This is the last post in my series about using journaling to achieve professional growth. You can find one of the previous posts here and find links to others as well.

Setting goals is an important part of life. Without them you won’t know how to recognize success or achievement. By knowing your goals, it tells you what you want to achieve and why it’s important to you. While not all goals are equal they do all deserve the best chance of achievement.

In life we all have dreams, ambitions we want to achieve. However, it is entirely in your power whether they remain dreams or whether you will actually set out to make them a reality. If you think of a dream, then it is more like a hope; a wish not yet fulfilled. Perhaps your ambition is to be promoted to director in your company. That’s great but just having that dream won’t actually help you achieve it.

DOWNLOAD my FREE PROFESSIONAL GROWTH JOURNAL and start your journal to professional growth today.

Writing your dream down can help increase the chance of it becoming a reality. The very act of committing it to paper makes it more real and concrete. You can see it. That’s why journaling can help you achieve massive professional growth.

Goals and reflection bring success

However, there is more to making your dreams turn into reality than merely writing it down. You actually need to flesh it out. You need to give it substance and to create a goal. By turning your dream into a goal you are further committing to its ultimate achievement. Journaling gives you the ability to see patterns, assess your wins and fails, and reflect on what you need to do in order to reach your version of professional success.

Your goal is the end-point. It is what you want to achieve and how you will know you have been successful. The key to success is to writing down the steps you will take to get there. How you will turn that goal into a reality.

It is important to know why that goal is one you want to achieve. So you need to write down what achieving it will look and feel like to you. How will your life change? By making your visualization of your success as descriptive as possible and by writing it in the present tense as if you are living it now, you create a connection with your sub-conscious mind.

Here’s the science

Additionally, writing is a right-brained activity. It is part of your logical and analytical mind. However, the very act of writing keeps the right-brain occupied and allows the more creative left-brain to be accessed. This will let you begin to create and visualize the future you want.

Setting that vision down on paper is a record that you can refer to again and again. It will remind you why you want to achieve the goal you have set and how you will know you have achieved it.

Adding the steps to achieving the goal provides you with a to do list. You can tick off each step as you complete it and see your progress. This can be very motivating especially if you find yourself struggling. Acknowledging how much you’ve achieved can strengthen your resolve and provide motivation to continue.

Track Your Progress

Alternatively, by having a written record of your goal and the steps needed to achieve it you will be able to see if your mind has changed. Often you’ll find that your actual goal changes. Where you started as wanting to be promoted to Director you may find that you actually want to be promoted to Director of a different division or department or maybe even a totally different role!

Goal setting is not something that is written in stone. Your written goal, visualization and plan will not only be a record and guide but a working document that can be changed as your vision of your future changes. Having it written down enables you to track your progress and any changes. You can evaluate as you progress and by ticking your achievements off as you go you’ll be able to celebrate your progress along the way.

I hope you’ll give journaling a try as you navigate you path to professional growth and development. DOWNLOAD my FREE PROFESSIONAL GROWTH JOURNAL and start your journal to professional growth today.

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