10 Easy Tips To Turn Journaling Into Your Secret Weapon for Success
The first time I wrote in a journal, I was 15 and in love. The entire thing was filled with stories about the guy who made me feel butterflies with every glance.
20+ years later, I still journal. This time, I write about myself and my daily experiences. Unlike my 15-year-old self, I know that writing down your thoughts is powerful and can help you get unstuck and push you to move forward.
Journaling is a tool for self-reflection and analysis, and it can become your secret weapon for success if you use it right.
Here are 10 tips to get you started:
1. Find your Cue or Trigger
Look, I get it — if you’ve never journaled before, it will feel weird at first.
In fact, if you’re not intentional about writing in your journal regularly, you’ll never be able to turn it into a habit.
But there’s an easy fix to this: connect your journaling to something you already do every day.
I became aware of the idea of cues or triggers after reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits, and it seemed so majestically simple that I had to give it a shot.
I like to journal in the morning while drinking my coffee. It’s a nice moment in the day when I can sit down and gather my thoughts.
If, for whatever reason, I miss my morning journaling session, I have a backup one in the evening after I shut down my computer and end the work day.
The morning coffee and shutting down the computer are activities that occur daily. This is why it was easy to stick journaling to them.
Now, it’s your turn: which daily activities do you want to associate with journaling?
2. Get Physical
As in find a physical notebook and put pen to paper.
It may seem like an outdated thing to do, but I have science on my side. According to recent studies, we activate different brain circuits when we write on paper than when we type. So, even though typing is faster and less prone to errors, writing on paper feels more personal and intimate.
By simply putting pen to paper, you take the time to process your thoughts and give them shape.
For me, it feels liberating. Every time I dump my brain (figuratively) on a piece of paper, I feel like Dumbledore and his Pensieve (yes, I’m 37+, and I like Harry Potter!).
Additionally, I like the tactile sensation of my journal, so I recommend finding a notebook you like. I bought mine from the giftshop at Warner Bros. Studio — The Making of Harry Potter in London because it has a very nice, soft cover. As an added bonus, it has the crest of my favorite house on it.
Your task for this week is to find a notebook you like and turn it into your journal.
3. No “Dear Journal” Entries
You most likely are not 12 years old (if you are, all power to ya’!), so don’t think too much about what to write.
Write the first thing that comes to mind. The purpose of journaling is to get thoughts out of your brain and give them shape while placing them on paper.
Don’t worry too much about what or how you write. Just write!
It doesn’t even have to be fully formed sentences. Sometimes, all you’ve got are scattered words. Write them down and see how it feels. This is called a brain dump and is a simple exercise that helps you get back in control when you’re overthinking or spiraling.
Some ideas and thoughts don’t fit in the fixed structure we call language, so it’s difficult to give them shape while they’re running wild in your brain.
Extra Tip
If you’re bi- or multilingual, try writing in a different language. You’ll notice some thoughts are easier to express this way. Plus, you might see some interesting ideas coming to the surface — ideas that may have never shown themselves in your mother tongue.
Use Prompts
Prompts are another great way to get your journaling started.
These are pre-defined questions on various topics that you can find online or you can design yourself. But if you’re just starting, it may be best to find a list of prompts and see where it takes you.
For instance, one great prompt that helped me gain self-awareness is this:
What are three self-defeating thoughts that show up in your self-talk? How can you reframe them to encourage yourself instead?
What’s your answer to the prompt I just mentioned? Write it down in your journal!
4. Reflect on Your Day
Once you get used to writing in a journal, use it to review your day.
I do it to get a better understanding of my productivity, but you can focus your review on other topics, such as:
- Your mood
- Foods you enjoyed
- Interactions with other people
- Your thoughts
- Feelings
- Spending habits
and so on.
Regardless of the topic you choose to focus on, take time to reflect on what went well and what could be improved.
5. Don’t Use Your Fancy Notebook
As you get used to journaling, you’ll develop a personal connection with your special notebook (I know I have).
You’ll also develop a certain style and tone, which in time, will become more organized and clear. All this is great news, but only for your well-formed thoughts. The ones that are still running wild, causing you headaches, don’t like structure.
So, from time to time, don’t use your special notebook — a piece of paper and a pen are enough.
