• Recording your thoughts in a medium outside your own head helps your mind to become quieter: It stops returning to the same worn-out mental loops over and over. 
• When you recount and reflect upon your thoughts and experiences you are, in effect, telling your own story. Journaling helps us clarify, edit, and find new meaning in these narratives.

Journaling about your goals helps you clarify what you want and encourages you to consider the why and how not just the what. 

It serves as a tool for identifying what you should prioritize on a daily basis, and what you should let go of. And it also gives you a record of the progress you’ve made toward your goals to keep you motivated.

• Use pen and paper, to reap the psychological and productive benefits of journaling;
• Make it a habit: Keep your journal in the same spot where you’ll see it at the same time every day.
• Embrace slowness. Resist the instinct to rush through it to get to the next thing.
• Don’t edit; just write.
• Experiment and find out which approaches work best for you.