day 871: Power Of The Pen

"At the Lord's direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress."

Ever been to a restaurant and the waiter doesn't write anything down and then off he/she goes to place the order? From the moment of ordering to the time the order comes out on the table, in perfect condition we hope, we worry a little bit about what is going to happen. The waiter thinks that he/she is really impressing us, but in most cases this backfires and we instead fret and our anxiety goes up about the whole ordeal. If the order does come back perfect we don't say at tip time, "Let's really tip big because of his memory", even though that is what they think or wish is going to happen. And if the order is not right at all, then we really take it out on the waiter and say, "All he had to do was write it down". What is interesting about this is that the power of writing something down can create confidence in others, if we let it. Just by showing the concern and taking the time to write down what we have heard or need to do, others around us get a better sense and feeling that we will follow through on what goes on the paper. There are other times when we write things down to chronicle or measure progress what has happened. Minutes of meetings, quality assurance logs, expenditures, travel reimbursements, etc. all are written records of activities for others to use and manage. Without a doubt, writing it down and recording it is important. But way less people understand this than they should. I made it clear as an expectation that everyone who worked for me would carry some sort of notebook into meetings so that when they left the action items and a record of the meeting was written down.

There just isn't enough time to go back waste others times and try and recreate a memory. God seemed to be telling Moses the same thing in Numbers 33:2; "At the Lord's direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress." We then go on to read in the rest of the chapter the progress that was made. Is writing it down, somehow holy? Probably not, but it is good form and practice and sometimes that is enough in the form of good advice and direction from the Bible. It reminds me that if we follow God's directions in our lives, and in our work, that we will not be led astray.

Reference: Numbers 33:2 (New Living Testament)

day 447: The Power of Journaling

I tell all people who are going into a new job to start a journal of their experiences and learning. Having something written down to review and look back upon can be like learning something twice. It is surprising how many people don't write down or record their meeting notes, their learning for the day, their phone conversations, etc. I am a bit of a fanatic about this but not as much as a COO that I worked with once. He was an amazing journaler and there was not a conversation that every got garbled or a commitment made that was ever misinterpreted and nothing that was not followed up on regularly until he could take it off of his lists that he would create from his journals. I was so impressed that I adopted many of his methods and have passed them along to others. What journaling also does is prepare us for a day when our memories won't be as strong as they are when we are young. If we had to rely on only our memories, then for sure as we get busier and our minds (hard drives) get fuller, the tendency to forget and let things slip become more and more prevalent. God knows this about us as He did Moses when Moses was leading the Israelites through the 40 years of wilderness. In Numbers 33:2 He said to Moses; "At the Lord's direction, Moses kept a written record of their progress." So, today, think about starting a journal if you don't already have one. You will be better at remembering, which will make you more predictable and dependable, which will only make you better at what you do and we all, God included, want that to happen!

Reference: Numbers 33:2 (New Living Translation)