Journal Writing Tips for Success

Making the decision to journal is usually far easier than actually beginning to journal. There is no right or wrong way to journal. Once you begin, you can shift your style or abandon your style for another that makes more sense or is a better fit.

Here are some great things to ask yourself before you start to journal.

✓How do I want to express myself when I journal?
✓How much time do I have to spend journaling?
✓Where do I want to do my journaling?
✓Is there an activity I love that I can use as a form of journaling?
✓What is my goal in creating this journal?

Answering these questions helps you choose the best method and time frame to begin journaling. Now all you need is to pick the method and time frame that suits you and begin.

Consider these things when making your decision

Tools Matter

Find a pen that is smooth and effortless to use. Decide if you love a notebook that lays flat, a bound blank book or notepad. If you are using an electronic notebook make sure you are in a comfortable space where ever you work. Be on the lookout for tools that will make journaling fun and time well spent.

Time is key

Find time when you have peace and quiet and are fully charged to do your journaling. This may only be before the family wakes in the morning or after they go to bed. Perhaps you will have to journal in the car between activities for your kids. Be intentional about creating a routine you can count on when you start to journal.

Spacial Awareness

Time may be a commodity, but there are ways to increase your productivity when journaling. Reduce distractions including unnecessary noises. Turn off the radio, television or close your door. Go outside and listen to the sound of nature or turn on a fan or white noise device. Limit the number of people in your personal space and consider diffusing oils or having a scented candle burning.

Do what comes naturally

The best way to begin journaling is by doing what already comes naturally. If you love to write, get to it. If you are a list maker, start listing your thoughts down in nice neat rows. If you are a talker and a runner, consider an audio journal that you can dictate into while you do double duty as you exercise.

Have a why

Anytime there is a solid why to what you do, you are more likely to stick with it. Knowing why you are journaling helps get you going and keeps you going. If you are trying to lose weight or manage a health issue, knowing that you are journaling your food intake for your health will keep you motivated.

Starting to journal isn’t difficult and the fun begins when you make the decision to start. From finding the perfect tools to expressing yourself in a natural and effortless way, you will be on your way to recording important history about your life before you know it.

Getting Into The Habit Of Journaling Daily To Reap The Biggest Rewards

There is an adage that says how you do anything is how you do everything. Translated this means that habits are the surest indicator of outcomes. The generally accepted truth about habits is they take 21 days to develop. Doing something over and over again for 21 days accounts for the mindset shift that needs to happen to integrate the behavior into our everyday lives. Little by little what once was foreign becomes routine.

Here are 21 tips to develop your journaling habit:

1. Don’t rush it
2. Have great tools
3. Be present when you journal
4. Be consistent with the time you journal
5. Commit to the practice of journaling
6. Get inspiration from nature
7. Share your enthusiasm for journaling with others
8. Find a community that loves to journal
9. Find a favorite place to journal
10. Enjoy your favorite drink when you journal
11. Use a special seat for journaling
12. Set aside time with your child to journal together
13. Eliminate outside distractions
14. Diffuse essential oils while you journal
15. Burn scented candles when you journal
16. Leave your journal out so you can be reminded to engage with it
17. Schedule journaling time into your calendar
18. Always have a supply of journals and tools on hand
19. Treat yourself to a reward for reaching a goal you journaled
20. Forgive yourself when you don’t journal
21. Place no limits on yourself about journaling. Just do it

As with all things you have to want to develop the habit in order to create it. Ask yourself why you want to journal and how you believe life will be enriched for having done it. Discover what motivates you and make that motivation part of your routine.

The first time you try something new you will likely be awkward. It will take longer than it ought to and feels unnatural. Sticking to the routine creates mastery which means things are effortless and the results come easy. Keep at your journaling and you will see the effort is easy and the outcomes better than ever.

Take The Time To Look Back Through Your Journals

So, you’ve committed to journaling and you have found yourself with a nice stack of completed journals that took time and energy to finish. Your blood, sweat and tears has been poured out and you have wrestled with demons, dreamt big dreams and tracked your journey’s. Time has gone by and now you have a record of your triumphs and your tribulations sitting there on a shelf.

Now what?

The act of creating journals is one form of self-care. The act of reviewing them is another. There is so much to be gained from reviewing your journals as time goes by.

Consider this-

Those journals are a true and accurate view into your life at that moment. Whether you were in hysterics over something you couldn’t control or singing from the rooftops about reaching a big hair audacious goal, that was you…then. Re-reading or reviewing your journal can give you perspective that you didn’t have back then. You can see yourself more objectively because you aren’t in that space any longer.

Reviewing your journals can give you insight into a path you were too close to in the moment. Being able to read through in a short time that took you a long time to live can help you create some cliff notes about how you manage stress, celebrate success or set and achieve goals. You literally have the ability to armchair quarterback yourself.

Giving yourself the time to review your journals can help you forgive others and recall with gratitude how far you have come. You can literally see your resilience and the way that things played out. This can be healing and encourage you that all things do work out for your best and highest good.

Your family has the opportunity to know you better. Depending on how discreet you are with your journaling, you have the opportunity to share with your family the thoughts you have had over time. They can share in your growth and your success. You can show your teen how you felt at the same age they are now. You can leave a legacy that impacts those you love the most.

Reviewing your journals sparks old ideas. Perhaps you forgot about that idea you released into your journal eight years prior. Seeing it again could be the catalyst to taking action now. Nothing is ever wasted when it is recorded and reviewed. Now may be the perfect time to take action when you didn’t have the resources before.

Review your journals with grace. Be gentle to the person you were on the way to becoming who you are. Be kind. Be open-minded and be friendly and most of all celebrate!