Journaling helps in business.
How many times have you wished you could have said something to a client or colleague but it’s too late? You think about it, worry about and then worry that the person you are worried about is standing right there around the corner and now they know you are worried about them?
This is not productive.
Write down the challenges with people.
Create snappy dialogue starting with what you really want to say to an employee or a boss. Sit in the car and write it out. Write it all out at home, not on the company computer.
Writing it out will help immediately. You’ll feel better, you will have gotten it off your chest with no witnesses. The beauty of writing out everything you love or hate about an employee is keeping it all to yourself.
I don’t need to tell you why.
Once you feel better and all the evil, non-PC feelings are expressed. What can be done?
In the next department meeting, what outcome do you want? Sketch out a situation and review. What jumps out as an obvious solution? What can you do or say that would result in different responses? What do you want to happen? It’s like brainstorming with yourself. Map it out, dialogue it out.
Will you do exactly what you wrote down? Probably not. Writing out dialogue or process does not result in your delivering exactly that response. But the work will nudge you in the right direction, it will embed in your subconscious so the next round will be better, YOU will feel better. And this, reasonably, is all about you.
Use this technique before sending difficult emails.
Get in the habit of writing out email responses offline, into a word doc or journal entry. I know you already proof before sending an email, but writing out something like this in a different format gives you the opportunity to view the email or report, before copy and pasting it into the email. Bonus, the draft stays out of circulation. Rant, name names, yell, scream, be honest, get it out of your system. Now send the considered, reasonable email to the recipient. Using this technique you will prevent accidentally sending part of the rant. Or all of it. Or leave it and later hitting the send button in a moment of stress, overwhelm or time crunch. Don’t be that guy.
While writing all this down in a journal, or on small pieces of paper to be later burned. What is the intended outcome? Sketch out what you want. I want this deal to go through smoothly and painlessly. I want this person to stop making snide asides during my presentations, I want to be President of the company. I want to leave the company and start my own business.
With that in mind, how do you want to craft the email, rehearse the presentation, set up the mid-year review so you get what you want?
Write down what you want, work backward from there.
See if you don’t get more clarity and more success in your communications.
Indulge in the whole Journaling class
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