If you were taking a complicated route out of town, you would write down the directions.
But if you were considering the future path of your life, your goals, and what you needed to do to achieve them, you probably wouldn’t write any of it down. Think of it—the most significant journey of your life, and you probably won’t put a word of the directions on paper.
Writing down your plans, goals, and ideas makes them more real for you. Every step you take to define what you want and what you need to do to get it increases the chances that you will actually pursue these goals and someday achieve them.
Harry is a career counselor who works with professionals from various fields who feel unfulfilled. Harry doesn’t just ask them what they really want; he asks them, “What’s your quest?” He explores with people not what they want to do but what they need to do.
Harry often finds people unprepared to answer his question. “You ask people what they really need to do, and it strikes most of them as a question they either haven’t thought about or gave up thinking about a long time ago.”
Harry suggests that his clients keep a journal because he believes that in their journal their true quest will come to light. “If you write down whatever comes to you, you will be able to see the patterns of your thoughts, discover things you didn’t even know about yourself, and discover how you fit into your quest.”
People who regularly keep a journal, or some kind of written record pertaining to their aspirations, are 32 percent more likely to feel like they are making progress in their lives.
Howatt 1999