(Photo Credit: Walt Stoneburner/Flickr)
Journaling does not need to be writing with a pen in a leather or cloth-bound notebook with pressed flowers between the pages. You can even just keep a file in your computer of letters you write to yourself. A journal can be a scrapbook. A journal is a collection of your thoughts and impressions, documented in your own style.
Journaling can help you:
1. Visualize Your Career Path
The first step in making changes or improvements is to visualize the path you want to travel. Journaling is a powerful tool to help you sketch out different possibilities and consider all of your options.
2. Encourage the Creative Process
A Psychology Today article about journaling points out that writing out our thoughts engages a physiological process that increases creativity and makes brainstorming easier and more productive. If you have a work problem you need to solve, your work journal is a natural tool to help you.
3. Increase Clarity
Writing about your various goals and possibilities helps you reduce goal conflict and see a clearer path to success. Journaling helps you clarify your wants and needs, and helps you filter out confusing, overwhelming, or contradictory thoughts.
Create a regular writing habit. Write down your goals and compare what you say over time to see if your perceptions and plans have changed. It is also helpful to write down what you think your strengths are, and what you remember other people praising in your work.
Journal about your challenges, as well. A journal is a safe place to explore your weaknesses and brainstorm ways to improve. You can also write down resources in you life, such as a co-worker who appreciates your work or a friend who is emotionally supportive.
Go back and read your journal now and then to remind you of where you have been and where you are going.
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