Looking at making the wise decision to grab yourself a journal, but not sure what the benefits actually are? Look no further! Here’s exactly how journaling can help to take your career to the next level:
Organisation
Your journal doesn’t have to only be purposed for perfect organisation, whatever form it takes, noting and journaling is guaranteed to push your daily discipline up a notch or two. A journal is a way of creating a tangible plan, record or recount of your day to day life, you can choose whether to do this in a dated or undated form. If you want to go for traditional or ever so trendy bullet journals, you’ll be able to see what your day, week, month and year look like all in a few flips – talk about planning! Maybe you want a more free-form, recounting style diary? Keeping a traditional journal helps you to digest your day, sort through your thoughts and note down what you have coming up in the future.
Note Taking
Your working life is probably full of meetings, phone calls and emails that need tracking – or at the very least, remembering! When you’re juggling a whole range of different tasks, projects and clients, it becomes very easy to get buried in odd notes here and there. Put a stop to the confusion with a cohesive and clear journaling system! Take minutes from your meetings, jot down reminders and keep track of project progression, all in one space! What’s more, you can always keep your journal at your desk so it’s handy whenever you need it!
Goal Mapping
Your career is a trajectory, meaning it’s not going to come together perfectly in the immediate future – no matter how much we all wish it would! Instead, your career moves forward as you do, but sometimes, it takes a little more than wishful thinking. Create a goal or career map at the back of your journal to keep your eye on the prize! Make a timeline of where you want to be in one, three, five and ten years, and note down how significant projects, tasks or mentorships are going to get you there. When you keep your mind on your future benefit, the present seems to make all the more sense. Keep that drive going!
Contacts
Yes, your phone is the home of all your contacts, but maybe you don’t want to eat up storage with a bunch of phone numbers you’re likely to never use again? Enter your journal! Keep a detailed, organised contacts section to store your Rolodex of professional phone numbers, emails and office addresses. This will stop you from fumbling for details in meetings and will provide you with a little bit of work-life segmentation, which is always healthy!
Structure
Never underestimate the power of a little bit of structure. A routine or habit can feel redundant when you’re on your daily grind – but when it’s as positive and beneficial as journaling, it’s not to be ignored. Introducing some extra structure into your work life is going to keep you on the straight and narrow towards your definition of success. Whether this takes form in journaling, note-taking or contacts, it’s going to add some advantageous structure.
With all these bonuses, there’s really no reason not to grab a journal for your work life! Your career is a huge part of who you are and how you live, so facilitate its growth and your happiness by introducing a great habit to your daily routine. What are you waiting for? Get writing!