How journaling has helped my personal & professional growth.
Originally published 7/8/20.
My introduction to journaling.
I have been journaling on a daily basis for a little over one year and three months and I wanted to share a little bit about how I think it’s benefitted me.
First, I have to rewind the clock about three and a half years, before anything related to improvement of self was on my radar. After wrestling with addiction and mental illness for years, I was in a really low place but finally got help in March of 2017. Through the help of the support network I found through twelve-step programs, I’ve been able to stay sober and continue working on myself – from both a recovery and mental health standpoint – each and every day since.
My recovery journey continues to take me to amazing places I never thought possible, including the opportunity to pursue my MBA (which I recently completed), and continue working toward achieving my professional aspirations. A large part of what keeps me going and motivated today is the desire to maintain the amazing sense of fulfillment and joy I have in my life today. Because of that, I’m pretty much open to trying anything new in the world of self-development and self-help. One of those things has been journaling, and the habit has continued to stick so far.
My work in the twelve steps of recovery from addiction has taught me the importance of taking of a moral inventory each day. So part of my nightly routine before I began journaling was asking myself questions such as:
How did I treat the people I interacted with today?
Do I owe anyone an apology for any of my actions?
What went well today?
What am I grateful for today?
Am I moving further away from or closer to taking a drink or a drug?
My journaling process consists of four parts.
Being familiar with the idea of a nightly examination, its importance was reiterated to me in the development of myself as a leader throughout my MBA experience. I decided to take the next step and start writing down a self-examination each night. This is how I journal, and every night my journal consists of the following questions:
What went well today? What am I grateful for? Where did I excel?
What could I have done better today?
Evaluation of how I did on a current leadership skill (or skills) I’m working on. Right now it’s being more strategic about using self-deprecating humor and being a more concise communicator.
Did I do my daily affirmations in the mirror today? Did I pray today? Affirmations, prayer, and meditation are all critical components of my daily self-development routine.
I’ve noticed journaling’s many benefits.
One of the beautiful things about journaling in this way for me has been the ability to stay present. I write down the day’s highlights and then move on from them. It prevents me from getting over-confident about accomplishments while also preventing me from beating myself up over mistakes. I’ll even sometimes write in my journal “moving on!” after writing about a mistake I made. This doesn’t mean I never think about it again, but the psychological exercise of writing something down as a way to leave the past where it is has been extremely beneficial.
Another major benefit I’ve noticed is an increased sense of optimism. There is nothing better than a day of journaling where I’m able to write a ton after question 1 and I struggle coming up with much for question 2. I’m looking for question 1 responses throughout my day!
I like the feeling of progress that has come in the short time I’ve been journaling on a daily basis. I have two notebooks filled with good deeds and challenges overcome, as well as a list of things I’m working on. Flipping through my journal is a fun way to make my life feel more organized and it gives me a sense of accomplishment.
My advice: just start journaling!
There are a million different ways to journal, and to me it seems like it’s just a matter of finding what works for you. You can always adjust your process, keeping things that work and throwing out things that don’t. My nightly process has already evolved in subtle but noticeable ways.
I’m looking forward to having stacks of notebooks that I can flip through years from now which will in many ways represent the evolution of me!