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
