[November 17, 2018] Only persistent, committed, and intelligent people can become leaders. Without possessing these qualities, you won’t make it to the top.
Leaders are inspirational, creative, outstanding people. They not only help themselves but help the others as well. They create distinct visions, analyze new perspectives, and inspire their followers. Leadership is not about ruling over people – it is about working for the people.
To be a better leader, you must continue to self-improve. A powerful means of enhancing your leadership qualities is keeping a journal – let me explain to you why.
Achieve Your Goals
One of the best reasons to keep a leadership journal is setting goals and mapping out plans. Keeping a journal forces you to write down your intentions and set deadlines for your commitments. When you write down your goals, you plant the seeds of your evolution. Now you have an objective in mind and a deadline to respect, so you must keep yourself accountable and follow the game plan.
Track Your Progress
You will keep an updated journal, so your evolution will be easily noticeable. “Have I achieved my goal for November 17th? I see that I have not. Why?” This is a natural conversation to have with yourself while keeping track of your progress. You will not only keep yourself accountable, but you’ll also be able to stay on top of your work.
Vent!
Another great reason to keep a leadership journal is venting! You can let it all out without having to scream at your colleagues, boss, friends, or partner.
Writing about emotions may easy stress and trauma, according to Dr. Robb-Nicholson, leading researcher at Harvard Health. He believes that writing can be regarded an intellectual process that could help anyone break out of his or her shell and exit the mental cycle of endless thoughts and emotions.
Increase Your Creativity
Choose a special day once a week to let your thoughts flow endlessly on paper. Write down everything that goes through your mind. Be creative, be inspired, let everything go, and focus solely on writing. It’s been proven that writing down random, creative concepts and beliefs will train your brain to have an incredibly good flow of ideas.
Boost Your Focus
“Writing diverts our attention from trivial matters,” shares psychologist Jenny Robertson, also a part-time writer for EssayOnTime. “When we focus on this activity, our mind makes a significant effort to remain attentive. Thus, being 100% concentrated on this task could be seen as a meditation practice. It can calm us down in a second,” continues Robertson.
Discover Yourself
When writing down our feelings and emotions, we start understanding ourselves. That’s because we look at things from a different perspective. We might also figure out situations we were not able to solve before, since our horizons have expanded, and our perception angle has changed.
Improve Your Self-Confidence
Last but not least, keeping a journal augments our self-confidence – when we penetrate the outer surface and start understanding our emotions, we become aware of our strengths and weaknesses. By doing so, we feel more grounded and connected to our higher selves and become increasingly confident.
Wrapping Up
Stay creative, focus on the best leadership practices, and strive for excellence. Be motivating and inspiring! Keep a leadership journal to boost your focus and productivity, improve your self-confidence, discover your strengths and weaknesses, and achieve your desired goals. Good luck!
I like your article Serena. Thank you.
Thank you very much, Janna!
I enjoyed reading your article and the valuable info. Thanks Serena. Oh, went to your Twitter site; very nice.
Years ago my dad suggested I keep a journal at work and home. Both have been extremely helpful. The one I keep at home is not a diary like a little girl would keep but a listing of all our family activities and significant events, when, where, and what we thought of it. Now, this journal is becoming a family keepsake. Our grandkids will enjoy it when they get older.
Yes, my dad recommended I do the same. Thanks Fred for bringing back that good memory.
Enjoyed your valuable blog post today. Thanks for writing a really good and worthy article for us “weekenders” to read. I always had a journal at work; called it a “log”. This works. Names are unimportant anyway, it’s what you keep in it that matters.
Thank you for your kind words.
You are absolutely right, Nick! Our thoughts and observations are crucial.
I’m not so sure I agree with all your reasons for keeping a ‘journal’ but keeping one is definitely a fantastic idea. Keep up the good works, Serena.
One of the things I learned a long time ago was that keeping track of what you did in the past will pay off one day. About 10 years ago I began keeping a “journal”. It was not detailed but it listed who I spoke with and on what day and time. It also had what we discussed. Recently I had to give testimony in a lawsuit that I spoke with that person. The journal was a way of documenting it. Good idea.
Good point Wilson.
Thank you for sharing it, Wilson.
I’ll be a new Team Leader at work starting next week. I’m a store clerk where I move items out onto the display floor for buyers to see and purchase.
Another worthwhile article on the basics of leadership. I really like your idea of keeping a journal. Others have pointed out also the advantages and they appear to have some value. I’ll start keeping one of them too. Oh, great Twitter page.
Thank you very much, Tony.
I hope you will! 🙂
I like your article. Where can I find more? ?
Hey Serena, I went to your Twitter page. I like it and will be a “follower” of yours soon. Great job.
Great idea, thanks. More people should consider it. I know that in our church youth group we encourage our teenagers to do exactly that. We don’t call it a diary for obvious reasons (associated with “girls”) but journal may also be a little to sissy also. We call it a journal anyway. Thanks for your great blog post today.
The concept of keeping a journal is not new but also rarely done (at least that is my experience). I kept a small bound book with ideas, drawings, concepts, phone numbers, what I did that day, and quotes that I liked. These books, now numbering over 25, that I made during my career as a sales person are great reading. It gives insight into what I was thinking at the time and how my thinking has changed for the better.
I am so happy to hear about your positive experience with it!
That’s impressive how much we can learn from ourselves if we are observant.
Excellent article Serena. Thanks for a very relevant article on leadership.