The article below builds upon insights taken from a blogpost by Jenna (Britton) Arak on the career platform The Muse. Image by Raishel Wasserman.
Keep a journal
Keeping a journal is a great way to help you order all kinds of ideas that float in your head during the day. It can help you to gain insights in your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, feelings and dreams. Flashes of insights can be jotted down and later reflected upon collectively to recognize patterns and identify actions on your part.
Most likely your notes will relate to one of the following themes:
Lessons learned
Write down what you’ve been through, note what worked and what didn’t, and analyze what might help you in the future to perform better. Such an exercise will help you to steer more towards building upon your strengths. It will also help you to regain your composure after a ‘crisis’ by putting matters in perspective.
Log sudden insights
Useful solutions to problems often strike you at unexpected moments, when you are relaxed and your mind is running uninhibited and creatively. For example, when you are taking a walk, engaged in a hobby or cooking a meal. Keeping a journal or electronic notebook (i.e. your phone) at hand helps you to catch these moments.
Structure your dreams
Sudden insights could also concern future career plans and flashes of your dream life. What kind of person would you like to be in the future? Perhaps you are inspired by a movie, a magazine article or a professional that you look up to. Ambitions are often not immediately clear but by jotting down pieces of the ‘dream’ puzzle and reflecting on them, slowly a more coherent vision will emerge.
You can also take note of when you are energized during the day and what you are doing during those times. How could you design your future life to include more of those engaging moments?
Go to article 3.4 ‘Connecting the dots in the past‘.