From the course: Management Tips

Using a work diary

From the course: Management Tips

Start my 1-month free trial Buy for my team

Using a work diary

“

- Many of you used some type of diary when you were young. It was fun place to document your day and just reflect on things. If you didn't use one, you missed out. It's not just fun, it's therapeutic, and it's a record of your growth over time. Good news. As an adult, there's still tons of value in using a diary. I mean, you don't have to call it a diary, it doesn't even have to be paper. You can use your computer, that's great too. However you find it easiest to keep your thoughts organized. As an adult, this personal space allows you to analyze relationships, explore the implications of decisions you're facing, write down quick ideas, clarify your feelings about important topics, and work on short and long-term goal setting. Let's think specifically for a moment about how you can use this type of writing at work. First, it's a place to document your work performance so that when it's time for your next evaluation, preparing is easy. Every day for five to 10 minutes, document your tasks completed, new skills developed, or a piece of feedback about your work from a customer or a colleague. You might even categorize your notes based on the criteria used for the evaluation, a huge time saver later. Of course, a classic use of this type of tool is goal setting. That is, beyond merely documenting things for an upcoming evaluation, you can more thoroughly plan your professional future. Think about the goals you need to discuss with your boss, the mentor you need to find, the skills or credentials you need to pursue. Get specific and be sure to attach dates to everything that you work on. Of course, as you well know, life changes unexpectedly, so you will also use this space to revisit your goals and adjust as needed. This space is also useful to do a little professional dreaming. Beyond the concrete near-term goals we discussed, you can also think a few years out, long-term, say 10 years or more. Who are the interesting people you wish to know? What part of the business have you not yet experienced, but have always thought about? Maybe there's a career change to consider or maybe this is a good place to write down your observations about your management team. No doubt, you'll see many things that inspire you and possibly some that concern you. All of which will inform you should you try to make the jump into management. As you can see, there is no perfect answer here. The point is that we're always so busy, we don't take time to think enough about what we're doing and where we're going. Pull out a notebook or your computer, find a quiet space, and start thinking.

Contents