365 Days of Productivity

How To Use a Freelancer’s Journal To Maintain Your Focus and Growth

There’s more than one way to moleskin a notebook

People tout the benefits of journaling when it comes to finding your calm or clarifying your dreams and goals. There is a proven benefit to this practice. But it’s not the only way you can leverage journaling to your advantage.

Consider adopting a freelancer’s journal. It looks a lot like any other kind of journal. It could be a beautiful, fancy moleskin journal, or it could be a simple, wire-bound college notebook. All you need is paper and a pen.

Yes, you could go digital, but I’d recommend old fashioned paper and pen. It forces you to slow down and compose your thoughts a little more. The idea is to use this journal to look at your freelancing career — what’s been happening right, what’s been wrong, how things could be better, and where to go from here. This journaling works best in the evening as you’re winding down your day, although it could easily be used early mornings also as you consider the previous day.

To gather and organize these thoughts, I like to break down my entries into five questions. I may not respond to all of them, and sometimes I’ll have more to say. But these five questions will form a good foundation for your own freelancer’s journal.

It doesn’t matter if you’re a freelance writer or designer or social worker. When you work for yourself, these questions are essential to keep your business going strong.

What did I accomplish today?

This could be a list or a simple paragraph outlining the various tasks and goals you finished today. You can be as detailed as you wish. Some people list only significant accomplishments, such as finished projects. Others write down what specific steps to a project they may have completed. Some (myself included) also list what they invoiced that day.

The idea is to create a picture of your accomplishments for the day that you can look at and feel positive about. Things are getting done.

Who or what frustrated me today?

Do you have a problematic client? Do you have a few? Write it out. It helps ease the temptation to unleash your annoyance in a regretful e-mail.

Was there a particular project or step to a project you just couldn’t get quite right today?

Get it out and on paper. Sometimes the simple act of writing out a frustration eases some of the ire. You can simply write the problems down and relieve some of the tension and let it go.

Or you could ask the next question —

How might I ease that frustration?

There is also a very real chance that in writing out a problem, you may come up with a solution.

If writing out the problem isn’t enough, try writing out some ideas as to how the problem might be solved or how you could approach it differently. You may find yourself hitting upon several ideas — one of which could be the answer you’re looking for.

There is therapeutic value to writing down things that annoy you, and there is a practical use as well. If you see a trend forming in frustrating events or clients, examine why. Is there a pattern? How could you break that pattern?

What do I want to accomplish tomorrow?

This means more than writing a to-do list.

Yes, you may briefly want to list the critical tasks or projects for the next day, but what else do you want to accomplish as part of your freelancing work? Would it be coming to an agreement with a troublesome client? Cutting them loose? Would it be looking for a better image editor or studying the latest in SEO strategies? How could you turn part of tomorrow into an opportunity to grow your business?

You could consider long term goals, but don’t focus on those too much. Long term goals are made up of short term goals. Use individual journal entries to get a handle on those short term goals, and the long term ones will build from those.

What have I learned today, and how can I use that?

I always finish with this question. Even if I skipped over other questions, I end with this because it provides a sense of closure regarding the day.

It can sometimes take a little effort, but I do try to single out at least one thing I’ve learned today. It might even be just a bit of trivia. So long as I can find a way to end the day on a plus, I feel like I’ve gotten ahead.

Ideally, I’d like to be able to look at that new thing I learned and figure out how it could be used in my freelance work or if all else fails, my personal life.

When you get right down to it, that’s the essential nature of a freelancer’s journal. To identify what’s been learned and how it can be used.

All in all, my ideal freelancer’s journal entry begins with “What did I accomplish?” and ends with “What did I learn?” Everything in between is optional, depending on the day. Each entry is my snapshot of that working day. Each series of entries tells a story about how I’m doing, what I could be doing, and what I should be doing.

The freelancer’s journal can be a powerful tool when used every day. You’ll find yourself feeling in more control of your work and career, as well as witnessing the growth and strengthening of your business.

Keep journaling!

Cheers!

365 Days of Productivity

Cambium is publishing helpful productivity hacks every day this year with 365 Days of Productivity.

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