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Daily Journaling: Why it’s important, how to do it, and prompts!

Self-Improvement |

Daily journaling is an incredible thing to start doing for your life. And I heard people say that all the time but it wasn’t until I started journaling that I understood why it is so helpful and important. Which is why today I want to share those experiences and share the reasons that daily journaling is so important for your life. And talking about all the different elements of daily journaling and how you can start to incorporate journaling into your every day life.

After I share the reasons that daily journaling is important I also share my top tips for sticking to daily journaling and then 30 of my favorite daily journaling prompts that you can use as well! So this post will be broke down into part 1 about the benefits of daily journaling, part 2 with tips on how to start, and part 3 with my favorite journaling prompts that you can start using. Feel free to jump to the part you need if you don’t think you need all 3 parts right now.

And I recommend getting the best possible tools for your new journaling routine. Having helpful tools can make it easier to start journaling and stick to a journaling routine. Below are some of my favorite tools for journaling currently:

Tools (journal, pens, etc) to check out for journaling:

Favorite notebook to use for journaling- Petite lined journal

My Favorite Pens- Ultra fine tip markers

Favorite carrier- Daisy print folio

The cutest pen carrier- Ultimate pen folio

Page markers (for marking what page in your journal you are at)- Gold page markers

Daily Journaling: Why it's important, how to do it, and prompts!

Now that we have talked about the tools that will help with this journaling journey it’s time to get into all the helpful information for daily journaling!

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Daily Journaling: Why it’s important, how to do it, and prompts!

Part 1: Why it’s so important to start daily journaling (the benefits of journaling):

Reason 1: Journaling helps to organize your thoughts.

Putting your thoughts on paper is a great way to organize them and get all your thoughts in one place. Really this can help to get your life in order and help you handle what you need to do when you are feeling overwhelmed.

Also, it is great to be able to look back at past journal entries to help you see what you were thinking about in the past so you can see the progression of projects and your life. And refer back to entries if you have forgotten something!

Reason 2: Journaling gets your brain working and getting creative which can lead to new ideas.

Creativity isn’t something that always happens to us every day. So getting your brain working and moving when you are journaling can help to spark that creative part of your mind!

Sometimes all it can take is getting your ideas and inspiration down on paper to get your brain in the right mindset that you need for the day or for just the next part of your day.

Reason 3: It can help you visualize your dreams.

Journaling is a fantastic way to get in touch with your true emotions and what you truly want from your life. Which can help you to figure out what you are dreaming of and it can help you to start to visualize what your dream life will look like.

Take that next blank page in your journal and make a description of what you would love to see your life look like in the future. Talk about your hopes and goals and what a fulfilling life will be like for you. And then you can use that page to reference back to and use as a source of motivation to keep working towards your dreams.

Reason 4: Journaling can reduce your stress and anxiety.

Getting in touch with your inner emotions and and working on prioritizing your needs can really help to lower your stress and anxiety in your life. Especially if you focus on journaling about what is stressing you or causing you anxiety a few days of the week for your daily journaling.

Reason 5: Self discovery journal prompts can help you find how to improve yourself and your life. 

Certain journal prompts can really help you work on figuring out the parts of your life you can improve and determine and brainstorm steps you can take to really improve yourself.

If you are looking for some of those journal prompts then check out this post: 75 Self Improvement Journal Prompts: how journaling leads to self improvement.

Reason 6: Journaling can help you with truthful self-reflection.

Another super helpful reason to start making daily journaling a priority in your life is that it can help you be honest with yourself and truly reflect on yourself.

Since your journaling is for your eyes only it can be a great exercise for writing about what you truly think about yourself and your actions. And doing it regularly will increase the honesty in your writing which can result in some of the best self-reflection that you can do.

Reason 7: It can help you keep track of your life like a diary.

Journaling isn’t necessarily the same as what you did as a child for keeping a diary. However, it is still something filled with your current thoughts, emotions, and life that you can look back at in the future to see how you have grown and changed as a person.

Reason 8: Journaling is a private but effective way to get out frustrations.

We all struggle with some frustrations from time to time! And journaling is a great way to get out your frustrations and start to think of ways you can deal with your frustrations. But in a private way so you can gather your thoughts before sharing them with others.

