MAKING THE MOST OF JOURNALING
Starting a new journaling practice is one that can help bring you clarity, insight, and healing in all areas of your life. But to get the most from a journaling practice, you need to be consistent with it. If you have a goal to journal every day, but are struggling with consistency, the following tips can really help you create a routine and find your own way of making journaling a part of your everyday life.
Create a Journaling Habit and Routine
Every habit starts with a routine, and every routine starts with structure. This is why if you are on a journey to find clarity, set goals, or work on your personal growth through journaling, then you first need to create some structure and have a journaling routine in place.
Add Journaling to Your Routine – It is almost impossible to start something new and allow a new activity to turn into a habit if you don’t add it to your routine first. Being consistent with journaling is about setting yourself up for success, just like you would with any other new habit you want to incorporate into your lifestyle.
Choose a time of day when you feel a short journaling practice would fit. This can be stacked with other habits you do around the same time, such as journaling shortly after reading a chapter in your book in the evening or reading in the morning while drinking your first cup of coffee. Consider when you have a spare 5-10 minutes in your routine to write in your journal.
Turning Journaling into a Habit – By scheduling your journaling practice daily into your routine, you will eventually create a journaling habit. When you become consistent with your daily routine and dedicate time to journaling, before long, you will notice it is habitual to where you don’t even have to think about it. This tends to happen naturally, and just becomes a part of your lifestyle.
Find a Style and Method of Journaling You Love
It is also important that you not only find the style or type of journaling you enjoy the most and that will benefit you on this journey, but also the method of journaling.
Your style of journaling is the type of journal you have. There are dozens of types of journaling, from a basic daily journal where most journal entries are stream of consciousness about your day and how you are currently thinking and feeling, to specific journals meant for the benefits you receive, such as a gratitude journal or goal-setting journal.
You can choose one style or mix up what you decide to journal about each day. But it is good to take a little time near the beginning of your journey to consider what you want to write about and what you are hoping to get out of journaling to help choose a style that best suits you. Once you find that perfect style, it will be easy for you to stay consistent.
The second choice to make is in your method of journaling, which means either writing in a journal or notebook, or digital journaling. Digital journaling can also come in many forms, from using your smartphone to make notes in a digital journal each day, to using your computer and documents where you type your journal entries each day.
Use Journal Prompts for Inspiration
The final method for being more consistent with your daily journaling practice is to use journal prompts. You can either choose your own prompts to write down in your current journal or notebook each day or get a prompted journal where the prompts are already printed on the page.
Either way, journal prompts offer a great way for you to do more introspection and practice self-awareness. Just writing your thoughts on a blank page isn’t easy for everyone. Some people would prefer answering a question or being given a topic to write about, as opposed to a brain dump or stream of consciousness in their journal.
You can find prompts for just about everything, from bringing up cherished memories and planning the future, to gaining more clarity and working on your personal growth.
When you journal more consistently, that is when you will see the most progress and benefits from this practice. It allows you to gain more insight into who you are, what you want out of life, and what struggles you might be facing that need to be addressed.
Visit Us Often for more resources and tools on
Seeking Your Best Self.