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When you’ve made that decision to move on from a career you no longer love, it can be really exciting and freeing. You have so many thoughts, ideas and dreams about potential new career paths, but you also have so much else in your head. You’ll also have many questions, worries, thoughts, beliefs and plus that you still have your day job to think about and all the other life baggage to juggle. Everything just swirls round and round and round. Your brain can feel so full it’s about to explode and you just can’t get things clear.
So how can you work through all those thoughts, feelings and emotions? In this episode, I’m talking about doing just that and being your own career coach, through journalling!
WHAT IS JOURNALLING ANYWAY?
Journalling is simply putting pen to paper and expressing your ideas, emotions and thoughts through writing. The difference between writing a diary and journalling is that in a diary you record things as they happen. Diaries have dated days and you write about what you are doing that particular day. Think Bridget Jones talking about an embarrassing talk she gave one day or exactly how much she weighs. You may put down some other thoughts but it’s primarily about the present and what has just happened.
Journalling on the other hand is more fluid. You can use any notebook and just write. You can write about the present but also the past and the future and basically anything that is going through your head, there are no rules.
It isn’t some modern day fad, its being going on for hundreds of years, with historic figures such as Leonardo De Vinci, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Benjamin Franklin, Winston Churchill to name a few, and modern day fans like Barack Obama, who journalled throughout his presidency, Ariana Huffington, Richard Branson, Warren Buffet, Lady Gaga, Oprah Winfrey, the list goes on and on.
WHY SHOULD YOU TRY IT?
It’s not just what famous people say, the benefits of journaling have far reaching effects that have been supported by research
It Improves Your Health
Yes journalling actually has a positive effect on your physical, psychological and emotional health. In her article The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management, Elizabeth Scott, PhD talks about how the health benefits of journalling have been scientifically proven and cites research that journalling decreases the symptoms of things like asthma, arthritis, and other health conditions, improves cognitive functioning (so things like memory, speech, and the ability to learn new information.), can strengthen immune system response and can counteract many of the negative effects of stress.
It Sparks Your Creativity
Leonardo De Vinci used his journal to write down and sketch ideas for his inventions and Lady Gaga uses hers to jot down lyrics as they come to her. Many people in creative professions use journalling as a way through writers or creative blocks. But it’s just as good for people in other careers to help ideas and creative thinking flow.
Play with the things you enjoy, run wild with them. Sketch or draw diagrams if that helps, this is your space and you can be free to be as crazy as you want. The crazier the better actually . You may just come across something you hadn’t thought of, or maybe something you’ve not let yourself believe could be that thing that changes everything.
Achieve Your Goals
Journalling will help you in your career move from corporate because writing about your goals regularly actually helps you achieve them. More detailed goals provide a psychological blueprint, and increase the likelihood of achieving them. So if you write about your goals in detail in your journal and then regularly write about how far you are in achieving them, your subconscious brain puts way more importance on that goal in your life and will make it a priority, not letting you forget about it.
Organise Your Thoughts
A great benefit of journalling is that it helps you to organise your thoughts and get your head clear, so you can decide what's important and what you want and need to spend more time on. Use your journal to explore different ideas for your new career path. Then, when you have an idea, run with it, think about how your life would be if you decided to take that path, the changes you would make, how it would affect your life, how you would feel and what it would mean for others in your life. You can be really honest with yourself and what you REALLY want in life. Your journal is a safe space where you can ‘live out’ your potential new life on paper without taking any risks or changing anything yet. You can really think it through before sharing it with others and putting into action.
HOW TO GET STARTED
Getting started with journalling is super easy. First up you need to get a notebook. It doesn’t have to be a special journal, although there are loads out on the market that can help you with different styles of journalling. Personally I like just a simple lined notebook but have a fun cover with maybe some words for encouragement or a positive statement or just something colourful or glittery. Go for whatever makes it a bit special for you, after all it's going to hold your thoughts, ideas and plans.
Then make sure to have a nice pen. Nothing fancy (unless you really want to splash out) but one that has a nice feel and flows really well. Also, remember to have a few spares as you don’t want to run out of ink in the middle of a powerful idea or thought.