The best part about this is that you can do whatever you want with that piece of paper once you’re done writing. You can choose to keep it, burn it, shred it, throw it away, frame it, whatever you want.
This type of freedom allows you to be truly honest with yourself.
6. Be Honest and Authentic
This is what’s great about journaling — it’s just you and the pages in front of you. Your journal is a safe space where you can be yourself, so leave your shell and forget about censorship.
Sometimes I like to imagine what future generations would think if they found my journal(s), and I chuckle. I’m not sure if they would manage to make sense of my ramblings, but I know they will have the privilege of coming in contact with my most authentic self.
Your journal is a personal safe space, so be honest with yourself.
It’s okay to express your emotions and thoughts without judgment. This authenticity can lead to deeper self-discovery.
7. Track Progress
Your journal is not just a place to dump your thoughts. It’s also a place of learning about yourself and tracking growth.
The best way to do this is by reading your past entries and comparing them to who you are now.
You may cringe at some of your past entries, but that’s entirely normal.
If you don’t cringe at some of the things your past self thought or did, it means you haven’t grown.
Since my main New Year’s resolution was progress, I use journaling to keep tabs on how things change. It’s also a fantastic way to identify areas where you’re stagnant and the reasons behind this state.
Do a Weekly and a Monthly Review
If you don’t pay attention to how you’re living your life, time flies, and you wake up at the end of it.
Regularly reviewing your actions gives you precious insight into what works and what doesn’t.
I like to set a list of weekly and monthly goals and then, at the end of each period, review my progress. My journal is a great tool for this review as it lets me know why things went in one direction and not the other.
It’s also easy to see when I set the bar too high for myself.
The secret to improving your progress is to understand the why behind your daily actions and to adjust accordingly.
8. Find Something Positive to Add Every Day
For various reasons related to our evolution as a species, we tend to focus on the negative. It’s what scientists call negative bias and how our ancestors managed to live long enough to procreate and raise their young.
Even though things are different now, the brain is still highly sensitive to the negative aspects of life. Plus, if you watch the news or read anything online, it’s easy to get the impression that the end is nigh and we’re all dommed to suffer forever.
In reality, we encounter both positives and negatives in our daily life. We just have to fine-tune our positivity finder.
To do this, I like to write one good thing per day in my journal. It doesn’t have to be anything grand or impressive
My entries go from
I managed not to spill coffee all over my keyboard today.
to
It’s the 10th day in a row when I managed to include yoga in my daily routine. Yeeey me!
Again, this will feel silly, but it’s called practicing gratitude for a reason.
You have to do this exercise every day to get used to finding the little things that make you happy. As time goes by, you’ll become better at seeing life through rose-tinted glasses.
9. Find Your Motivation
Motivation is quite unreliable, but when you have it, you feel like you’re flying toward your goals.
So why not try to trick it into showing up?
One trick that works for me is to write about the things that spark my motivation, like going for a walk, watching a motivational video, or reading something interesting.
Your task: write down everything that makes you feel motivated or good about yourself.
This way, you’ll create an easy-to-access database of things that boost your mood. When you feel down, do a database search, and choose one or two of the things that may get your spirits up.
10. Look for Patterns
As you continue writing and then reading your past entries, you’ll notice certain patterns showing up here and there. Pay attention to them!
By analyzing your patterns, you may come to understand why you do certain things or why you react in a certain way.
It’s also a great way to identify what triggers your bad habits and find cues that may help you establish new ones.
For instance, if you constantly write about what motivates you and keeps you productive, you’ll be able to understand these aspects a lot better.
Wrap Up
Here is the short version of the 10 easy steps described above:
- Connect journaling to a daily activity in your life
- Write in a notebook
- Don’t think too much about what to write
- Use journaling to analyze your actions
- Do a brain dump (from time to time)
- Be honest with yourself
- Track your progress
- Practice gratitude
- Trick your motivation into showing up
- Identify and understand your patterns.
Now, pen in hand, it’s time to open than fancy notebook and start writing about your day! Don’t put it off for tomorrow, and don’t wait for the perfect first sentence to pop up in your mind.
Journaling is messy, but it’s also liberating and fun!
