If you’re new to journaling and you’re reading this post, the good news is that you’ve taken the first step. Opening that notebook and looking at that first blank page can be intimidating for anyone when they’re just getting started, especially if you’re not used to writing about your thoughts and feelings. I’m hoping I can guide you through some easy, practical steps to get started and to develop a journaling habit that will help you achieve your long term goals, whatever they may be.
Benefits of keeping a journal
Firstly, it’s worth mentioning some of the benefits of journaling, and what you stand to benefit from creating a new habit. The benefits of journaling for mental health, productivity, creativity and organisation are all well documented. Anecdotally, I have found journaling to be a fantastic tool for understanding my mind and self reflecting. I like to write about the big moments in a given day and reflect on my feelings and reactions in those moments. Do they align with the person I want to be? How could I be better if the situation arose again? Or if I handled it well, how can I carry that forward into next time?
Over time, my journaling has allowed me to see patterns and recurring traits that gives me a clear path for self improvement. Not only that, but I’m able to constantly revisit and reevaluate my goals, aims and values, so I find journaling really useful for keeping me committed to self-betterment.
Some of the benefits you may be able to take advantage of in your own journaling journey are:
Goal setting, planning and achievement: “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I believe there is real power in expressing your goals, even if it’s only to yourself. Writing what you want to achieve in your journal solidifies it. Now, rather than a vague thought, you have something concrete that you can check yourself against. Set a date to achieve that goal and suddenly you have a very real way of holding yourself to account. Did you achieve your goal by the given date?
A journal is also the place to lay out your detailed plan of how you will achieve your goal. What are the steps to get to where you want to be? With your goals defined and your plans in place, your journal can be a tool for keeping you on-track, motivated and accountable, making it more likely you will achieve what you set out to.
Self-improvement and self analysis: If you’re willing to put in some work and analyse what you’re writing about, then journaling can be a fantastic tool for self-improvement. Diary style journaling definitely has its place if what you want is a record of your day-to-day activities, but when we inevitably face obstacles, upsets or setbacks in life, it can be a powerful use of your journal to ask questions of yourself and really consider your situation. You can put things in a new light or find new ways to tackle problems. Even when things are going well, our journaling habit can help us identify areas for improvement in every aspect of life, or retrospectively help us assess our actions and ask if we could have done things better, or, if not, how we can put plans in place to do the same thing if a similar situation arises again.
Improved mental health and clarity: There are numerous mental health benefits that come from journaling. The act of writing things down is an extremely powerful tool for tackling and confronting internal thought processes. In the UK, men are more likely to report lower levels of life satisfaction than women1, men are three times more likely than women to become dependent on alcohol2 and death by suicide is still the leading cause of death for men under 50 in England and Wales. These are absolutely shocking statistics.
Journaling provides a safe, private space to express emotions and analyse them, process events and help us to put our feelings into words, which can make people feel more confident to reach out for the help they need.
Better organisation and prioritisation: I am, and always have been, terribly disorganised. If I don’t write something down, then it is almost immediately forgotten about. My journal, with its to-do lists and reminders, has been a life-saver in terms of keeping me on track and helping me to organise and prioritise my life. Beyond the simple tools though, regularly reviewing my journal allows me to identify patterns in where I’m choosing to spend my time and ask myself, does this align with the things I claim are most important to me? If my family are the most important people in my life, but I can see I’m out with friends the majority of the time, or working late most nights, maybe I need to reassess how I organise my time? In this way, your journal can help you identify times when you need to say, ‘no’, and that, in itself, can be a powerful tool for positive change in your life.
Tackle problems: It isn’t often in life that we take the chance to replay our actions and play out alternative scenarios, but journaling allows us to do exactly that. I’m a firm believer that difficulties in life provide opportunities to learn, if we are willing to take them, and that life will keep presenting the same lesson in different forms, until we are ready to learn it. Journaling can help us identify patterns and spot behaviours that might be the reason these issues keep occurring, and when we have identified them, we can work on developing, implementing and testing plans to tackle and overcome these obstacles.In this way, our journal can become a toolbox, helping us create plans and systems to cope with and learn from, the challenges that life may throw at us.
Improved physical health: It may sound unbelievable, but yes, journaling really can help with your physical health. Not only is there the benefit of tracking workouts, step goals, diet, body composition etc. but there added benefits of journaling such as lowering blood pressure, reducing stress and even improving your immune system3 which can help with sleep and with improving the effectiveness of workouts.
Increased creativity: Journaling encourages you to express yourself, which can be a powerful tool for becoming more creative. Your journal is a judgement free place where you can express and explore ideas without fear of failure or ridicule. There are multiple ways you can journal specifically to increase creativity (which I will cover in later posts), but one thing I like to do is keep notes of inspirational writing or quotes or even cut out and stick in images that I find inspiring. This means I always have a wealth of inspirational material to look back on when I feel like I need it.
