. Rubin, founder of AllSwell Creative and author of The Big Unlock: Liberate Your Creativity Through Mindful Journaling (Simon & Schuster), for a conversation that is equal parts science, practicality, and genuine warmth. Laura L. Rubin spent over a decade as a marketing and communications executive — with stints at Ernst & Young and USA Networks — before pivoting to build AllSwell, where she has led hundreds of mindful writing workshops for tens of thousands of participants and brought journaling into corporate boardrooms, surf culture, and everything in between.

The conversation covers:

• Why journaling has a PR problem — and how the science has finally caught up to what practitioners have always known
• The neurological case for longhand writing: the synaptic connections that form when your hand moves across the page and why slowing your hand down is actually slowing your mind down in the best possible way
• How to use journaling to interrupt catastrophic thinking, separate likely from unlikely outcomes, and actually do something with the anxiety instead of just spinning in it
• The four by four by four method: four minutes, four days a week, for four weeks — a microdose approach designed to build the habit without the guilt
• Why habit stacking journaling onto an existing meditation or mindfulness practice is the fastest path to consistency
• The physiological benefits of journaling that go well beyond mood — including immune function, wound healing, and cortisol regulation
• Why creativity is going to be the next major wellness trend, and what that means for how we think about self-expression in the age of AI

Patrick also volunteers as patient zero for a live journaling consultation, and Laura walks him through exactly what a practice could look like given his specific pain points — self-doubt, distraction, and a lot of FOMO.

Meet Laura L. Rubin:

Laura L. Rubin, creative coach and founder of mindful writing company AllSwell Creative, has changed the cultural conversation about what it means to journal. Sought after as a speaker and facilitator (and celebrated in media including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, and Forbes), over the past decade, Rubin has hosted hundreds of “breakthrough writing” workshops for tens of thousands of participants about the wide-ranging, scientifically proven benefits of putting pen to paper.

Tapping her professional experience as a corporate executive and entrepreneur, Rubin has brought journaling to surprising places and audiences, from pro surfers to venture capital firms. She lives in Sag Harbor, New York. Visit AllSwellCreative.com for more information.