Journal

Solve Life’s Challenges With Your Journal

A journal can serve as a wonderful tool for not only recording your life, but also for helping to find solutions to life’s challenges.

Many people view a journal as the same thing as a diary, but there is a fundamental difference. A diary is used to record external events in your life, but a journal is to record your thoughts, feelings, and ideas. The difference can be profound.

Consider these benefits of keeping a journal:

1.      A journal creates focus. Few of us really take the time to examine our lives. We commonly feel that we either don’t have the time, it won’t be beneficial, or it’s simply too uncomfortable. By regularly making an appointment with yourself to work with your journal, you can create the necessary focus to make positive changes in your life.

2.      A journal forces you to see the truth. We’re all amazing at fooling and distracting ourselves, but when the truth is right before our eyes in black and white, there’s no place to hide.

3.      A journal releases stress. There’s something cathartic about getting your thoughts on paper. Reducing your stress also creates a more effective state of mind for solving challenges.

4.      A journal provides a means of measuring progress and growth. Have you ever seen a friend’s child and noticed how much they’ve grown? You wouldn’t notice the growth if you saw that child every day. Our own personal growth is similar.

·        Small changes aren’t noticed when you’re exposed to them daily. A journal provides a way of looking back and seeing just how far you’ve come.

Use your journal to solve challenges:

1.      Record your thoughts about the challenges you’re facing. Find a quiet place. What is the fundamental issue? How does it make you feel? How would your life improve if you were able to get this challenge fully under control?

2.      Keep a list of possible solutions. Over the course of several days, your mind can provide dozens of possible solutions. Record them for future reference. Avoid being judgmental. Simply record the ideas that pop into your head.

3.      Develop an action plan. Eventually, one idea will stand above the rest. If you find yourself torn between multiple options, do whatever it takes to make a decision. Even flipping a coin is better than remaining indecisive.

·        Start your action plan with small steps that are simple and easy to accomplish. A little momentum can be invaluable.

4.      Record your progress. Record the actions that you took each day to overcome the obstacle in your life. Also record your thoughts and feelings about your progress. If you can make yourself feel good about the process, success is much more likely.

·        Acknowledge improvement, no matter how small.

5.      Look for dissonance. Everyone is self-sabotaging to varying degrees. Record your thoughts and behaviors that are creating resistance to your progress. For example, if you need to lose 25 pounds but you’re eating ice cream every day, that’s a behavior that’s not supporting your goal.

·        Create a list of solutions for dealing with your counterproductive habits.

6.      Make journaling a daily habit. It’s easy to let things slip through the cracks and create even bigger challenges if you don’t write in your journal each day. Take advantage of this easy way to keep your life moving forward in a way that pleases you.

A journal can be an effective way to create positive change in your life. Even if you’re skeptical, give journaling a try for a few months and measure the improvement in your life. With regular effort, you’re certain to reap many positive rewards.

Find Your Joy at Work

Feeling Blue at Work? Find Joy in Your Job With These Techniques

 

Despite what anyone tells you, it's rare to love a job! Your work can come with its own challenges, even though it helps to sustain you throughout life. And sometimes those challenges seem to pull the joy out of you. But you can change all that!

 

You can get more joy out of your job and return to having a positive career. By making a conscious effort, you'll soon start to view your job differently.

 

Try these strategies to find more joy at work:

 

1.      Treat yourself for achieving goals. You probably find yourself dragging through day to day tasks. As they come up, you groan and unwillingly start to tackle them. But how different would it be if you start to treat yourself for completing tasks? Much different for sure!

·        As you move through one task at a time, take a few moments of downtime for yourself. That may mean walking away from your desk or playing a few rounds of solitaire. Whatever it is, treat yourself to something you like.

·        Bear in mind that it can become more of a crutch if it's overdone. Be conscious enough to characterize tasks well. Answering a ringing phone isn’t a task!

2.      Choose to be positive. Human beings are the only creatures with the power of choice. If you use that power to encourage positive thinking, your job can seem more bearable.

·        Each morning, express thanks for waking up to a new day. Truly be grateful for that opportunity and recognize it as a blessing. Focus on that blessing throughout your day at work. It's unlikely that you'll take your job for granted.

·        Each unpleasant task at work has some positive element to it. Consider the fact that each task you do gives you more work experience. Later on, you can use that experience to land the job of your dreams!

3.      Focus on success. Just like many other things in life, time is best spent focusing on where you want to go. For everything you do at work, your aim is to complete it, and do it well. Try the approach of focusing on the successful end result instead of the journey.

·        Consider how well your next evaluation is bound to look if you are successful in everything you do. The thought of positive recognition is enough to give you some amount of joy.

·        Forget the fact that it's not your dream job. Make it the job that you knocked out the park. Make it the stepping stone to a job more aligned with your professional desires.

4.      Become a mentor. Sometimes experiencing work blues is worth it when you impart knowledge to someone else. Is there an intern at your office? Or do you know someone else in need of professional guidance? Why not become their mentor?

·        Helping someone else succeed can bring you satisfaction. What you're gaining through daily experience can make a positive change in someone else's life. Knowing that is victory in itself!

It's difficult to find scenarios that always work in your favor. A lot of times, you're left doing the best with what you have. But that isn’t such a bad concept if you make an effort to find the joy in what you do.

 

Make today the day that you find joy in your job!