Black Belt Productivity

Recently, Lifehacker did a “Hive Five” on journaling tools.

It got me to thinking about the use of a journal, and how therapeutic it can be.

There are a couple of ways to use journals that I find to be very beneficial for keeping my mind clear, and help me maintain perspective.

First, I believe that is a great idea to keep a journal for work. The means you keep track of things that happen during the day. This type of journal serves two purposes. It, first, helps us keep track of things that happened in a way that allows us to capture all the details at that moment and not lose any of the emotion that resulted from the event. This becomes useful in our review process as we get to look back at the events that shaped our week at work. We can then intentionally plan to learn from those events and make adjustments to our approach and perspective as we enter the next week. If you work in an office environment, this type of journal may also serve as a tool to…cover one’s backside when necessary. There…I said it.

This type of journaling can also be of use for specific personal activities that we see as a challenge and want to track progress on.

Most people who do this type of journaling use an electronic tool on their computer. It could be a simple word processor or text editor. A note program like Evernote works just as well.

Second, I think it is vital that we to make time to be reflective. This is something we want to do to maintain perspective regarding the “big picture”. Reflective journaling can be especially therapeutic in difficult times. However, I find that doing it consistently is the key to the maximum effect in terms of maintaining mental and spiritual peace.

Personally, I prefer to do this type of writing just before retiring for the evening. At my house, it is late, and all of my other family members are in bed. But I recommend the television being off, and the lights being low, and if you must have music, make it something soothing without vocals…though I prefer silence in those kinds of moments. If done with proper environment and reflection, journaling can also help you rest better afterward.

As you may imagine, I am very partial to pen and paper. I use a fountain pen (always blue ink for me), and a reporter styled lined Moleskine. As I see it, if you are going to do this, you may as well savor it.

So what do you do with the fruits of this reflective time? Personally, I often look back at it in a review in order to relive some moments, or learn from them. The purpose as I see it, is to record not only for posterity, but for ourselves…to reflect…to learn…to improve our approach to life.

Jason Echols GTD