Part 2: Tips to start daily journaling:

Tip 1: Make it a genuine part of your morning routine.

Work on creating a morning routine in general if you don’t have one yet and incorporate your journaling into it. Or you can make it apart of your night routine if that works better for your life!

Tip 2: Keep your journal somewhere visible (like your nightstand) so when you see it you remember.

Out of sight out of mind is real so keep it visible to help remind you to do your journaling every day.

Tip 3: If possible set a timer on your phone for the time of the day you prefer to journal.

These reminders will help to remind you and allow it to become a new habit in your life. Also, if you need to set a timer for week days and then a different timer for weekends that is totally okay. And iPhones make that really easy to do in the alarm app!

Tip 4: Make journaling it’s own little routine.

For example, if you journal in the morning make it a routine to grab your journal, make your coffee, and then sit in the same quiet place to journal.

Enjoying things like your daily cups of coffee and linking it to your daily journaling will help to create that connection in your mind and make the whole experience more positive. And linking positive things in your mind will help you stick to them and actually want to do them every day!

Tip 5: It doesn’t have to be a paper journal!

I am a fan of pen and paper journaling but if you are not a fan of that (or can’t read your own handwriting- been there too!) then go ahead and make your journal digital. That is just as good and helpful as keeping a pen and paper journal.

Tip 6: Don’t worry about grammar.

This journal is for you and you alone. So no need to worry about grammar and spelling and don’t let that stop you from journaling every day.

Tip 7: Be realistic with yourself.

Starting journaling is so beneficial but it is always difficult to incorporate something into your days no matter how helpful it is. So be patient and realistic with yourself while you are working on making journaling a part of your days. And if you miss some days don’t let the negative thoughts stop you from doing it the next day!

Tip 8: Use a habit tracker.

If you have read any of my habits posts before you will know that I swear by the helpfulness of habit trackers.

They are incredible for helping you stay on track and know what your progress is. And using a habit tracker can help to remind you each day of the new habits that you are working on forming.

So if you don’t currently use a daily habit tracker for building new habits then I highly recommend grabbing one or printing one off from a free site and adding daily journaling to the habit tracker.

Part 3: My 30 favorite journaling prompts for your journal entries:

  1. I am happiest when ____?
  2. What are you grateful for?
  3. Name some things in life that inspire me. 
  4. Am I living my life to it’s fullest right now?
  5. What do I want to accomplish today?
  6. What character traits do I admire the most in others?
  7. When do I feel the most confident?
  8. Make of a list of what you need to let go of.
  9. What does my perfect day look like?
  10. List out what am I using my energy on?
  11. How do I take care of myself? Do I prioritize self care in my lifestyle?
  12. Where do I see myself in 6 months?
  13. How can I make my life more meaningful?
  14. How have I grown from past mistakes?
  15. What am I passionate about in my daily life?
  16. Describe the changes I want to work on making today.
  17. Write out 10 positive affirmations for your life. 
  18. How do I spend my spare time?
  19. List out 10 self care ideas you will do in the next week.
  20. What did I think was successful about the previous day?
  21. What is a short term goal I believe I can achieve?
  22. Write a letter to your future self. 
  23. What does my morning routine look like? How can I make it better for the next day?
  24. Which good habits could I add to my life?
  25. Am I happy with the direction my life is going?
  26. If you could do yesterday all over again what would you change?
  27. What is something that you have been putting off? How can you handle it?
  28. What traits do you admire in others?
  29. How do you want to feel at the end of today?
  30. What do I need to let go of?

For more journal prompts you can use for your journaling every day then check out these posts:

I hope that this guide on daily journaling gave you all the information you needed about the benefits of journaling, how to start journaling every day, and some of my favorite journaling prompts.

Journaling can be so beneficial to your life but it’s difficult to understand where to start and what to journal about. And I hope that this guide answered those questions for you.

If you did find it helpful then I recommend to keep reading so we can stay connected. And subscribe to my newsletter so you can always know when I have new posts with a variety of topics including new posts with journal prompts that you can use now that you are going to be journaling daily!

Korra-Shay

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