The Importance of a Performance Journal (and why you need one)!
You’re in the market for a new job! That means it’s time to update your resume or LinkedIn page. You’re probably thinking about which profile picture to use or how you can reformat your resume to keep it to one page, right?
Well, what about including that promotion you received? Or all of those accomplishments you hit throughout your time in your current role? You worked hard and have the promotion and KPIs to prove it, right? Now it’s time to put it on paper.
But wait!
When did you get that promotion, again? How much of an increase did you make in sales for the company? How the heck are you going to remember all of these numbers and dates when you can’t even remember what you ate for dinner yesterday?
That’s when a performance journal comes in! You may be thinking, “Another journal? Meghan, I don’t have time for this!” Yes you do! Because this is about your career and your future. It’s about flipping your mindset out of toxic work environments and into all of the things you have achieved no matter the obstacle.
The purpose of a performance journal is to help you:
Keep track of your goals and how you performed throughout your time in a certain role.
Help you brag about all of them later, when you need to update your resume or LinkedIn profile.
Document projects, goals, ideas and reminders that are important to your performance.
Get your confidence back when you’re ready to leave behind any toxic or negative work environments.
Here is why having a performance journal is critical.
No one is going to talk about your achievements the way that you will.
When your mindset is tanked because of toxic or bad experiences you’ve had from previous positions, a journal like this can help remind you of the power that you have. No one can take your power, your success, or your achievements away from you.
When you are feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, or that you don’t have the performance reviews from your past or current company to showcase what you’ve done in your next career move, you can turn to your performance journal to make all of that go away.
Here are the benefits of a performance journal:
Track your personal progress and performance. There is nothing better than seeing how much you’ve grown and how many more responsibilities you’ve taken on since you’ve started at a company. Record your accomplishments, like raises and promotions and be sure to include dates and a description to note KPIs and any percentages and numbers you’ll need later (like on your resume).
Find areas that you need to improve on . A journal can help implement new practices, find common mistakes, and discover what you need to work on next. Get specific with your new goals and give yourself a timeline.
Record your ideas! How many times have you thought about this great, new idea but just didn’t have the time or ability to act on it? Write it down and wow your boss with it later!
Stay organized and focused. How are you going to reach those new goals? Each week, record what you’ve done to get closer to achieving them. I would suggest doing this bright and early on a Monday morning, before you get sidetracked or overwhelmed by the week ahead.
Helps navigate a raise and promotion. Think of this as the ammunition to go in and ask for more!
Realize you learned a new skill. Sometimes when we are so wrapped up in moving forward, we don’t realize that we’re actually learning something every day. What skills have you learned each quarter that are important to note?
Get rid of stress and overwhelm. There’s something really therapeutic about writing down your thoughts, goals and ideas. This is really important if you are having a hard time at work, too. This can help you cope with all of those unpleasant feelings and give you the space to come up with a gameplan on how to move forward.
Let’s face it - your boss won’t always notice every achievement you hit throughout your time in a position. The only person who knows when you have done something noteworthy is YOU. So, why not write it all down and showcase it later - with dates and exact KPIs - that you can update your resume and LinkedIn profile with later?
GRAB YOUR FREE
MONTHLY PERFORMANCE JOURNAL
TEMPLATE HERE!
Creating a performance journal will help you leverage all of your wins and show off your career growth.
Ready to get your hands on one?
