Build a Journal Habit

What is a journal?

We define a Journal as a Dailey record, usually written, of occurrences, experiences, observations, or just free form writing. Many articles on how to begin a journal will give you a series of questions to answer to help you get started. Frankly, the questions they offer seldom worked for me after my first or second attempt. I will offer you a distinct way to start and then provide some common questions for you to consider later after you successfully develop your habit of writing in your journal every day. There are also many types of journals that include such things as diaries, ideas for articles, health, self-reflection, and any other topics you might want to explore.

What are the benefits of having a Journal?

There are many benefits to a journal. These include psychological, creative, and emotional benefits. They have proven in many studies that regular writing in your journal helps you gain and maintain a healthy mind. James W. Pennebaker, a social psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin one pioneer of writing therapy, said there isn’t one answer. “It’s a whole cascade of things that occur,”

Your journal helps you keep your thoughts organized. It improves your writing. It allows you to record your ideas wherever you are. Other benefits of a journal are that it helps you to clarify your thoughts, reduces stress, solve problems, and defuse your anger. You can also focus your journal on specific areas in life such as the things you are grateful for.

Why is it hard to start a journal?

I’ve tried many times over the years to start a journal, but it didn’t work for me I always quit because I thought trying to answer someones’ starter questions day after day was boring. The questions weren’t topics I wanted to write about, but it didn’t work because I didn’t first build the habit of setting aside the time each day to write. Also, it didn’t work the last few times I tried because I tried to write a long journal entry. Writing in your journal must first become a daily habit for you to be successful at writing the journal. Then it can become as long as you want it to be.

Building the Journal Habit.

Building a journaling habit first requires us to understand what a habit is and then to learn how to build a successful habit. To make a habit, you need to identify your cues or triggers, the action that you want to take, and the reward. Charles Duhigg, the author of the Power of Habit, suggests we cannot build new habits because we fail to reward ourselves for taking the action. Rewards can take many forms, food, coffee, game playing, or anything else that you would like as a reward after completing the desired action. James Clear in Atomic Habits argues that initially, the habit you want to form must be tiny. We doom habits that require large actions to fail before we start.
So we will start by building a tiny habit — no questions to respond to- no pages to fill, just sit down and write one sentence a day.

Your Cue or trigger can be a time of day such as just after you brew your first cup of coffee and sit down at your desk.

Your Action is to write one sentence about anything-simple or complex.

Your Reward, after completing the Action, is to have the first sip of your coffee.

While this seems overly simplistic, it will surprise you after you get the habit entrenched in your daily routine how much you will write after a few weeks. The most important thing is to build the habit through using a tiny action first and then allowing the action to grow as it becomes more of a regular occurrence and a part of your life. You may grow to write several pages a day.

After you have successfully built your habit, here are some prompts you might want to consider as you continue your journal.

1. What three things am I grateful for today.
2. What did you accomplish yesterday
3. What worked well
4. What didn’t work so well
5. Are you holding any grudges- write them down and give them up
6. What makes you feel good
7. What was your biggest challenge last week
8. Are there things you can’t control that you let worry you- write them down and let them go
9. Get something off your chest-write it down and give up the burden
10. What do you want to do that will be fun.