Benefits of Journaling for Entrepreneurs
Journaling is particularly helpful for business owners. If you've been in business for a while now, you know how busy our minds are - there's literally always long list of to do's just waiting for us around the corner.
We need to make decisions each and every day and have no way to get our thoughts out to get clarity. Journaling for business is way to success.
But it can be hard to start journaling. Staring at a blank page can be daunting! Journal prompts can be super helpful to get going and start bringing awareness of what's going on.
As a journaler you are in a great company, here are couple of famous journalers:
Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfree, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ariana Huffington, Oscar Wilde, Queen Victoria, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, and many more.
Benefits of Journaling
One of the biggest benefit of journaling is awareness! You can't change what you are not aware of.
By regularly journaling about what's going on, you'll quickly start seeing a trend and pinpoint any issues that arise.
Journaling your feelings can help you tackle stress and avoid ending up with burnout. That is what happened to me - journaling helped me to lower stress and anxiety and avoid complete burnout.
Journaling is also used in therapy so it can be truly powerful way to increase awareness and to reach goals faster and easier.
Journaling for business can help in the following:
Increase Productivity
Journaling helps you gather your thoughts and get better understanding what's truly important right now. When done regularly, you are on top of your to do list and know exactly what to focus on each day.
Creativity and new ideas
You can only keep so many thoughts and ideas fresh in your head and writing them down helps you connect the dots between various ideas. My own notebook is filled with mindmaps of my business, strategy and projects!
Memories of your entrepreneurial journey
Do you remember what was on top of your mind on the second week on the business? I bet now. So many things happen each week that it's hard to keep remembering all the thoughts, decisions, learnings and wins you've had. Journaling helps you keep track record of your wins and learnings - priceless!
How to Journal for Success
This is the easy part!
Grab a pen and paper and you are good to.
Yep, it is that simple to start.
I do recommend journaling the old fashioned way with pen and paper as that allows us to slow down and journal without distractions.
Next best thing is that there no one right way to journal.
I write, I mindmap, I draw, I write lists... what ever works for that particular day and issue I am tackling.
You Best Journal
Your journal is for your eyes only so no need to impress anyone on how your journal looks like.
Leave your perfection to the door when you start journaling. Ignore spelling and grammar mistakes and just let your writing flow.
Business Clarity
Not quite sure what to do next in your business? Journal about it couple of days in a row and start asking yourself questions like:
-> What brought me energy last week?
-> What drained my energy last week?
-> What tasks I absolutely love doing?
-> What tasks I absolutely do not love doing?
By getting understanding what brings and draines your energy and what type of tasks you like vs don't like doing, you'll start getting understanding in what way you should plan your business.
Decision Making
Journal writing can benefit people in many ways, including acting as a catalyst for opening their inner thoughts and determining the right decisions to make in business. Journal writing offers time to objectively think about the pros and cons of a decision that is needed.
Writing in your journal takes issues and competing thoughts out of the vortex of your mind and places them objectively in front of you for consideration. This helps to provide perspective and clarity, which aids the decision-making process.
-> What data could you capture, and how, to do better decisions going forward?
-> What are the foundational values we need to know in order to support great decision-making?
Strategic Thinking
When you write down your thoughts and ideas in your journal, you'll be able to see which has the most merit for further reflection and/or the most potential to lead you to success in the short term.
Use your journal as a place to identify what needs strengthened, modified or started anew to be successful. When you get to a place where you're not sure what to do next, look back at your journal. You'll probably find all the information you need to prepare to take action for positive change.
-> What are your growth goals for this year?
-> What are my sales goals this year?
Wellbeing
In a world full of distractions and obligations, it can feel challenging to find time for yourself. Writing in a journal is a great way to get centered and remember what's important in life.
It offers time and space to reflect upon your joys and worries or whatever else is on your mind. You can use your journal to determine what is missing in your life and how to make the changes necessary to make each day the best it can be.
Wellbeing Prompts
How would you like to be, act, and operate when you’re 90?
If there was a magical genie with the power to fulfill your wishes about your wellbeing as a business owner, what would you ask for?
Time to grab a pen and paper
Now it's your turn to grab a pen and paper and start journaling. Use the prompts mentioned in this blog post or download Business Journal I designed specifically for business owners.
