Winston Churchill did it and so did Theodore Roosevelt, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Andrew Carnegie – they all kept journals. Some carried notebooks with them wherever they went, whilst the likes of Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill (according to their official biographers) did not to sleep unless they spent some time journaling. Not only is journaling a great way of capturing experiences, challenges and opportunities on paper, it also plays an instrumental role in terms of personal development.
The 21st Century continues to present many challenges to people both personally and professionally. Modern life also places many demands on an individual and it is sometimes very easy to overlook some simple and necessary activities, which could potentially make a significant impact on an individual’s personal and professional life. Journaling is a simple yet very effective activity and there are many benefits of journaling on a daily basis.
Journaling need not be a cumbersome, timely and rigid affair, but instead it can be a very fun activity as there are no hard or fast rules about journaling. Any personal development activity which has great elements of fun in them usually tends to be the “stickability” activities lasting longer periods of time. Incidentally, such activities can also become great habits, but they require commitment and desire to get such activities off the ground!
Benefits of Journaling
There are endless benefits to journaling. Journal writing can lead to “light bulb moments” and journals provide an opportunity to “let go” of past events/experiences – something that's very important, especially if the individual wishes to move on in life. Some other advantages of keeping a journal include:
- Working through personal and professional challenges;
- Achieving greater personal and professional awareness;
- Regularly engaging in personal development as a result of greater awareness;
- Achieving greater clarity;
- Empowerment;
- Dealing with inner emotions relating to external events by providing a forum to articulate feelings and emotions on paper;
- Self-expression is enhanced;
- Exercising the "mental muscles;"
- Journaling is instrumental in goals setting and actualising personal and professional dreams
- Achieving greater authenticity in dealing with personal and professional relationships
- Identifying values and beliefs systems in confidence and safe environment
The journaling experience varies fromperson to person and what works for one individual may not necessarily work for another. To reiterate further, there are no journaling guidelines or hard or fast rules, but it helps tremendously if an individual enjoys the self-discovery journey via writing. Journal writing is a very personal process because it will inevitably evoke emotions and experiences which the individual may not feel comfortable sharing with others.
Many people may be put of by writing because they feel they “can’t write” but this should not prevent an individual from writing in a journal. Where an individual feels s/he cannot express him/herself in writing, then the individual is free to explore other options. In this instance, journaling can take many forms writing, such pictorial journaling or mapping, basically whatever works for an individual. However, a majority of people who engage in journaling tend to write.
How to Get the Most Out of Journaling
In order for journaling to be effective, an individual needs to be prepared to:
- Be honest;
- Commit to daily journaling, as journaling is most effective when done consistently and not on an ad hoc basis;
- Make the time for journaling and this can vary from person to person depending on personal and professional schedules;
- Take personal leadership by being prepared to explore challenges, emotions, setbacks and obstacles without fear and work through the process
- Find a personal space in the house or at work to journal – this too may require exploration and experimentation.
- Acknowledge that there may be emotions and feelings which arise as a result of exploration. In the event that an individual may feel overwhelmed by further exploration leading to painful ramifications, then in this instance, it is advisable to approach a professional coach.
Like with many things in life, practice leads to familiarity and for some people journaling takes time. For someone who journals for the first time, then the best piece of advice s/he can be given is just “write, write and write some more” and don’t hold anything back! The idea behind this is to get the individual to engage in writing and enjoy personal development.
Once the individual feels s/he is comfortable with the journaling process then the following questions can serve as a constructive reminder for greater levels of personal and professional growth:
- What did/didn't work today on a personal and professional level?
- What lessons were learned?
- How can those lessons be applied personally and professionally, moving forward?
- What else is possible?
Journaling need not be the preserve of geniuses and the learned, because the beauty of journaling is its accessibility to people from all walks of life, in all corners of the world. Through journaling, an individual can expect to enjoy greater self-discovery, and with greater awareness comes the opportunity develop further.
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Resources:
- Rainer, Tristin. The New Diary. Tarcher July 1st, 2004.
Pervin Shaikh - We all have the necessary inner tools in our tool box to make a huge impact on our personal and professional lives.
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