What is daily journaling?

No prizes for guessing that daily journaling is the act of writing a journal entry every day. Daily journaling is a fantastic way of working on long-term, self analysis and self improvement, as well as tracking both short and long-term goals. It is also extremely useful for looking back and reflecting on periods of your life or specific moments, which can help us better process our thoughts, feelings and actions at that time. Whilst you absolutely don’t have to commit to writing in your journal every day, there are a number of benefits that I believe you can stand to gain if you are able to develop the habit.

Why journal daily

Journal writing is a tool, and as such, you should journal at a frequency that works for you. If you’re giving yourself anxiety trying to think of something to write every day, then maybe reassess your commitment. If you enjoy your journaling however, and can be disciplined enough to write every day, here are some of the benefits you might experience:

Improved clarity: Before I started a journaling habit, I would frequently find myself ruminating and playing out conversations and events in my head, but in a non-constructive way. I would beat myself up for acting a certain way or saying a certain thing. I would simply replay events over and over, catastrophising as I tried to guess what other people thought of me. Now, when I journal, I can revisit conversations and events but I can constructively advise myself on areas I want to work on, strengths I want to develop, relationships I want to improve, goals I want to achieve. Beyond that, I can actually plan detailed steps for how I will carry this out. I’m not journaling just to keep a record of things to punish myself with. I’m giving myself clarity around my thoughts and feelings, objectively assessing myself and spotting patterns in thoughts and actions that I can improve or adjust.

It’s that classic thing of when a friend asks you for advice in a situation, and you’re able to tell them exactly what to do and how they should proceed. Journaling allows me to talk to myself like a friend, take an outside view of an internal issue, and offer up recommendations and solutions for the best way to proceed. 

By journaling daily, I’m better able to identify patterns and continually assessing myself against my own standards. My daily entries are a way of reaffirming the person that I want to be each day.

More effective goal setting: Journaling daily is a fantastic way to keep yourself accountable. Each day you can track your progress; did I go to the gym? Have I put money into savings? What did I do to bring myself closer to that job of my dreams? 

By writing down our goals, and creating a plan for achieving them, we cement the idea in our heads. When you write each day with an update on your progress, it’s easy to see if you’re moving closer towards, or further from, your goals. There is also some excellent learning to be done if you set yourself a goal and don’t achieve it. Was I too ambitious? Did the goal matter as much to me as I thought? Have I improved despite not reaching my goal? All things that are easy to assess when you have daily data about your performance.

Deeper self-reflection: When you develop a daily journaling habit, you’re giving yourself the ability to reflect on your actions, feelings and emotions more regularly. It becomes easier to spot patterns and trends, as well as what triggers certain thoughts and feelings. 

Self reflection is the key to self-development and self-improvement, and by journaling daily, you give yourself more opportunities to analyse and discover yourself. The trick is to be honest with yourself and non-judgemental 

Improved relationships: Choosing to journal about your relationships can help you develop greater empathy and work through conflicts and issues in a constructive, thought out manner. It’s easy to react to arguments and confrontation without thinking and that can cause things to escalate. When we write about our relationships with other people, we can put ourselves in their shoes and better understand their point of view. It also means we can better express our own points of view and put our opinions across in a considered and measured way.

For me, journaling also helps me to reaffirm my important relationships. It’s easy to take the people close to you for granted at times, and daily journaling can help you keep your people front and centre.

Improved mental health: Journaling can help to reduce anxiety and stress. It provides a way to process and work through thoughts and feelings. It allows us to work through confrontations and setbacks in a more detached, objective manner and take a wider, more holistic view of our current mental state.

Increased focus: When you write daily, you are resetting your focus on your goals and aims constantly. You can track progress on important tasks (both short term and long term) helping you stay on-mission. Not only that, but you’re giving yourself an outlet for disruptive thoughts and minor distractions that could otherwise steer you off course.

Better discipline: Setting yourself a goal of writing daily and sticking to it takes a real amount of discipline. To commit to a process and work on bettering yourself, even when it gets difficult or you would rather not is no small task and this level of focus and determination can be applied in other areas of your life. How you do anything is how you do everything, and building a habit of sustained, long term self-analysis and self-reflection will improve your life in other areas.

Tips for daily journaling

1. Set aside time: It always helps me stay on track with my journal writing if I set a dedicated time that I’m going to write, and stick to it. Carve out a bit of time in your day and commit to not missing it.
2. Use journal prompts: Sometimes it can be difficult to know what to write. This happens to everyone, so don’t be afraid to use journal prompts to inspire and guide you.
3. Diarise: There is nothing wrong with just writing about what happened in your day. Starting with a diary style entry may inspire you to think about an event or interaction that happened and that opens up an avenue for deeper reflection or analysis.
4. Attach your journaling to an already established habit: If you’re trying to build any habit and you haven’t read Atomic Habits yet, I would implore you to do so! One of the great tactics given for developing a habit is to tag it OK to the end of an already established habit. Maybe take your journal in the car with you to the gym and write in it before you drive home.
5. Don’t play catch-up: One sure fire way to add stress to your day and set yourself up for failure, is making yourself catch up with missed days. Life will happen, things will get in the way, and soon you may find yourself a day or two behind in your journaling habit. That’s fine, just pick it up again when you can. Don’t make more work for yourself trying to play catch up. Remember, journaling is a tool. It should work for, and benefit you.
6. Simplify: If you’re struggling to maintain a daily journaling habit, the reason may be because you are trying to do too much, or expecting too much of yourself. Make journaling as simple as possible. Write one sentence a day or even just a word to sum up your feelings. Keep it as simple as you can until it’s a habit and then you can start to add or experiment with the hobby.

Is it good to journal every day?

Whether or not it’s good to journal every day depends on what your goals are with journaling and how you feel about it at the time. Journaling is a practice, and like with anything you practice, you are only going to get better the more you do it. You will improve as a writer, and you will improve at self analysis and reflection. However, your journal is a tool that is meant to improve your life and make you feel better. If you’re struggling to journal daily or not enjoying the process of it, then maybe revisit the frequency with which you’re willing to commit.