What supplies you’ll need
The good news is, no matter what people try to sell you, you don’t need any specialised equipment for journaling. It can be tempting to go out and buy expensive stationery and a beautiful notepad, but they aren’t a necessity (although if they help you to develop a habit and you can afford them, then don’t let that put you off!) You can get started straight away with any notepad and pen, so there’s no reason to hold off your journaling habit.
If you decide to start with a guided journal, then you will need to research and find a guided journal that works for you. These are pre-printed journals that normally include a journaling prompt for each day.
You can also make your journal as artistic or creative as you like, so if you want to use multi-coloured pens or stickers or collage elements, that is all available, but obviously adds to the cost of starting.
If you want to start reaping the rewards of benefits journaling right away, then the good news is that all you need is:
- A notebook
- A pen
Tips for journaling
If you are new to journaling and you’re not sure where to get started, check out my post, ‘how to journal’. The key tip I would give anyone is to keep it simple, don’t try to do too much all at once. Remember, you’re building a hobby that can last a lifetime, or as long as you continue to feel the benefits. Keeping it simple to begin with helps you develop that habit, and you can add more complexity as you get further into your journaling journey. Here are some other tips that should help you getting started:
- Choose a style: You can really choose any style of journaling, but some naturally lend themselves more towards beginners than others. Bullet journaling or guided journaling are nice entry points because they provide a structure and a roadmap for journaling. What is important to keep in mind is that you don’t have to stick with one style. The important thing is to keep journaling. If you choose a style and it isn’t really working for you, then try something else. Over time, you’ll find elements from the various styles that work for you and you’ll create a style that is uniquely yours and benefits you.
- Set a time: It’s easy to convince yourself that you’ll write every day. After all, how hard is it? But trust me, I’ve fallen victim to that myself! Try and find a time that you know you will be able to write, uninterrupted. Set an alarm to remind you to do it. For bonus points, set a timer to write for a specific amount of time. Giving yourself a structure to your journaling makes it more likely that you’ll stick with the habit.
- Start small: Commit to a small amount of writing at first. It’s easy to fall into the trap of feeling like you have to write page after page of insightful, inspiring text, but if you write one sentence, that’s great. It’s a start, and if that is what it takes to develop a habit, then that’s where you should start.
- Write in whatever format works for you: You may hear from staunch journalists who demand you write with a quill into leather bound, antique notebooks, and if that is your preferred method, then great! But you can truly journal any way you want to. If writing on a computer is easier for you – if you find apps more intuitive, then that is brilliant. Don’t let other people tell you the ‘right’ way to journal.
- Set a goal: What do you want to achieve with your journaling habit? Are you journaling for self improvement? Creativity? Organisation? Whatever it is, setting yourself a goal helps you keep yourself accountable and keep a target in mind which makes you more likely to stick with it.
- Don’t write for an audience: This can be difficult, but when you write in your journal, try and write purely for yourself. You don’t have to share this writing with anybody else. It doesn’t have to be award winning, inspiring prose. There’s no issue or event that qualifies as ‘important enough’ for journaling. You can write whatever you think or feel, whatever you want to express, with no fear that it will ever be read by anyone else.
- Keep your journal to hand: If you’re anything like me, there are likely to be frequent times as you start your journaling journey where something happens that makes you think, “I really want to write that down when I get home”, only for you to completely forget about it after the event. If you keep your journal on you, it means you’re always able to write things down as they occur. If carrying your journal with you is impractical, then making notes on your phone that you can transfer to your journal later is also a good option.
- Use journaling prompts: Journaling prompts can help take the pressure off when it comes to trying to think of something to write. They are designed to challenge and make you think and reflect, so they aren’t an easy way out, but they are a helpful starting point.
Find your way
When you are just starting out with journaling, please don’t beat yourself up or punish yourself if you miss a day, or if you can only write a sentence, or if you feel like what you have written isn’t any ‘good’. Journaling is a personal thing, and the only right way to do it is the way that works for you. In the early days as you develop your habit, you should try lots of different styles of journaling and just try to identify the elements that work for you, as well as what definitely doesn’t.
Your journaling style will eventually develop as something unique that is built around your goals and the ways in which you like to express yourself. What works for some, may not work for you, and that is absolutely fine.
Why start a journal?
There are so many benefits to journaling and it is such a rewarding hobby that I really feel anyone can benefit from developing a good journaling habit. Whatever your aims or goals, there is a style of journaling that will be beneficial to you. If you’re looking to get started today, try reading and answering some of my journaling prompts to get you in the habit of self reflection and self analysis.