Do you keep a journal?
I am a big believer that keeping one can help you get more done.
Today, let’s look at 10 things you should be writing in your journal to be more productive.
Write Your Way to Productivity
Writing things down in a journal has a magical way of translating your invisible thoughts into tangible ideas.
(If you don’t have a journal, I recommend Day One for Mac or Day One for iOS. Or if you prefer paper, definitely get yourself a Moleskine notebook.)
“Writing in your journal can be a productive exercise to clear your mind, clarify your goals, and reflect on your progress.”
I previously wrote about why a journal can make you more productive.
But, what do you write in your journal?
Here are Ten Things to Write in Your Productivity Journal:
- Your Big Ideas – Ideas are fleeting. Make sure you capture those big ideas that are floating around in your head. Curate them in your journal and you might just develop your next big project.
- Your Successes – How often do you celebrate your progress? Document your successes, no matter how small, in your journal. Be your own biggest fan.
- Things You Need to Get Out of Your Head – Writing allows you to clear your mind. Write down those things that are buzzing around in your head, so that you can stop worrying about remembering them.
- Things You Wouldn’t Say – Abraham Lincoln famously wrote letters that he never intended to send of feelings he wanted to internally express. Use your journal a cleansing experience to express those things that you cannot or should not say in daily life.
- You Inner Narrative – Your mind has its own thoughts. Writing down that narrative can help you draw out meaning and wisdom that you might not even realize you have. Let your mind do the talking and make sure you listen to what it says.
- Your Goals – Goals are important. Even more so, is writing them down. Make them clear. Give them deadlines. Goals are what turn dreams into reality.
- Ways You Can Improve – Your journal is one of the best places to reflect on your actions and performance. What did you do that you could have handled better? What will you do differently next time?
- Your Memories – Life moves pretty fast. Use your journal to capture those memories that you don’t want to pass you by. Your journal may be your own auto-biography for yourself or your loved ones.
- Your Feelings – Many of us have difficulty expressing our true feelings. Writing them down is the first step in being able to verbalize them to those that need to hear them from you.
- Your Dreams – Write down your hopes and dreams… just make you eventually turn them into goals. (See #6)
Your Journal of Productivity
Keeping a journal is a great way to explore your inner thoughts.
As well, it is a great way to take your dreams and bring them closer to reality.
Write in your journal regularly to document your progress.
Or if you don’t have one, start today to begin writing your way to better productivity.
Question: What do you write in your journal to make yourself more productive?
I totally believe in the big ideas point. I always keep my journal next to my bed, because my biggest ideas always seem to come to me when I am between being awake and asleep. If I don’t write it down immediately I forget part of it and never seem to remember all the details. Solid post and good advice.
I love #5. Helps keep me on task everyday, monitoring what my mindset is focused on each day, and then making slight corrections.
I have journaled since age 15, and now, at age 35, I blog 🙂 however, I do keep a book with ideas that come to me at random times, and then I later look back and remember that I wrote it down. Without that book, my ideas would just be fleeting thoughts in the shower 😉
Impressive. That is some dedicated journaling. 🙂
Craig,
You have a powerhouse list here that can truly inspire and motivate folks to keep a journal, especially with the specified reason of being more productive. Several of your ideas truly resonate with me: Successes, or what I like to call What You DID Do Moments; Things you wouldn’t say: that’s a great way to express yourself without hurting another’s feelings. I also like Ways you can improve since we’re always looking for positive change; and that helps make it more do-able.
I have chosen your post, 10 Things you Should Write In Your Productivity Journal, for the #JournalChat Pick of the Day on 5/13/13 for all things journaling on Twitter; a link will be posted on the social networks, on my blog and website Refresh
with Dawn Herring, and in my weekly Refresh Journal: http://tinyurl.com/cqdtpca.
#JournalChat Live is every Thursday, 5 EST/2 PST, for all things journaling on Twitter; our topic
this week is Your Journaling: Keep It Brief!
I appreciate this list; thanks for sharing!
Be refreshed,
Dawn Herring
Your Refreshment Specialist
Host of #JournalChat Live and Links Edition on Twitter
Author of The Birthday Wall: Create a Collage to Celebrate Your Child
Hi Craig,
I do write a gratitude journal every day. I used do an EOD (End Of Day) report but haven’t been very consistant with it & gave up. I find that gratutude journal help me to be positive and attract more good things.
Your post encourages me to go beyond the gratitude journal and write about goals and dreams as well.
Will certainly try this.
Damayanthi
If you write about your goals enough… you can’t help but take action. 🙂
Craig, thanks for the great suggestions. I love Damayanthi’s gratitude journal suggestion (as written below), as well as the End of Day Report. Levi Strauss used to write his successes in a journal so that he could come back to them in the midst of his failures. And just getting in touch with my own thoughts and feelings is a great reason to journal.
What do I write? Three things for which I am grateful and one positive experience from the last 24 hours. Keeps my head up and my eyes bright.
I have 4 topics for my weekly journal. Goals, What worked, What didnt work and AHA moments. For what worked and what didnt work I use numbers to be as specific as possible. Also, just like Steve said, and Levi Strauss did, I write down my successes so that I dont lose motivation..
At the end of each day I try and stick to a simple routine which is to write down what I achieved today, what went well, what didn’t go well and what made me laugh. I use Evernote to note down all this stuff, so it’s easy and great fun to look back over it as it usually puts things in perspective.
I always think that if something didn’t make me laugh then it must of been a really tough day!
Is it like a diary? Pls answer my question….
thank you that really helped i was really wanted to write my things down in my jornal and i didnt know what to write
I think it is great opportunity to take a break from all electronic devices and relax better. Why to wait for new year if we want to change something . That is completely correct .
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