Looking to get into business journaling? Ideas, productivity, management and planning are the lifeblood of any business. Many entrepreneurs and business owners keep a journal to organize their thoughts, ideas, and plans for future projects.
In addition to that, you will also find that writing in your journal is an excellent opportunity for self-reflection, which can help you with identifying any potential problem areas, reviewing previous projects to determine what worked well and what didn’t or even jotting down notes for your next team meeting.
In today’s post, we’ll be highlighting some of the benefits of business journaling and laying it out in a way where you can get started on implementing this in your company.
Benefits of journaling for business
Journaling isn’t just for personal use anymore. It is now being used by many businesses as a way to keep track of their ideas and goals, which in turn helps them become more productive at work.
8 main benefits include:
- Reduced stress and anxiety
- More clarity and focus (removes brain fog)
- Increased creativity
- Increased ability to focus on the tasks at hand
- Better response to change
- Improved communication amongst your team, clients and partners
- Learn more about yourself, which will help you in your business endeavors.
- Become more self aware, which will help you become a better leader.
Journaling for your business has it’s personal benefits as well, which is pretty much carried over from above which are:
- Improvement of your relationships with those around you by being less stressed and anxious.
- Have reduced anxiety and stress that may have been affecting the quality of your life outside of work.
Journaling allows you to capture fleeting thoughts with pen and paper that might have otherwise been lost forever.
It’s like taking your mind off auto-pilot and grabbing ahold of those ideas before they fly out too fast to catch – kind of like an idea net.
How to setup your journal for business success?
Some people like to write in their journal every day and some just sporadically. Some people might even prefer writing quick bullet points or numbers, while others may want a more free-form style.
Whatever way you decide, there is no right or wrong method to this.
Here are 4 things you can take into consideration when setting up your own successful business journaling practice:
– Your Personal Style (format) – Will you be writing? Recording your voice?
– Your Routine – Will you journal everyday? Once a week? Sporadically? What time? Mornings, evenings?
– Sharing with Others/Community Support Network – Will you be sharing this with others and making it a team effort?
– Recording Milestones Along the Way – Will you track your wins along the way? Losses? What worked, what didn’t?
In case you’re looking for a little inspiration to get you started, here are some ways in which people have found success with journaling:
– The “getting unstuck” method
In this method, you start with a writing prompt that asks for three good things and three bad things.
You also include the date, and then you write about what happened that day. This can be really helpful in getting started with putting your thoughts out on paper.
– Goal setting & planning ahead for future tasks
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If you’re trying to set a goal but feel like it’s just out of reach, go ahead and get all the steps down on paper.
The goal is to write down all the steps you need to do in order to reach that goal. This can be really helpful if you’re someone who likes a more concrete plan, and has difficulty visualizing things on their own.
– Find a free time slot in your day to journal
It should be the same every day. Set a timer for 15 minutes or however much time you have to dedicate to this and don’t stop writing until it goes off.
This can help you get in the groove of things, so that when journaling becomes part of your routine, you won’t be staring at a blank page any more!
– Get comfortable and start writing down what you accomplished that day.
Write about anything that has happened or is on your mind. Don’t worry if it feels like there’s nothing else left to say – just keep going until your timer has gone off.
This helps capture thoughts as they happen so you don’t forget them later on when you’re working hard towards your goals.
Don’t worry if you have to stop in the middle of an entry if something suddenly comes up.
Just get back into it later when you can find time again. This is all about capturing thoughts and ideas as they happen; not being perfect or writing perfectly on schedule.
Business Journaling Tips For Getting Off To A Fast Start
I’m sure there’s still many questions going through your head about the specifics of what the journal would entail at this point, right?
Here are some of the most common questions:
- How many times should I journal?
As I mentioned above, it’s important to find a consistent amount of time slots each day where space is available to allow you to write our thoughts down as they come up without distractions from work or life happening around us.
The number of times doesn’t really matter as long as you were able to get your thoughts, goals, issues, ambitions all out on paper (or audio) so they’re out of your head.
- What should I be writing about?
The best way to make sure that your journal is successful as possible is to be open and honest with yourself.
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This might mean talking about failed projects, partnerships, campaigns, and/or experiments, but you can also celebrate your successes.
So don’t feel like you can only fit one type of thought into your journal in order for it to work.
Keep in mind that there are no right ways for this process – just find what works best for you!
- Do I have to journal every day?
Honest answer: it depends.
However, if you’re new, it may be best with starting out doing it on a daily basis. The not only does this help you form a great habit, but you can also learn a ton about the inner workings of your own business just by reflecting back on things you wrote.
- What topics should I cover on my list?
This can be a lot of things. To give you a few topics, you can have sections with topics such as:
- Product Ideas
- Revenue goals
- Next meeting points
- Current bottlenecks
- Pains and frustrations
Anything that needs to be addressed, or whatever is on your mind in the moment for your business can go in your journal.
The benefit of having a list of topics to cover is that it keeps you on track of the tasks at hand, and prevents you from forgetting what you wanted to write about on any given day.
Best bullet journals for business owners
When it comes to best journals for business owners, simplicity is best for these types of journals.
It’s best to keep it structured and as organized as possible, while still allowing you the freedom to freely write your thoughts down that come up in-between those moments of other work or meetings.
That means a simple layout with sections for the things we discussed above which includes:
Upcoming Projects/Meeting Points
Current Issues at Hand (i.e., Pain points)
Daily Accomplishments/Thoughts on what went well for the day, etc.
So if you’ve decided to get started on your business journaling journey, here are the 3 best journals we think would be great to get started with.
Make a list of the 5 best bullet journals for businesses that are on amazon.
Established businessman and Shark Tank star Daymond John uses The Self Journal to optimize his time, prioritize his workload, make every day count by driving positive change and success in all aspects of his life while overcoming limitations.
2. Brendon Burchard’s High Performance Journal
This combination planner-and-journal helps readers strategize their lives and increase their performance via writing prompts, self-assessments, and calendars–all backed by science and the author’s 20 years coaching the highest performers in business, athletics, entertainment, and beyond.
This popular journal comes with monthly, weekly and daily sections will help you to organize and prioritize your tasks or usual to-do lists. You can also schedule your meetings with ease, stay motivated during the week. There are also spots for any brainstorming, project planning, and business planning as well.
Is Starting A Journal For Your Business Right For You?
Journaling is a powerful tool that can help you achieve more results faster. It’s all about setting up your business for success by maximizing the power of reflection and planning to make better decisions in the future.
If you’re a business owner or manager who is looking for an effective way to grow your company, then starting a journal could be very beneficial.
Having a way to stay organized, and having an effective tracking and planning system can help you get more done in less time.
We created this blog post to offer the basics of what it takes to create a successful business journal. Now it’s up to you!
If you found this post helpful, let us know in the comments, we want to hear from you! Also check out our top morning journaling prompts for your personal journal.
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