Journaling: a powerful process for leadership self-development

A bias for action is all well and good, but mindless action will often mean we become stuck in a cycle of default behaviour that limits our leadership effectiveness.

The willingness to not only exercise leadership, but to review, make sense of and make adjustments to their leadership practice is one of the hallmarks of great leaders. A bias for action is all well and good, but mindless action will often mean we become stuck in a cycle of default behaviour that limits our leadership effectiveness. One of the simplest yet most useful ways of practicing mindful leadership is journaling.

Journaling provides a powerful means for self-reflection. It is different to keeping a logbook or a diary, as these are outwardly focused; they are records or reflections of external events that occur around us. A journal is a deeper collection of our reactions, our thoughts, feelings, exasperations, conundrums and exaltations; it is about our inward journey.

Journaling also allows us to provide a container for our experience. It allows us to deal with issues in a more detached, more observant way. Writing in our journal allows us to let go of an issue and put it “out there” in our journal where we can revisit it at any moment when we are more capable of understanding, learning from and acting on it.

Perhaps the most attractive characteristic of journaling is that is costs nothing more than the price of a notebook and pen, can be done anywhere, any time and requires no special writing skills. There are no hard and fast rules to journaling, though I can offer some guidelines and suggestions that leaders who are new to journaling may find useful.

• Build the habit
  Find a routine for journal writing and stick to it with the same discipline you have for brushing your teeth.
• Quieten the “monkey mind”
  Take a few moments before writing to become fully present with the task of journaling. Close the door to your office, play a particular piece of music that grounds you, grab a cup of tea, do whatever you need to get yourself in an appropriate frame of mind, then begin.
• Start small, grow big. Don’t expect to journal 30 minutes every day about weighty matters from the first day you start. Set yourself a goal to write for at least 5 minutes, about whatever you are prepared to write about for the first week.
• Everything is useful.
  Don’t ask yourself whether a topic, a thought or a phrase is “worthy” of recording.
• Date your entries.
  This allows you to see connections between the topics you are journaling about and other events occurring in your world and it means you’ll notice patterns or cycles as they evolve.

The good news is, if you’re hesitant about journaling, you’ve got a perfect first topic to journal about! So pick up the pen, open to Page 1 and give it a go.

Reference: Houston, Cameron “Journaling: a powerful process for leadership self-development” Melbourne Business School, 07 March. 2014,