I was having coffee with my friend Annie, of Greatest Story Creative, and she told me about having a business journal. I immediately perked up, and this idea gripped me! It might seem so simple, but I also think it’s so important and couldn’t wait to implement it myself. Once a month, Annie uses a Google doc to record what has happened over the past month in her business. She writes down the positives, the negatives, what went well, and what could be improved upon. It’s easy (often just bullets or basic sentences) and doesn’t take but a few minutes — but it’s something that is so powerful to look back upon over time!

I started my business journal a couple weeks ago, and like Annie’s, it’s really just a basic document with bulleted lists for each month. But I am in love with this idea, and I’ve already shared the idea/concept with so many friends and fellow creatives and entrepreneurs! Sometimes we forget about all that actually can take place in a month, and any success (especially when you own your own business!) is worth celebrating and remembering. I know I am guilty of focusing on or remembering one negative thing that may have happened without giving weight to the dozens of things that did go so well for me or for my business. And I love, love, love the idea of being able to look back – months or even years from now – to see how far I’ve come, what things fired me up early on, and remembering just how excited and grateful I was at that point in time!

Thanks so much for sharing this brilliant idea, Annie! And y’all will have to let me know if you decide to implement a business journal into your monthly routine, too!