Keeping a journal at work can be your secret weapon against missed meetings, details, or bad performance reviews. Whether you are an employee or self-employed, you can improve your productivity and performance at work by keeping a journal.
I have maintained personal and professional journals for past 5+ years and in this post I want to share the work journal template. In my previous article, I shared a more general daily journal template and this article I will share a work specific one. I will also share what I’ve learned about successfully keeping a work journal.
Day One 2 Journal + Notes is an updated and streamlined version of Day One, a journaling app that gave users a mobile, digital alternative to keeping a paper journal. The updated version allows. Use surprises as gratitude journal triggers: This is an easy one. Whenever something important, surprising, or memorable works its way into your life, you can use the event as a trigger to jump. Day One 2.1.7 – Maintain a daily journal. February 16, 2017. Day One is the easiest and best-looking way to use a journal / diary / text-logging application for the Mac. Day One is well designed and extremely focused to encourage you to write more through quick Menu Bar entry, a Reminder system, and inspirational messages.
Tip #1 — Attach journaling onto an existing habit Journal immediately before or immediately after something you already have an existing habit for. Some things you could “piggyback” your new journaling practice onto: brushing your teeth; eating breakfast; arriving at work. Tip #2 — Pick a journal format that gets out of your way. Day One 2.0.1 – Maintain a daily journal. February 20, 2016. Day One is the easiest and best-looking way to use a journal / diary / text-logging application for the Mac. Day One is well designed and extremely focused to encourage you to write more through quick Menu Bar entry, a Reminder system, and inspirational messages.
A good work Journal template or routine will allow you to accomplish the following:
Capture: A place to capture work related information – meeting notes, deadlines, action items, important information, and countless other bits of information that are best stored on a paper instead of your brain.
Articulate: A place where you can articulate the information. For example, sketching out a diagram to understand what is being explained to you.
Self-Reflect and Growth: This is the most critical part of keeping a successful journal for work. Your ability to self-reflect and learn from your experiences will constantly improve your skill and productivity at work.
Day One 2 1 2 – Maintain A Daily Journal Entries
In summary, a work journal is like a storage drive which allows you to capture, process, and articulate information with the help of your brain. Therefore, your brain does the job of thinking while the journal (with the help of your hands) does the job of a permanent hard drive.
Breakdown of the Work Journal Template
Face it 1 0. Now that we understand what makes a good template for work journal, let me jump into the specifics of a work journal template.
Above, is an actual snapshot of my work journal template. I have constantly evolved it overtime and will continue to evolve it. I encourage you to do the same and use my template only as a guide to get started. Also, it is important to know the pros and cons of a structured vs a free-flow journal. With that aside, here is the breakdown of the work journal template (by the numbers on the image):
Part 1 – The Quote and Gratitude
I write this part early in the morning (before the hustle bustle of work) so that I can keep my focus on the big picture. I consider this section essential as it allows you to appreciate the small things in your life.
Part 2 – Outcome-Based Goals
This is where you write out your goals at work. These should be planned and written at the start of the day so you can make progress towards them by the end of the day.
Part 3 – Unplanned Work
This is where you write down work that comes up. For example, your boss wants you to run a quick errand or your co-worker needs help. Your goal should be to finish and record these activities as fast as possible so you can go back to your Outcome-Based Goals (Part 2) – the work you planned to get done.
Part 4 – Personal Notes
Throughout the day things may pop-up in your head that you may want to personally get done. For example, grab bread on the way back home or read a book. This section is focused about your personal growth and should be an essential part of your work journal.
Part 5 – Stickies & Misc
Day One 2 1 2 – Maintain A Daily Journal Articles
Sometimes the goal or task at hand has many sub-tasks and that is when I use a sticky to write it out and track my progress towards it.
Day One 2 1 2 – Maintain A Daily Journal Impact Factor
Part 6 – Monthly Experiment
This is the section where I remind myself what personal growth experiment I am focused on for this day, week, or month. For example, in the above journal entry, I was (and still am) focused on “essential-ism focus” – a fancy way to say to focus on one thing and one thing only.
That sums up the breakdown of my work journal. In addition to my journal, I still use digital task management app (i-e Trello). In future posts (or upon request), I hope to expand on how to use your physical journal and a digital task management app side-by-side to get more work done. If you want more detailed guide to write each of the above parts, please subscribe to my email list and I will send you resources and video guides.
Day One 2 1 2 – Maintain A Daily Journal Article
Download a Template for Keeping a Work Journal
Here is a downloadable link to the work journal template mentioned above;