Setting up your coaching journal
Step 1 - Organisation
At the start of anything it is worth thinking about what your aims of what you are doing at the moment. This is a time to practice setting achievable goals. Have a look at the article about this to maybe help you set your expectations of what you hope for from your coaching journal so you love it, not hate it or think it is just another chore.
Whilst I wholeheartedly believe in writing journals with a pen, if you have more complex ideas for your journal then do consider a digital version. This has to work for you, I have my opinion, like we all do, but I am always only ever trying to ignite ideas in others. Make it work for you. You could also have part digital and part written! Have a think, what would work for you so it is something meaningful to you?
There are sooooo many ways you can use a journal.
I am going to list some, not all, below, just to get your brain juices flowing, I would love to hear your ideas!
Self-Reflection: Be careful to not turn this into another method to beat yourself up for all the things you don’t like about yourself or all the things you have not done. This is supposed to be helpful. Try to think how your best friend would talk to you about successes, learning, things that didn’t go according to plan. I doubt they would say, “oh for gods sake why didn’t you do that, you are so stupid for doing that, why didn’t you think first” would they? This is about reflecting on what happened, what did you learn, what could you do differently next time AND celebrating things that have gone well. Talk about emotions, how did it feel, where did you mind go, what did you feel in your body. Write down thoughts that were helpful or thoughts that you want to work on. What did your self critic have to say, were they actually right? Note your behaviours in response to things, is there a pattern? Read your entry back and what do you think seeing it written down? What have you learnt.
Goal Setting: Set goals, but look at it. Is the goal achievable? or is it so massive you just want to go and open a bottle of wine because its overwhelming and you would never know where to start? If that is the case, then notice that. What is too big about it? How can you break it down into small achievable goals? What are those steps going to be. When you look at the step do you feel, hell yes, I can do that? Or is that sense of overwhelm still there? If so, how can you break it down more until you get to the, hell yes, I can do this.
Accountability: Writing down and recording what your goals are can help with feeling accountable for keeping to the plan. Plans also change though so be brave, and if you KNOW this is not working then sit and look at the plan/goals and rethink. There is no point in beating you head against a brick and sticking with something just because it is written down. Change it, bend with it, use the learning of this is not working to move forward not get stuck. I always say that if something is soooooo difficult, that you just cannot get anywhere with it, then it is not maybe the right thing. We do not know if we don’t try something out whether it is right for us or not.
Insight and Clarity: It is amazing how differently we can start thinking about things when they are written down and out of our head. There is something about seeing it in black and white. It is also out of her head, not whirring around in a confused mass anymore. Writing it down can help us ask ourselves different, more helpful question as well. We can a different perspective. Can maybe help us to look at things in terms of problems to solve or challenges to meet rather than impossible to achieve things. We also get new ideas from writing things down and we can then write those down. No longer are we afraid of forgetting important ideas, as they are right there, on the page. Random ideas that come to us when we are writing things down can be our best ever thing!
Progress Tracking: It is wonderful to look back over our journal and see where we were, where we are now, our journey, how we have overcome challenges and come up with amazing ideas. Your journal can become your best friend who is cheerleading you. Because it is a reflection of you and how amazing you are! Sorry I had to put in that bit of fluff, but it is true. that is evidence about you, that you are reading. Not fears, your truth.
If you you don’t know where to start, get some post-it notes and use one note per idea. Stick them down and look at them. That will help you know what you want from your journal.
If you need support, please do not hesitate to contact me or start a chat for other support from the community, that is what we are here for, you :)
Jane
Floreo (Latin for flourish), a community I have dreamed of creating for many years to give women a space to feel held, to feel heard, to feel safe to discuss their dreams, difficulties, celebrate successes, learn from other women with my support, commitment and faith that anyone can do what they want to do with the right help.
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