Journal prompts for work
Journal prompts for work help you see the workday plainly: what moved forward, what got in the way and what you're about to carry home, which should be as little as possible. Keep the entries short and daily. Two minutes at the end of the day will tell you more than an hour on Sunday.
How to use these. Pick one prompt before you start and one before you log off. Write in your own notebook or app. Save the last group for a free weekend morning.
Before the inbox
Open email first and it picks your day for you. Spend the first ten minutes picking it yourself.
Which meeting today do I want to walk out of with a decision, and what is that decision?
Answer this with JoyWhat am I tempted to do first today that could wait until after lunch?
Answer this with JoySmall wins
Progress you don't write down is easy to forget by Friday. A line a day becomes a record you can reread in a bad week, or bring to a review.
Three things that went well at work today, and why each one went well: ___.
Answer this with JoyFriction
Some days the main event is a sharp email, a project that stalled or a call that went sideways. Write it out before you answer anyone.
That buys you a night's distance.
The moment that bothered me most today, described like a neutral coworker watching from the corner: ___.
Answer this with JoyWhat part of that moment was in my control, and what part belonged to someone else?
Answer this with JoyIf I reply to that email tomorrow morning instead of tonight, what changes?
Answer this with JoyShutdown
Work follows you home when it's still open in your head. These two prompts close it.
Unfinished items, each with the first step I'll take tomorrow: ___.
Answer this with JoyThe longer view
Once a month is plenty for these.
Which part of my job would I keep if I could drop the rest, and what does that say about the next role I want?
Answer this with JoyWhat skill have I gotten better at this year that I'd like to be paid for?
Answer this with JoyWhere these prompts come from
The small wins group comes from nearly 12,000 daily diaries kept by 238 people in 26 project teams.1
Of everything that lifted their moods and drive at work, the biggest lift came from making progress on meaningful work, even a small step, and setbacks pulled moods down even harder.1
"Three things that went well" has its own field study. Employees who wrote for a few minutes at the end of the workday about good things that happened, and why, and over three weeks that reflection was linked with lower stress and better health that evening.2
The shutdown group is about detachment: being able to stop thinking about work during time off.3 Researchers count it as one of four recovery experiences, with relaxation, mastery and a sense of control over your free time.3 Writing down tomorrow's first step is one way to end the loop.4
Example entry: "Moved forward: finished the vendor comparison and sent it to Dana. Went well: the standup was short because I'd posted my update the night before. Bothered me: Marc's reply-all. A coworker in the corner would call it terse, and probably wouldn't call it hostile. Parked: the budget sheet. First step tomorrow: open it and fix row 14."
- Start: One thing to finish today, and why it matters.
- Friction: Describe it like a neutral coworker would, then sort what's yours.
- Shutdown: Wins, open items with a first step, and what you're done with for tonight.
Keep it off the work laptop
Work devices and accounts belong to your employer in most jobs, so notes about coworkers, or about how you feel about the job, go in your own notebook or on your own phone.
The wins list is the exception worth copying over. Paste a month of it into your review notes and you'll have specifics instead of a vague sense that the quarter went fine.
When it's more than a bad week
If you dread every workday, feel empty or cynical about the job, or can't recover over a weekend, start with the journal prompts for burnout and the page on burnout. Many employers also run a free, confidential assistance program, and HR can tell you how to reach it.
Questions people ask about a work journal
What should I write in a work journal?
Your one priority in the morning. At the end of the day, three lines: what moved, what got stuck and tomorrow's first step. Over a few months that log also shows which kind of work you keep doing well, which helps when you're deciding on a next job.
How can journaling help me stop thinking about work at night?
List what's unfinished and the first step for each before you log off. In lab studies, making a specific plan for an unfinished goal stopped it from intruding on people's thoughts during a later task.4 Telling yourself not to think about it rarely works as well.
Should I journal at work or at home?
The morning prompt works best at your desk, before the inbox. The shutdown prompts work best in the last five minutes before you leave, or on the train home. The friction group can wait until evening, when the moment has cooled.
Related
In the journaling section: journal prompts for burnout, journal prompts for stress and journal prompts for imposter syndrome. For words to take into the workday, see affirmations for work.