I hope your week has been going well.
This is a short email course to help you reset your practice after the summer - 4 emails, Monday to Thursday this week.
I wrote this course because I want to share some of the ways journals can support your life and your practice.
Here’s what we covered so far.
Monthly goals
(create accountability and can be a helpful deadline for those important things that can be easy to put off)Weekly review
(helps you tie up loose ends and to be more strategic)Daily planning
(helps you be more organised)
If you are a new or recent graduate, you might be wondering what are all these items that need to be planned for each month, week and day! 🙋🏻♀️
Here are some of mine so you can see.
Monthly goals for September
reach out to hayfever clients
(this helps fill my calendar)follow up with clients who promised to write Google reviews
(this helps with SEO and encourages new clients)finalise changes to my client-therapist agreement
(this helps my boundaries)
Notes from my end-of-week review (for this week)
order tissue paper
(I wrap up Homeobotanicals in tissue, and I don’t want to run out)order Vitamin D sprays
(I buy at a discount from the Natural Dispensary to make it more convenient for clients)add something about families on my FAQ page
(Google loves FAQ pages, plus I’ve been having more enquiries from families lately)
Daily plan (for today)
write my fortnightly Homeopathy with Tracy newsletter
(this helps me stay connected with all my past clients)check I’ve been paid for all my consultations this week
(so I can pay myself for all the work I do)set up my auto-respond for the end of today
(I don’t check email on Fridays or over the weekend, or on bank holidays)
All of these small things help keep my practice ticking over.
Being organised and strategies make life easier and help me feel more professional and less stressed.
As well as these organisational things, the journal helps me see how far I’ve come.
My big pile of journals from the last four years contain all the details from my practice, including a regular practice audit where I look at who I’ve seen, what they have come for help with, how far they improved, what I’ve learned, and so on.
I write down quotes, notes from seminars, workshops and books I’m reading, and key concepts that I want to understand.
A journal is also compact.
I can pop it into my bag with a pen when I am heading somewhere I know I will be waiting for a while. 👜 📔🖊
I often take myself out to a coffee shop, café, or even my local pub to write my monthly review.
Monthly review
Once a month, at the end of the month, I sit down with my journal to do a monthly review.
The goal: find perspective
The strategy: a monthly review
Read back through your journal
See what you notice
Make lists of all your accomplishments
A monthly review is a meeting with yourself so you acknowledge all your accomplishments before you write a new spread for the coming month.
It gives you a longer view as you look back through all your plans and notes to see what you notice.
Some months just fly by and you will wonder where the time went.
Or you will look at your list of goals and realise you can’t tick any of them off.
The monthly review helps you understand where your priorities have needed to be, and shows you what you have accomplished, even if it wasn’t on your to-do list.🥈
How to do a monthly review.
start a new page and write ‘month-name review’ at the top
on the left side, write ‘accomplishments’
on the right side, write ‘learning’
go through your calendar and your weekly reviews
note any achievements in your practice - successful prescribing, tricky situations you’ve navigated etc.
think back through your personal life - note any domestic and social activities, people, books, films, visits, health etc.
so what you are doing is making a list of everything you have accomplished
ask yourself what you have learned, both inside and outside of work
maybe note down anything you would do differently in future
The monthly review is a chance for you to reflect and think deeply about your life as well as your practice.
It helps you connect to your intuition and inner wisdom. 🔮
It helps you see your patterns and where you get in your own way.
My enthusiasm for the monthly review led me to write about it on my Homeopathy Blog, and I regularly share it in my newsletter. So many clients have told me they were inspired to make it part of their journalling routine.
Completing a regular monthly review can help you to:
a) identify when and where you need to work on your boundaries
b) make decisions for your life and your work so you are happier
Small things can make a huge difference.
When you keep a journal for your practice and your life, you will slowly but surely see things shift and change in a positive way. ✨
I hope you’ve found this course useful.
I would love to hear any questions or comments you have and promise to reply. 😊
Look out for a newsletter from me next week, where I will share the early bird for my upcoming webinar on October 7th - Skills and Checklists for Client Management. ✅
That’s all from me till then.
Wishing you all the best with your journalling practice. 📚
Tracy 👩🏼💻
P.S. It’s not too late to join me on the Hayfever Q and A this afternoon.