Journaling is a practice that I’m only relatively new to but one that I have been able to quickly see the benefits of. If you’re new to the world of online business then I encourage you to seriously consider adding journaling to your list of daily rituals. This practice has not only allowed me to build a solid foundation for my business through reflection and refinement but it has also given me an outlet for dealing with personal life stuff that creeps up and threatens to disrupt my creative flow. There are many reasons why journaling is good for business and today I want to touch on just a few.
I believe that developing a journaling practice is particularly useful for service-based professionals who come into contact with a variety of different client personalities throughout their work life.
So here’s the case for why journaling is good for business!
1. It helps to refine your purpose and mission.
For many service-based professionals like coaches and teachers, figuring out your true purpose and mission can feel difficult. Especially for those that have decided to build their personal brand for business. I’ve worked with several coaches who have started out believing that they are here to serve a particular type of person and throughout the process of establishing their online brand have realized they want to go in another direction. This has a lot to do with the fact that for many people who decide to serve, they end up feeling the call to serve someone very similar to themselves. Which means that an even greater understanding of yourself and your client is required. I always encourage you to pull out your journal or even just a piece of paper and spend time free-writing and really getting clarity on your page. Journaling is good for business because it encourages you to dive deep into yourself and make the connection between yourself and the work you do.
2. It helps you ground to the present while also visioning for the future.
It’s pretty easy in the day in, day out of business to get caught up in your plans and lose sight of what’s important right now. Journaling is good for business because it forces you to get present with what’s happening in your business right now so that you can start visioning for the future. In this way, journaling provides a 360 degree view of your business and encourages reflection of what’s working in the present. Visioning is also an incredible powerful practice that results from journaling. When you have a clear vision of what you hope to achieve in your business then you can start setting small achievable goals that align with that vision.
3. It helps break through overwhelm and confusion.
Sometimes all you really need to do is just get it out on paper. I’ve had days and even weeks when I went about my business with a total lack of clarity. There was absolutely no method to the madness and eventually I started to feel confused and overwhelmed. In fact, this has happened to me multiple times over the past few years. Can you relate? Journaling is good for business because it forces you to really think and lay things out practically so you can begin to set goals and stay on track towards your vision.
4. It opens the floodgates of inspiration and creative solutions.
I’ve got to say, some of my most inspired ideas have come to me in the moments of journaling (and meditation!). There’s something about the silence and the present moment awareness that just allows totally inspired ideas to flow in. When I journal I tend to naturally move into a creative space just by nature of writing. Journaling is a wonderful way to open yourself up to receive inspiration and creative solutions from God. I highly recommend making it a part of your daily (or weekly) routine so that you can reap the benefits of all that it has to offer!