When you’ve decided how you will journal, next you need to find a place where you will write. This is important as you don't want to be uncomfortable or in the way of anyone else. Find a quiet corner, it could be on a sofa, your bed, a garden seat if it's the summer, or sitting in your car if that’s the only place you can get some peace! You could go to a coffee shop or library if you prefer but just make sure you won’t be interrupted as having a place where thoughts will flow freely is really important.
Having a routine around your journalling is really helpful. Yes, you could just pick up your journal whenever you want, but you’re far more likely to keep up the practice if you have a regular time, place and habits around it. So decide what time’s best for you; morning or evening. You’ll know whether you’re a morning or evening person, so choose the time that you prefer, when your mind is at its most alert and you feel the least tired and more energised. It could be 5 in the morning while you watch the sunrise or past midnight under the light of the moon. You don’t want to be tired or feeling forced into it in any way.
If you find getting your thoughts down on paper is really helping you don’t have to be restricted to a certain time. Many journallers will dip into it throughout the day, whenever they need to get their ideas and thoughts straight. So you can use journalling as a handy therapist or creative muse throughout the day!
CHOOSE YOUR STYLE
I’m sharing with you the journalling styles I believe get the best results in terms of getting clear on what you want next in your career and life.
First up is freestyle, which as you probably guessed is literally putting pen to paper and writing whatever is in your head at the time. You can write about how you are feeling, what you have coming up, what goals you have, what you are doing that day, week , month or year. Your writing can just flow with your mind. You do need to set a timer for this or you could be writing for hours!
The idea is not to edit or criticise yourself, just to write whatever is in your mind, This is great when you want to get whatever is in your head onto a page, it doesn't even have to make much sense, but it will allow you to clear your mind and be able to focus on what's most important.
Another style is calendar or reflection - this is probably the closest to the traditional diary in that you reflect on a day or week, but you don’t have set dates to write on and you can add more colour around your activities, like how you felt about them or any other related thoughts. The best way to do this type of journalling is to reflect back on events, describe the event in detail then interpret what happened, how you feel about it and any other thoughts you have. Finish up with anything you’ve learnt from your reflections, that can be applied to the future.
You can use this type of journalling to really reflect back on your job, career and life so far. So what have you enjoyed, what do you want to take forward, what do you want rid of and what are you proud of. You can think about specific examples of when you were angry or frustrated in your job and make sure whatever made you feel that way is not going to be part of your future. Reflection journaling can be intense but can really help you work through what you do and don’t want in your future.
Guided or question based journalling is where you can direct your thoughts more to a specific topic. If you find it difficult just writing, then answering questions can really help get your started. They can be questions about what you’re doing that day, or how you should deal with a particular situation like a conversation you need to have or a task you need to tackle. In relation to changing your career, this type of journalling is perfect for getting clear on what you want to do next.
So ask yourself things like:
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What do I love about my life
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What do I want to change or leave behind
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What do I want from life, what's most important to me.
You can go through topics like career, finance and things, health, relationships and ask yourself the questions.
The final journalling method I want to share is Creative journalling. Creative journalling is exactly what it sounds like, it's when you journal to brainstorm ideas, solve problems and practice your creativity. This is not really the place to write down your emotions or feelings about something, although don’t feel bad if they creep in.
For many people being creative does not come easily, it takes practice, so you can use this journalling style as a playground for your creativity. This is the type of style where you can use sketches, images, charts and design to help stimulate ideas. You can throw down random ideas that do not connect with each other or link ideas in some way. You can discover and set free your creative side which in turn helps you to understand whats most important to you.
Basically, you can journal however you want, you can use one style or a mix of styles in the same journal, maybe trying different styles on different days, whatever works for you.
The Bottom line is..
Giving journalling a try is a no brainer! There’s very little in life that has so many benefits, costs very little and does not require lots of time and energy. It can even be fun and something you look forward to in your day. So do yourself a favour, and get writing ….and get your career and life change plans firmly on track!
Remember, you deserve to live your passion, so go for it, this is your time!
Links To Resources Mentioned In This Episode
Is It Better To Write By Hand or Computer - Psychology Today
The Benefits of Journaling for Stress Management - Very Well Mind
Benefits Of Journalling - Huff Post
6 Intriguing And Effective Journaling Methods To Help You Make It A Habit - Medium.com
The Artist's Way - Book by Julie Cameron
Otter - Audio Transcription
Descript - Audio Transcription
‘Writing to Heal’ - Dr. James Pennebaker
