Is journalling your thing?

• Should it be?

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• Do you just not have time?

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• To busy trying to take on the world?

​Did you know journaling can help you achieve your goals?  

Journaling is a great way to empower reflection time within your daily, weekly or monthly routine. There are so many different options to journaling and if you find another way that works for you then that is fantastic! Just make sure you share it with others so they can benefit from your knowledge too!

What’s the point?

In todays’ world we spend so much time focussing on the next action, the next deadline and rushing to achieve the majority of individuals have mislaid their routine in reflecting on the day, week or month without the intention of doing so.
Remember (for some) those days where you left your computer at work, as it was attached to the desk and there was no Facebook, google or meta verse whilst that whole concept makes me feel quite old, the majority of people were able to disconnect because there was no mobile connection. That enabled people to take the time to think about their day, what went well, what didn’t, what could be changed, what we wanted to achieve.

These days the majority of us are constantly connected and because we react to the connect we don’t get that downtime. Therefore for me journaling because a necessity as we proactively plan time to reflect, a way to consider what we are doing and why we are doing it

What are they different ways to journal?

• Have a journal that captures the weeks ahead and what you plan to achieve over a set period and then gives you an opportunity to reflect on what you did achieved and how it felt.
• Journal but only when it suits you - this is for those that like the freedom to decide when they use their reflection time rather than having a specific time or day to reflect, if you do this and find it empowering then that’s fantastic I know for many colleagues it works wonders but for me, if its not on my ‘list’ then I will struggle to action it.
• Jar journaling. I have managed to do this one for a whole year as part of a self finding project - the idea is that you get a jar, large enough to keep all your notes and then either on a set day or as an ‘as and when’ basis write short sentences on note paper and place it in the jar. The idea is to reflect and read through all your notes at the end of the year. When I tried this it was really freeing to see at the end of the year the types of reflections I’d made though some where just too short to make any sense of!
• Free-writing. This is where you don’t think about what you are going to write and you don’t take the pen off the paper you just write whatever comes into your mind, it doesn’t need to make sense, be formatted etc and the contents once finished may not be a reflection on the week but I imagine your mind will feel clearer and reflection will have occurred - whether you know that or not.
• Overwriting. This is similar to free writing in the sense that you just write what comes into your head however with overwriting instead of writing down the page, you continually write over what you have already written. Yes it will ineligible when you are finished and its probably best not to try and read it but its good way

But Why?

Well as mentioned it’s a great way to ensure you reflect whether that is on your emotions, relationships, experiences, skills or all you see, hear and do. After all every day we are having new experiences which shape how we see and understand the world around us. As quoted in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming):
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The map is not the territory

​If you find journaling or reflecting a challenge, keep with it as it can take time to form a new habit, just the same as when you sign up at the gym - if you don’t keep going you lose the pace and slowly find yourself stopping! 

At Be You Consultancy & Coaching we can support you by developing a coaching or mentoring program tailored to your needs, after all its your journey!  

If this is something of interest then please contact us to find out more!