Do you journal at work?
When most people talk about journaling they do it in the context of their personal lives. You don't often hear people talk about journaling when it comes to work. But I've found that work journalling can actually make you a more productive, happier employee.
So much of our conversations around productivity and work completely ignore any kind of emotion or feelings. As if when we check into work we check out any kind of humanity we have.
But instead of ignoring our humanity, work journalling brings us back into the present moment. I've found it increases my productivity in ways making yet another list just can't. Here's How It Works:
Writing About What I'm Doing. I employ a method called Interstitial Journalling throughout the day. Whenever I finish a task I write what I've done and what I'm planning to do next. This helps to transition between different tasks.
Writing To Get Unstuck. If I catch myself getting distracted or procrastinating I go to my work journal and start writing about how I'm feeling. I ask myself what's the roadblock here? Usually after a minute or so I've discovered what's wrong and can get going again.
Writing To Reflect. I like to spend the last 10 minutes of my day reflecting on what happened. What went well. What went not so well. This practice has by far helped me to improve how I work, identify better ways to do things and also helps me to shut down at the end of the day.
In the end, my work journal makes me feel more like an explorer charting territory, rather than a robot ticking things off a list.
