Written by Phil Strazzulla
Harvard Business School MBA Candidate 2014
Hi – My name is Phil. I'm a MBA candidate at Harvard Business School, and spent the last two years working in venture capital.
I’ve kept a journal in some form or another since 5th grade. Sometimes I write every day, and sometimes I go a few months without writing anything down. The consistent trend with my writing is that I get a lot of value out of it.
The brain has an amazing capacity to change our memories and backfill history, so I’ve learned. But, the act of recording history trumps your brain’s ability to deceive.
One act of journaling was quite pivotal in my life: After my junior year, I interned at a large investment bank. I didn't have a great summer and knew I wanted to do something else with my life.
Nonetheless, 3 weeks after getting back to campus in September, I was ready to sign my full time offer for this bank. I'd completely forgotten how much I was dissatisfied with my internship, and what my original goals were.
Luckily, before I signed the offer, I re-read a journal entry I'd written over the summer, and remembered how much I didn't want to go back…. the 15 minute exercise of writing that journal entry literally saved me a few years in a job I didn't want.
To make it easy and impactful for others to have this same experience, I created www.Myriverguides.com. The discipline to journal, write down what will be relevant in the future, and unearth these facts at the right time is hard! Myriverguides.com makes this process a whole lot easier and automated for those of us doing internships this summer.
Fill out one reflection now before you start your internship, and one mid internship. We'll send you a summary in September when you're back at school. It's 100% free and 100% confidential. I guarantee the 15 minutes in time will pay huge dividends!

.jpeg)

.jpg)

.jpg)