A surprising trick from neuroscience that helps you build the habit of journaling
Building habits is hard.
If only there was some fruit you could eat or some part of your soul you could sell — and then you’d never have to worry about discipline ever again.
But unfortunately, that’s not how our world works.
We have to find habits worth putting in the discipline for.
Journaling should be one such habit; the benefits are innumerous.
It’s self-care at its core.
So how do you build it?
Habits are context dependent; they strengthen through repetition and associations with cues from the surrounding environment (Alana Mendelsohn, psychiatrist)
Alana Mendelsohn tells us an uplifting message:
Habits get triggered by cues in our environment. And then they get strengthened by doing them over and over again.
This means that by simply creating a cue in your environment and pushing yourself to respond to it, your journaling habit will form over time.
In his famous book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg adds another element to making habits stick: create a reward.
So here’s your journaling habit-forming cue and reward:
- Find a picture of your grandma
- Photoshop two Margheritas and Reflectly’s face into it
- Hang it over your bed along with the message: do not laugh until you’ve written your daily moment
I’m just kidding — this idea is only inspiration.
You can try it out if you’d like, but make sure to track yourself.
For example, you can use an app such as Done to get an overview of how many days your cue has worked.
But most importantly:
Get creative and make up a cue that will work for you, my dear.
It’s only your mental health that depends on it.
Reflect with Reflectly: What reward could you give yourself after journaling?
