It is very common to hear about the increasingly popular method of keeping a journal. Be it with emotions, feelings, daily affairs or even diet. Experts talking about the salutary effect of pouring thoughts into paper, how it stimulates our creativity and productivity. And you’ve probably started to wonder, how it even relates to the everyday life, where you have so many tasks that it’s hard to keep up, let alone find time for oneself? Contrary to common belief, it does relate.

Keep a journal to increase your productivity – table of contents:

  1. Keeping a diary – another task or an invaluable aid?
  2. A moment of reflection
  3. Be the master of your own destiny
  4. Set yourself goals
  5. Be in touch with yourself
  6. How to keep a journal?
  7. Open up to yourself

Keeping a diary – another task or an invaluable aid?

It might seem that adding more work to your day when you are already busy is useless. Nothing more mistaken! As it turns out, keeping a regular diary increases the efficiency of our activities and helps us to perform our daily duties.

Regularly writing down what’s going on in our lives is, above all, a good way to understand our emotions. It is also a safe method to get rid of nagging thoughts or feelings. What’s more, keeping a diary helps to develop a habit – by doing this we practice self-discipline, which is essential when we have a lot of responsibilities. What positive effects does keeping a journal have on productivity? Let’s find out!

A moment of reflection

Answer yourself honestly – do you often think about how your day was, what happened? What impact did it have on you? By taking inventory of what was happening to you, you can take a broader angle to observe your behavior or reactions. This insight proves valuable for improving communicative skills. It also enhances learning about yourself and what to change to do better in the future.

Be the master of your own destiny

There are plenty of studies that support the health benefits of keeping a journal. It brings the needed mental clarity, soothes and heals you. It can help you get rid of the feelings of absent-mindedness or nagging thoughts and help you focus better.

Another important thing that can increase your productivity is being able to separate between the less and more important things. By seeing what is consuming your attention, you are able to identify the problem and understand your actions better.

By keeping a regular journal, you exercise your mind and take matters into your own hands – you can decide what you devote your attention to.

Set yourself goals

Success takes time and action. Apart from few exceptions, it follows a planned path that should have as a guide. What’s the best way to create such a plan? For example, by writing it down in your journal. When you see it, you can identify what you need to do and when or how to do it. By establishing the details, you will be ready for any eventuality. Also, writing down your goals will increase your motivation to achieve them.

Be in touch with yourself

Think how often you ask yourself why you did something this way or another? What makes you feel this or that way about it? It’s definitely good to observe one’s thoughts and feelings, see where they come from.

It is easy to lose yourself in a moment or two but it is essential to watch and learn from your world and the people around you. Thoughts and emotions that you write down on paper raise awareness of oneself and one’s actions. It also translates into better communication with others and a better understanding of the people around you. You may also control your emotions more easily if you recognize them. In addition, internal communication also positively affects the external one.

how to keep a journal

How to keep a journal?

There are a few simple rules for keeping a journal that will help you increase your productivity. You have to put some effort into it, but it is little compared to the effects it can have.

  1. Write by hand
  2. There is a saying Panta Rhei in Greek, everything flows. Digitalization, Internet access in almost every place in the world. Thousands of tempting colorful applications for the phone, right at your fingertips. Here, however, we opt for the classic use of handwriting. This enables you to focus better and be more creative, not distracting you from notifications on mobile devices.

  3. Get into the habit
  4. Your productivity won’t increase from writing little occasionally. You need to be consistent in your writing and set yourself a specific time, days or times when you write. This can be difficult at first, especially with a lot of responsibilities that already take up a lot of your time. However, once you get into the habit, you won’t feel that burden as it becomes your passion.

  5. Find the right time and place
  6. Having such, one might say, intimate correspondence with oneself requires the right timing and surroundings. Ideally, you should find a quiet place where you can keep calm and focus on what you want to put down on paper.

  7. You don’t only live through happy moments
  8. A journal should reflect your life – it’s meant to be a diary and something to help you grow. If something bad or unpleasant happens, write about it. Taking into account both the good and bad sides will enable to objectively look at what is happening around you.

  9. Keep your goals in mind
  10. By regularly writing down your reflections, you will be able to more easily monitor your progress and your path towards the goals you have set for yourself.

    Open up to yourself

    In this era of a frantic rush for the best results or career, it is worthwhile a moment to stop, take a deep breath, look around and relax. A moment of reflection can not only soothe your nerves, but also help you understand your own behavior and, consequently, the actions of others. Keeping a journal regularly, by applying the tips we’ve listed, can develop self-awareness and thus increase productivity. You’ll act rationally and won’t get stressed out over another batch of your daily duties anymore.

    You may also like: 5 Proven methods that will increase your motivation

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    Author: Caroline Becker

    As a Project Manager, Caroline is an expert in finding new methods to design the best workflows and optimize processes. Her organizational skills and ability to work under time pressure make her the best person to turn complicated projects into reality.