Journaling is an excellent way for self-reflection and prioritizing your tasks for the day. It has been established by science to be an effective tool for self-awareness. Despite its many benefits, several people struggle to maintain a daily journaling habit.
This article discusses five simple steps you can adopt right now to make daily journaling a part of your routine.
1. Know your WHY
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”
― Friedrich Nietzsche
While Nietzsche’s quote is on a deeper, more spiritual level, it can be applied to simple tasks. If you know why you want to journal, you’ll have a much easier time sticking to it and making it a part of your schedule.
Understand why you want to journal. Maybe you want to organize your day or outline your tasks for a fixed period, or maybe there’s an issue bothering you that you want to get off your chest. You can solve all these and more by journaling. Once you know your WHY, you can be rock-solid in your resolve and not get deterred by small hurdles along the way.
2. Decide on what to write about
Based on the core idea behind including a daily journaling habit in your schedule, you can decide what to write about.
For example, if your purpose is to get a clear idea about your goals in life and how to achieve them, you can go on an intense self-reflection journey by writing the answers to prompts like:
- What skills do I have that align with my goals?
- How do I achieve the goals within a short period of time?
- What else do I need to learn to turn my dream into reality?
- What are the steps needed before I can execute the next phase of the plan?
These are some examples, but you can keep thinking about similar questions and focus your energies on that manner.
Learn from the experts at Better Humans. They write the most detailed tutorials on self-improvement.
3. Find a comfortable way that suits you
There are several ways to use a journal. Some use it as a planner, while others use it to write down ideas, to-do lists, and deep self-reflection prompts. You can find a way that works for you depending on why you want to do it. When you know the reason, the way to use your journal effectively will come to you automatically.
Pick a way that fits your schedule and stick to it every day. There’s no secret formula in succeeding in your daily journaling habit. All it takes is a bit of extra effort and some willpower.
4. Set aside a fixed time
Many people swear that mornings are the best time to write in your journal. Your head is clear, and you get a perspective on how you want your day to pan out. However, not everyone can afford the luxury to set aside a few minutes each morning to journal your thoughts. That’s why many daily journalers also do it in the evenings or at night right before going to bed. The argument is that you can sort through your thoughts at the end of a long day and focus on the most positive and uplifting ones.
You pick a schedule that works for you and sit down to journal at that fixed time. It doesn’t have to align with what the world says is right. As long as it suits your needs and fulfills your goals, you can make this a habit.
5. Hold yourself accountable
Find a friend to do it with so you can keep track of your daily progress and make sure you don’t relapse. In case you can’t find anyone trustworthy, you can also hire an accountability coach from the directory here at coach.me.
You can also download a habit tracker for free to keep track of the days you managed to accomplish your daily journaling goal. Tracking your progress is a wonderfully effective way to hold yourself accountable.