Importance of Keeping a Personal Growth Journal
What is a personal growth journal ?
There are many ways to track progress and success for some it's based on dollars earned, for others it may be hours worked or accolades received. Whatever way you track progress it's important to note some tracking methods will give you superficial information while others will give deep insight into the path you have travelled, the obstacles you have overcome, and the challenges that you have surmounted.
The latter type of data collection can be found in a personal growth journal and can go a long way in helping you push to greater levels of success and accomplishment and will allow you to see what has / hasn’t worked.
A journal can be extremely helpful in outlining and reviewing your own path of personal development which is key to success. Essentially a personal growth journal is one of the best ways to track your progress and serve as motivation for you to accomplish your goals.
It is a clear detailed record of the steps you have taken and how you've changed over time to attain your personal and professional success. with that in mind here are three powerful reasons to keep and use a personal growth journal.
Reason one: It helps in keeping yourself accountable
One of the best methods to keep yourself accountable is writing things down. This can make things more real and concrete to you, especially when you see them written down in your personal growth journal.
These written items can include personal or professional goals. Action steps to achieve those goals, and tasks you've completed or tasks you need to complete. Having them written down will allow you to reference them to assess how your progress is going.
You can use SMART ( Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely) goals to stay accountable. Having goals and writing them down in your journal will keep you engaged in the process of your personal development and allow you to keep moving towards your personal and professional goals over time.
Reason two: It helps easily track your progress
In addition to keeping yourself accountable, having a personal growth journal will help you easily keep track of your progress. Because you've already written your goals down to keep yourself accountable you'll have a clear method of tracking what steps you've accomplished or what tasks you have completed.
Much like a to-do-list, you'll be able to cross achieved goals off your list as you successfully complete them. and if you're using SMART goals you'll also be able to make note of any delays and readjust timelines to stay on track.
In addition to crossing off big goals a personal growth journal will also help you track the smaller goals that feed into the larger ones and keep track of the details and little steps that lead to the accomplishment of big goals.
Reason Three: It helps keep you motivated
The final major benefit of having a personal growth journal is to use it as a primary way to increase your levels of motivation. Being able to review your journal and see how far you've come can go a long way in keeping you excited and motivated to continue along your personal development path instead of getting discouraged and quitting, or jumping from one goal to another while never making progress on any one goal.
When you're on a personal development journey, it is not always easy to see the progress you have made when you're in the midst of making it, which is where a journal can come in handy.
It is much easier to see your progress when you have the ability to look back and reflect on the changes you've written down that have taken place over time.
Looking at these changes you have created can push you and keep you motivated to continue to push on your path towards personal and professional success. These can be used as a form of positive affirmations to yourself and what you've already been able to achieve.
As you can see there are some powerful reasons to keep a personal growth journal
This type of journal can help keep you accountable, track your progress, and keep you motivated. By being able to review and track what you've accomplished, or what needs to be accomplished, you can be sure you're moving towards your goals and aspirations in the clearest manner possible.
In addition to these, you can build on your success to keep you motivated to achieve more without letting distraction and procrastination lead you astray.
