Keeping a journal is a
proven, powerful tool to enhance and benefit not
only your personal life and well being. Journaling
can also do the same for your work life. It is a way
to record and track daily activities and thoughts,
which can help with long term projects and goals.
You can record the what, when, where, and why of
what is important for you, your career, and your
company. You can journal in a blank book, in your
daily planner, on your computer, on cassette, or
even on video. Use the system that most fits and
supports your routine.
Some Benefits of Keeping a Journal
- Set goals and resolutions
- Solve problems, revealing solutions
- See what you are thinking
- Understand habits and patterns
- Process and explore
- Reduces stress, helps focus, and organizes
- Can improve well-being, and makes time for you
- Creates a personal reminder
Setting goals and resolution One very effective
way to start using your journaling in your work life
is to write what your goals and resolutions are.
These can be for yourself, for your
co-workers/employees, or even for your company. The
key to goals and resolutions is that they go hand in
hand. A goal is what you want to accomplish. A
resolution is how you are going to accomplish your
goal. As you write be sure to include specific
thoughts and ideas for both. You can create your
goals and resolutions on a daily, weekly, monthly,
or even on a yearly basis.
Goals A goal is what you want to accomplish. You
can use your journal to set both long and short-term
goals.
Be very specific - I want to be Vice-President of
Sales by 2004. I want to make 25% more money by the
end of this year.
Resolutions A resolution is your resolve of how
you are going to reach your goal. Again be very
specific - To become Vice President of Sales by 2004
I will do the following……Then list these items. To
make more money by the end of this year I
will…..Again make a specific list of tasks and to
do's that are practical things you can do to
accomplish your goal.
Solve problems, revealing solutions You can use
your journaling as a problem solving tool. As you
write about a problem, your concerns, and even your
fears, solutions can become more evident, because
you…
…See what you are thinking As you write down what
you are thinking you are making solid on the paper
your thoughts, and you can see what you are
thinking. With that it can be easier to assess if
what you are thinking is serving want you want to
accomplish.
Understand habits and patterns We are creatures
of habit. We create patterns and routines in ways of
acting, and also in our thinking. Journaling our
desires, thoughts, ideas, dreams, goals, and what is
most important to us now, we can better see and
track our habits and patterns. This process often
reveals where we are stuck, and why.
Process and explore As you write, it is a process
of exploration into who you are, and what you are
thinking. It is an examination of what it is that
you carry with you, in your mind, everyday.
Reduces stress, helps focus, and organizes
Journaling is a proven method to reduce stress,
because the expression and clarity through
journaling your experiences removes tension from
that experience. With less tension, you can be more
focused, and it becomes easier to see and then focus
on what is really important to you, for you, and
your career.
Can improve well-being, and makes time for you
Through keeping a journal, with all the benefits
that you can receive, there are studies proving that
journaling improves well-being. With journaling you
stop and think about what you are experiencing or
needing.
Creates a personal reminder You can use your
journal to remind yourself and even the people you
work with of not only deadlines and timeframes, but
you can outline specific targets in your journaling.
Your journal becomes a planning and organizing tool
as you use it to set specific goals for yourself,
individuals, and for your company.
More journaling benefits
Departments, and Co-workers Journaling
Another powerful force that you can create is to
suggest everyone in a department journal on a
specific solution or problem. Individuals can also
journal about where they would like to see their
department go in the next year, 2, or 3 years. You
can create topics or have staff create journal
topics that can benefit the department or company as
a whole.
Blue Sky What if…. Blue Sky is a brainstorming
technique where the sky is the limit, and since the
sky appears to have no limit, you can GO FOR IT.
You can use your journal as a blank palette to
create all the dreams and ideas, all those thoughts
that can be recorded without fear that they can't or
won't happen Journal your thoughts, ideas, dreams,
and desires without any concern that this, that, or
the other would have to be, or have to happen,
before your idea can come true.
30 day journals…are an effective way to focus on
specific problems or concerns. You would keep a
separate journal and write about one situation for
30 days. (You can also use more, or less than the 30
days.) Journaling is a way to process. Concentrating
on one topic for a set amount of time, narrows the
focus and energy to a specific concern.
www.the5yearjournal.com
