Journaling: The Key to Decluttering Your Mind, Organizing Your Ideas, and Relieving Stress

Journaling Tips

According to Susan Wise Bauer, author of The Well Educated Mind,

“What we write, we remember. What we summarize in our own words becomes our own.”

Although journaling may sound like a nightmarish throwback to your high school English class, it’s one of the best things you can do for yourself on a personal and professional level. Jotting down your thoughts and ideas as they occur helps you make sense of your overcrowded mind, relieve stress, and become a better problem solver.

In her book, Creative Journal Writing, Stephanie Dowrick characterizes journaling as a whole brain activity. She says, “Journal writing develops both your so-called right-brain strengths (lateral problem solving, intuitive, creative, emotional) and your so-called left-brain strengths (intellectual, sequential, rational, orderly).”

So it makes sense why journaling provides benefits – both tangible and intangible – when it comes to helping us reduce mental clutter and organize our thoughts and ideas so we can take action on them when the time is right.

Whether you choose to journal for your personal well-being, professional development, or both, the benefits are proven. Here’s how to get started.

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Journaling Methods

Many people prefer to journal the old-fashioned way, with a pen and paper. There is something cathartic about seeing your thoughts and ideas in your own handwriting. Be it in an elegant, leather-bound journal or a yellow legal pad, as long as it suits your purpose, it’s perfect! Just make sure you have a smaller, portable version as well, and never leave home without it. You never know when inspiration will strike.

Fantastic ideas – a revolutionary way to market your business or a great activity to do with the kids on a rainy day – often strike lightning fast. Unfortunately, they disappear just as quickly…unless you capture them right away. So you may need a hybrid approach that combines both paper and digital journaling methods.

If you’re looking for a more high-tech approach, there are a lot of great options! Digital note-taking software allows you to clip from web articles, save pictures and audio files, and sync your notes over multiple devices. OneNote and Evernote are the two most popular, and they both have plenty of add-ons to help you capture your thoughts and ideas as they come.

For iOS users, the Day One app for iPhone and iPad is a favorite. The simple interface makes it easy to capture audio and video, as well as typed notes, wherever you are. For those who like to write and capture audio simultaneously, the Livescribe Smartpen is another excellent option.

Both low-tech and high-tech journaling styles have their benefits, and to get the most out of your own journal, I recommend you adopt a dual-strategy approach. Just make sure that all of your journals have a common place to live so it’s easy to find what you’re looking for.

There’s no wrong way to journal, and it doesn’t have to be work. No one is grading you on your spelling or grammar. It’s for your eyes only, and you can use it for whatever you want: lists, successes and failures, ideas, accomplishments, goal setting, etc. The possibilities are limitless.

Journaling allows you to effectively check your worries at the door. And when your mind stops circulating the clutter of life’s daily challenges, it’s free to work on solutions rather than rehash all the problems.

Please share your thoughts and comments

Go ahead and give it a try! Experience for yourself how journaling creates a refreshing mental break that puts you in control of organizing your thoughts and ideas like never before!  Then let us know how it worked for you in the comments below.

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I’m excited to share a post by Julie Perrine, CAP-OM, an administrative expert, author, speaker, and all-around procedures pro. She is the founder and CEO of All Things Admin, a company dedicated to developing and providing breakthrough products, training, mentoring, and resources for administrative professionals worldwide.

Julie has more than 20 years of experience in the administrative profession spanning several industries and serving in corporate and startup settings. She is also the author of The Innovative Admin: Unleash the Power of Innovation In Your Administrative Career (book), several ebooks, and the upcoming new release, The Organized Admin (book).

Thank you so much Julie! These journaling tips are great for us Mompreneurs who need a way to organize our thoughts and ideas!

To contact Julie directly, you may find her at http://allthingsadmin.com/