In this episode, Gia tells us how she was always a girl who had a diary growing up. Nowadays, Gia got back into journaling and starts every morning writing down what she is grateful for. The other questions she writes about are what she is looking forward to and her top priorities. The most significant benefit Gia has seen with her journaling is self-awareness; having a better connection with yourself will provide clarity on what really matters in life. The last time Gia found clarity was after a year of working on a tech startup. Gia was struggling with whether she should invest more time and effort or close it and move on to something else. After journaling for a few months, she got clarity on precisely what she needed to do.

Free flow journaling is another method Gia uses to get clarity on her thoughts and mindset. Writing without restraint is best for those situations when you cannot quite articulate what seems off about a particular topic. For instance, Gia is trying to move her child into the public school system; she has been free flow journaling to articulate the struggle she is having inside her head. Putting it down on paper really gets the juices flowing and allows you to make better decisions.

When Gia would ask her female clients what they accomplished in their careers over the past year, they could not articulate a response. If you cannot answer how you add value to a company, most likely you will not be getting that job. Gia says women need to be able to confidently and clearly articulate how they bring value to the table. One way to start thinking about your answer is by writing down what you do every single day. After a few months, you will have more details and could clearly explain how your presence adds value. Gia tells her clients to keep tabs on the following six areas:

1. The actual work that you did today.
2. What did you do to build your brand?
3. What are your community contributions?
4. Did you invest time in your professional skills?
5. Did you invest time in your soft skills?
6. How you went above and beyond.

Once people started journaling these six things, often they would realize they were lacking in certain areas, and it would result in intentional action taking. For example, when someone realizes it has been weeks and they have done nothing to build their brand, that person would start taking actionable steps to increase their brand awareness. Some barriers that come up for Gia’s clients when journaling about their workday are procrastination and time. People always claim they do not have enough time to reflect and journal. Gia suggests opening up Google Drive and take thirty seconds to write down what you have done before you leave work for the day.

Enjoy the show!

Resources:

The Daily Career Journal: https://careerikigai.com Code for 50% off: HTYC

Gia’s Website: http://giaganesh.com

Gia’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/KicStarturLife

Gia’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/giaganesh/