Originally Posted on The Coaching Tools Company as Journaling as a Coaching Tool: What are the Benefits? Plus Real-Life Examples! | By Lynda Monk MSW, RSW, CPCC
As coaches, we help our clients with their goals and growth, supporting them as they take aligned action toward what matters most in various areas of their lives.
Journaling, and journal coaching itself, are great tools and processes for helping our clients with both their goals and growth. And there are decades of research on the benefits of journaling and the healing impact of expressive writing. This includes writing about thoughts and feelings, versus simply recording the events of the day.
For example, research done by Dr. James Pennebaker showed that people who wrote down their thoughts and feelings about a stressful event for 20 minutes a day, for four consecutive days, experienced many health benefits. For example, decreased anxiety, reduced blood pressure and muscle tension, improved immune function and improved sleep quality and work performance.
Many other studies also show the healing benefits of writing. You can google studies by the late Dr. John Evans through Duke University, Sandra Marinella through the Mayo Clinic and many others to find research specific to the benefits of journaling and expressive writing.
Ultimately, researchers have found that expressive writing can improve people’s mental and even physical health, and can help us work through challenges in our lives.
Real-life examples of the benefits of journaling
As the director of the International Association for Journal Writing (IAJW.org), I asked some of our past and present members how journaling helps them be more productive, organized and motivated—and also to feel more balanced in their lives.
Here is what they said:
Please note, to capture the voice and reflection of journal writers, these responses are unedited.
- I journal first thing in the morning to put some perspective on my day and to remind myself of my goals (long or short term) whichever I wake up feeling needs attention. At the end of the day I’ll write about how my day was, what struck me as interesting, or something I want to let go of before going to sleep. I don’t know about productivity but I feel more balanced on days when I journal. Jenny Gawthrop
- Journaling has definitely added some structure to my life. By writing about my goals, my thoughts, feelings and emotions, on a daily basis, I feel much more centred and content with the direction my life is heading. I found myself through journaling and can now understand and accept my past, while looking forward to a brighter future where I hold the pen. Lyn Smith
- Journaling definitely makes me feel more focused. And when my focus and whys are clear in my mind I become more motivated which this leads to producing the plan. Writing and thinking it through happen simultaneously when I journal for this purpose. If I find I am not as motivated when I go to act on it, I’ll read what I wrote over again to find the gap, the unexamined portion, and journal some more. Also, I write down my steps and needed resources in my journal for the particular focus. So the journal becomes a reference book in part down the road. Kimberly Wulfert
- Journaling keeps me motivated and focused because it’s there, in the journal, where I dialogue with the deepest part of my heart. For instance, in a moment of doubt and confusion about which path to take, I asked my inner self what I should do. And then I listened, and wrote the reply … no matter that it sounded too big … no matter that it sounded insane! And then I sat there looking at what I had just written, that dream, and felt deep inside that it was right and true. It showed me where I really wanted to go … where I was supposed to go. And I felt so alive, motivated by the possibilities! There is nowhere else on earth where this can happen. It happens only in my journal. Renae Rost Gregoire
- For me, journaling makes me more focused and more aware some times I feel that journaling has the same effect as meditation as it allows all my ideas to move freely while I write it. The moments of journaling are the only moments that I can focus and then I feel more calm and balanced. Dina Saeed
- I totally feel—and am—more productive, focused and motivated through journaling. It’s like the act of writing (even typing) without any rehearsal or preparation can reach those parts that other ways (conversation, drawing, etc.) can’t! For me, it has to be more of a narrative type of journaling rather than bullet journal style of lists. From the ‘raw’ uncensored stuff come my action points, my alternative perspectives, my confidence boosts. And for me it’s not just the getting it all down that necessarily makes me more productive, it’s the re-reading the journal entry to extract the learnings for my to-do list. Nicky Torode
- Journaling has enabled me to live a motivated, productive and chaos-free life! I use Purpose Journaling as a daily practice. I write primarily for clarity, insight, motivation to achieve my goals, and for inspiration to stay productive. In my daily practice, I use journaling in the morning to 1) become aware of my needs and 2) to set my intention based on my desired result for the day. 3) I then create a strategy for the actions I need to accomplish to reach my goal. 4) At the end of the day, I pause & reflect on my actions and results. This process has help me to live a flourishing life. I don’t know where I would be without my journal. Nicole Annette
As you can see by reading these comments about journaling, this practice has far-reaching benefits in people’s lives.
5 tips for bringing the benefits of journaling into your coaching
- Start by reflecting on your own experiences with journaling. Do you journal? Do you recommend journaling to your clients?
- Identify the benefits you’ve seen. What benefits have you experienced yourself or witnessed in your clients or others? You might like to share how journal writing helps you in the comments below!
- Do more than simply suggest to your clients that they journal. Instead, if you choose to use journaling as a coaching tool for growth and transformation, be intentional with how you bring it into your coaching work. For example, explain to your clients why you’re asking them to journal. Share some of the benefits of the practice so they can feel inspired to try it for themselves as part of their work coaching with you.
- Weave journaling prompts, activities and writing time directly into your coaching sessions, not just as an add-on. Be sure to offer journaling prompts that are relevant to the focus of the coaching.
- Help your clients to gain both new awareness and insights from their journaling and take inspired action flowing from that awareness. You can do this by asking questions after a client journals, such as:
- What stands out to you from your writing?
- What new insights do you have flowing from this journaling?
- What is one inspired action you want to take as a result of this awareness or insight?
Wrap-up
A little about my own passion for the power of journaling
I’ve been journaling for over 40 years, so it’s hard for me to summarize the benefits of this lifelong practice in a line or two. I truly believe that, as a journal writer, I’m a different person than I would have been without this abiding practice in my life.
I go to the page to know, grow and care for myself. Journaling supports me in living a mindful and reflective life. And I know it has helped me to live with purpose, live aligned with my core values and build the confidence to follow my dreams in my business and life.
If I had to name the one thing that had the most positive impact on my life, (personal and professional growth and health and happiness), I would give full credit to my regular journaling practice. It has been a bedrock of goodness while living in these complex times. Journaling keeps me tethered to my optimism, hope, gratitude and resilience, while giving me a way to honour and write about the beauty and tenderness both in our world and within myself.
Journaling is also central to the work I do in the world. I am grateful every single day for this meaningful creative work.
I am so passionate about the transformational power of journaling, that along with Dr. Eric Maisel (a world-renowned creativity coach), created a new program called The Art of Journal Coaching. In this program, we teach coaches what journal coaching is and how to bring it into their transformational work with others, whether in individual coaching or within groups, workshops and retreats.
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