What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear about “Journaling”?
It is usually considered as an approach to project your feelings. Journaling doesn’t have to be difficult once you get over a few common misconceptions about it.
- Write every day. If you put too much pressure on yourself to write every day, it can be discouraging when you miss a day or are unable to write. Instead, try starting with an hour a week. Or a day a month.
- sStick to just writing. Journaling is not just about writing, it can include thoughts out of your head, including doodles, collages, drawings, lists, stick figures and image boards.
- Journals have to make sense. Journals don’t need to follow a coherent narrative. Use your journal as a place for those feelings that you are yet to unpacked or crazy thoughts you have.
Here are a few reasons why you should start journaling:
- Room to grow: Ideas can quickly become stagnant when they exist only in your mind. Journaling can help to expand these ideas and your creativity. For instance, jotting down your business thoughts and fleshing them out on paper allow you to discover further ideas that branch out from the original idea.
- Provide a safe place: Many entrepreneurs go through something called “impression management” or the thought they should seem shortcoming-free. According to executive coach and therapist Megan Bruneau, “Many entrepreneurs believe that, in order to be considered competent by stakeholders, we need to be perceived as infallible…This perpetuates shame and disconnection (which both cause depression).” Your journal is a safe space that will let you connect with your feelings and deepest fears.
- Track your development: The pace of life is fast. We seldom get the chance to pause and reflect. Journal writing allows you to track your achievements over time; you can look back at your mistakes and work on improving for the future.
- Collect Compliments: It sounds odd to jot down compliments, but when you start writing about how the world looks at you, your own perspectives about yourself will change. You will notice how great it feels to get appreciated by the people you love and even total strangers!
Improve your skills: Every entrepreneur would reach a point where he or she encounters a difficult problem. Putting the problem down on paper encourages you to look at things from different angles and brainstorm diverse solutions.
Happy journaling!
“ What I feel is a deep satisfaction when I get it right. It’s the feeling when I’ve explained something in writing that I couldn’t explain to myself before I started.”
– Anne Nelson