It was that weekend, when Patrick M. Olatunde (PMO) addressed us for the 2nd time at the EMBA28 class. The task on this day was journaling. Hmmm, not a new topic, I thought. Luckily, I had practiced journaling long before I knew this fancy name for it. The task brought back memories I had since archived. Back in my high school days, I had a practice of keeping diaries. I dedicated time to it consciously. Noting down the things I did over my day, my feelings- the highs and lows, birthdays, experiences etc.
Getting to university, I was so used to it and subconsciously took it a notch up, adding on to my journal, a “To-do list”. So, every evening, I would pick up my jotter or diary (as I called it at the time) and I write out a focus plan; the things I intend to achieve next day. I went ahead to assign priorities to them by numbering; that is, daily must wins, and the nice to haves. It used to contain a variety of tasks, such as, complete assignments, visit a friend, shop groceries, read a book, engage a colleague etc. I would often look forward and take pleasure in reviewing my to-do list by evening. I would check how much I achieved, those partially completed and those undone. I feel very elated on days I successfully execute the tasks on my plan. When I am unable to complete, tasks, I simply move them to next day if still relevant, add on other items and reset priorities. Any evening I am unable to pre-set a To-do list for next day, I often felt less fulfilled and disorganized.
I recall a senior friend once stumbled on my journal and his comment brought me for the first time, to the realization of what I was doing at the time, as being good practice. He had made a request from me, and I wouldn’t give a response till I checked my “Jotter”, to see where I could fit it into my plan. I was amazed by how impressed he was! As we walked to the Architecture department that morning, he kept going on and on about how it was such a good practice that I had a daily plan. To me, at the time it was nothing spectacular but just a habit I had formed. Not sure till now, how, or where I had picked up this habit, I do know that it helped me stay on track, make good use of time and more importantly my jotter served a lot as my memory bank too.
As part of my pre-bedtime evening routine was documenting feelings I had in the cause of my day. The things that made me happy, my pains, my dilemmas, were some of the things that went into my journal. By the end of the day, reviewing my to-do list gave me joy and helped me stay accountable for the way I spent each day. Fast-forward to a couple weekends ago, on my EMBA journey, with PMO on the topic emotional intelligence, and making us go through a quick journaling exercise, I realized how much “life” had happened to me. I realized how over the last nineteen years; I had lost touch with intentional journaling. The challenges of keeping up with parenting, career, religious and daily responsibilities had swept me off my feet, literally. I had lost touch with my journaling habit. Though I still journal occasionally, it had fallen to back scene for me. I now do more journaling in my head than documented in black and white. Journaling for me had gradually taken backstage, as I was only able to pick it up again, mostly during vacations.
However, since PMO’s class, I have found a re-awakening in me, to keep my journaling green. I am able to again, appreciate how much journaling makes it easier, to go through each day, improving on myself, having an organized day, despite the hustle and bustle. As each organized day is a step forward to an organized week, month, and year. I can look beyond daily journaling, to setting mid- and long-term goals, documenting same and working them. The beauty of journaling for me, is that it helps shut out the noise, enabling me to look inwards, and intentionally “live” each day. Thanks, PMO, for this re-awakening.
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