with Victoria Walsh

Self Leadership: Learn to work smarter through journaling

To make the most of your journaling you want to ensure you are not just
documenting but reviewing, analysing and reflecting on what you journal. The
following coaching questions will support your journaling. They are not
definitive, many are very generic and you should keep asking yourself ‘what else’
as you review and reflect on your thoughts, behaviour, habits and relationships.
Any questions that spring to mind are always worth asking.

Goal & purpose setting

● What reason has ignited the thought that I need to work smarter?
● What is the aim of my journaling exercise?
● What do I really want to get out of the period of journaling?
● Is there a specific measurable outcome I can put your finger on?
● What pain am I trying to eliminate?
● If I don’t achieve the ability to work smarter what else will I not have
achieved?
● Is this goal big enough? Is it too much of a stretch? Is it too small?
● Who will I be if I achieve this goal?
● How will I know if I have achieved the goal?

Clarity & exploration

● What went really well for me today?

● What went really bad for me today?
● What was ok but could have been better for me today?
● How else could I look at this insight?
● What is exciting for me in this insight?
● What scares me about this insight?
● What does my gut tell me?
● What feelings has this insight created within me? Where am I feeling
them?
● Are they energising me?
● What is particularly standing out as not working?
● What else is at play here?
● What other thoughts, feelings or ideas are coming to mind?
● What opportunity is there here?
● What threat is there here?
● How do I know this is accurate?
● What have I done about this situation/ relationship/ thinking/ behaviour
before this point?
● What is stopping me from making a change?
● What resources do I have which I have not used?
● Is this an isolated reaction/ behaviour/ thought process?
● Looking at a bigger picture, how important is to change?
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● What did I enjoy about my day?

● How often did I smile today? What triggered those smiles?

What was missing from my day?

● What 5 words could you use to describe my day?

● What motivated me today?
● What / who/ when led to me to feel inspired today?
● Who am I when I am working at my best?
● Was there anything I could have said today which I didn’t? What stopped
me? What would have helped me speak up?
● Where did I get my energy from today?
● What would I do differently tomorrow from what I did today?

Questions around options of transformation

● What possibility is there in changing behaviour or thinking?

● What options do I immediately see?
● What do I intend to do about making a change?
● What is another way of looking at my options?
● If I could wave a magic wand and the situation would be changed, what
would it look like?
● How would a more effective person think/ behave in this situation?
● How have I potentially behaved in a similar situation?
● What belief do I need in order to change?
● Is there anyone or a resource which could help?
● What is in my way?

Questions related to time effectiveness

● Am I using my time effectively? Am I clear on personal and professional

priorities?
● What ‘dead time’ do I have which is being filled with inane ‘stuff’?
● When do I feel at your best performing self?
● Am I planning my most important tasks at your peak performance times?
● What things take me longer than they should? What reason can I assign to
this?
● If I were to structure my ideal day what would it look like?
● If I was told I only had half the time I have currently what activities would I
remove from my day?
● What can I dump, delegate or defer from my daily schedule?
● Where specifically am I not effectively using my time?
● Where are my interruptions coming from?
● How often do I manage to achieve flow? What am I working on when I
achieve flow?
● What working conditions do I create to achieve flow?
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● Is my planning working? Is there enough structure to my planning?

● What did I say YES to today I believe I should have said no to? What
stopped me from saying No?
● How often did I say YES today when I wanted to say NO?

Questions related to people & relationships

● Are all the people I spent time with today helping my effectiveness or
sabotaging my effectiveness?
● Who is supporting you?
● With regards to those who slow me down, hinder or create negative
energy, how
● strong are the feelings I attach to these people?
● How long have I felt this way?
● With negative people, how do I feel when they are with me? Is my opinion
of this
● person built on experience, facts, rumour or feelings? Has my relationship
with this person always been hard? How do I deal with similar people?
How do others deal with similar people?
● What will stopping interacting with certain people mean?
● What will stopping interacting with certain people deliver?
● Is there a different way I could communicate with certain people which will
enable me to work smarter?

Questions related to your thoughts

● Is this thought helping me or hindering me?

● Where is this thought coming from?
● What was the trigger for the thought?
● Is this thought based on an empowering belief?
● Is this thought based on a negative belief? Is this belief limiting you or
pushing you forward?
● Is this a recurring thought? How long has this thought been present?
● What facts do I have to support the thought?
● What assumptions am I making?
● What personal rules do I have related to this thought?
● For my negative thoughts and what would the opposite thought be? what
would I be able to achieve if I held this opposite thought? What action
would I take?
● What is the worst that could happen if I ignored the negative thought?

Questions around habits

● What are my good habits?

● What makes my habits good?
● What are my bad habits?
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● What makes these habits bad?

● For both good and bad habits – how did I learn/ develop them? How long
have I had them?
● When thinking about your bad habits what would the opposite look like ?
What small steps can I take to move towards the other side of the coin?
● What support do I need to change your habit?
● When will I know I have switched a bad habit into a good habit?
● What can I do to bring a level of accountability into the change?
● What could stop me from being able to change this habit?
● What will I have to give up or stop doing completely to change this habit?
How willing am I to do these things?

Questions to initiate action

● If I had no choice but to take action what would it be?

● If this experience or situation occurred again tomorrow what would I do?
● What will I do next time to ensure a better result?
● When will I take the action?
● What is my plan?
● What will be the benefit for me and for others if I take action?
● If I changed my beliefs around a situation/ person/ thought/ habit what
action would I take?
● What will action deliver for me?
● If there was no fear what would I do?

Questions to cultivate gratitude

● What relationships am I grateful for?

● What am I grateful for?
● What did I enjoy today?
● What made me smile?
● Where was I fortunate today?
● What helped me achieve my best?
● What was positively unexpected about today?
● What made me feel good today?
● What do I have which others would like?
● What did I succeed in today which others would love to have succeeded
in?
● What is making me feel comfortable?
● What am I taking for granted?
● What are my strengths which I am grateful for?
● What abilities & skills am I grateful for?
● What knowledge do I have which makes me feel grateful?
● How was I able to help someone else today?