Journaling. It’s something all great leaders practice. Not the good ones, the great ones. Most good leaders think they can skip it, convinced that they don’t have the time or that their energy would be better spent elsewhere. That’s false – learn why journaling is a leadership gamechanger below.
- You need to see your thoughts in order to recognize the lies you tell yourself. Yes, I said lies. We all do it. They can be the stories we think are unique, and when reviewing your journal, you recognize the exact same pattern happens every few weeks or months. Without the journal, you deny it and allow yourself to settle. You get comfortable with the pattern and deny the recurrence and dissatisfaction.
- It’s a safe place to vent. As a leader, you lose the right to your opinion. You don’t get to chime in with your team on griping or complaining. That doesn’t mean you don’t have gripes and complaints any longer, it just means you need somewhere to put them. Drama needs a partner and there’s no safer partner than a blank page. You can look at your purge on paper when you’re through and ask yourself “is what I’ve said going to add clarity or chaos to the situation?” Trust me, you’ll sort that out quickly and reframe it as a great leader. Venting is the ego’s way of avoiding self-reflection. Your journal is all about self-reflection. Self-reflection leads to accountability and that is the ultimate drama diffuser.
- Peaceful states lead to creativity. When you’re able to express yourself, unedited, on paper, your answers are right in front of you. No one wants to stay stuck. We stay stuck when we keep thinking the same thoughts and doing the same things. If you want to do different things, you need to think new thoughts. Your journal can be a conduit for exactly that. Creativity is where you can expand possibilities into opportunities. Think about this: what is a creative idea worth?
Don’t know where to start? Try our 365 Day Digital Journal. We designed it for people who don’t journal to make it easy to get started and stick with it. If you’re committed to being a great leader, journaling is a practice you need to cultivate. Start today and see what happens.