When you were young, you might have had a journal in which you kept all of your brilliant ideas and inspired thoughts. You might have kept a journal on a personal level and you might have had to keep a journal in school as well. If you look back at those journals, you will probably see a pattern of inspiration and creativity that you may not have understood at the time. Now, you just need to apply that concept and that tool to your business.
Choose your tool
Before you can do anything else, you need to choose the journal that will be your constant companion from cover to cover. It will stick with you through all of your trials, tribulations, frustrations, and triumphs. You will be emotionally connected to your journal and when you see it, you will be inspired to write.
The thickness of the journal is not very important. It just means that you will have to start on the next one sooner than you would if you had chosen a thicker one. The most important thing is that you start writing and that you never go anywhere without your journal, just in case you feel inspired at any given moment. After all, you certainly don’t want to miss the opportunity to put that inspiration to good use by not writing it down and forgetting what pearls have come out of that amazing mind of yours.
What does a journal represent to you?
A repository: A journal can mean a lot of things to a lot of different people. By now, you have probably gotten very used to storing information on your computer or on another electronic device. Well, a journal is another tool in which you can store information. One advantage is that unless you lose the entire journal (or misplace it), you will not be capable of losing any of the items that you have written in the journal. You would have to deliberately erase them to make that happen. Along the same lines, your journal is not only a repository but it is also a sounding board (of sorts). Of course, it can’t speak to you but it can give you a forum so that you can write down your inspired ideas and then contemplate whether those ideas have the potential to go any further. That alone makes your journal extremely valuable. The truth is that once you have started to write in your journal, you will grow to depend on it. You won’t understand how you ever got through a day without writing.
A teacher of lessons: In your life (and this applies to your business as well), if you make mistakes (as everyone does), you generally deal with whatever consequences there are (if there are any) and you move on. If you are like most human beings, you will not give your mistake too much thought after that. However, if you write about your mistake in your journal, you can go back to it and learn from what you have done. It will force you to think about a few things, including what you could have done differently and how much you have grown as a person and as a business owner because of that mistake. You will carry the lessons with you for the rest of your life. Ironically, the bigger the mistake, the more you will learn from it. It will make you a better person and it will make you better at your job.
A place of quiet reflection: As a human being, you have good days and bad days. Well, most likely, the good days are easy to handle. However, the bad days may be a different matter. If you have had a particularly bad day, your journal can represent a place of solace. It is a place that you can go and share your innermost thoughts and feelings without anyone judging you in return. In your journal, you can write whatever you wish, no matter how dark or outrageous those thoughts and feelings may be. They are your private thoughts and you choose not to share them with anyone. Human beings need to let it out. It feels really good and it is so healthy to express yourself. You will definitely be healthier and more productive because of it.
A way to stay organized: If you aren’t doing that already, you may want to consider creating a series of checklists in your journal. Every time you complete an item on your checklist, you check it off. That alone will give a sense of accomplishment. If you feel that you don’t need to write down your items in a list, you have a good chance of forgetting at least some of the items. Why risk that when you can easily write them down and check them off. Your journal is a great place to do that because you can go back to your list whenever you wish. It may help you to hone your approach to future tasks.
A place to put your future goals: Everyone has goals. You have goals too. You should have a place to write down your goals so that you can work on achieving them. If you write them in your journal, you will always know exactly where to find them and you can refer to them as often as you like. In fact, your thoughts and feelings will drive your goals.
The methodical approach to success: Sometimes, the most simplistic approach produces the most desired results. If you set up a process with a series of steps and you diligently follow those steps, you will get to where you want to be. Your journal is a great tool to help you to make that happen. It is important to remember that you are in control of the way that you set up the process as well as how you complete that process.
Conclusion
Keeping a journal is a great way to manage everything successfully for all of the reasons that were discussed here. If you have your journal next to you, it will make you much more independent. You will have all of the information that you need at your fingertips. Journaling will also save you a great deal of time searching for information. If you have it all in one place, you will become far more efficient and productive. You really never know when you are going to be inspired. Inspiration comes in so many different forms. You don’t want to miss the gems that come out of your incredible, creative mind for the benefit of your business.
