Ways to Stop Thinking About Journaling and Actually Start Journaling

Feel free to have your journal as disjointed as you want.

Leo Babatua of ZenHabits says he only writes his journal in bullet points; just three to six per day. By making it this easy, he says it’s much more attainable for him to keep it up.

Instead of getting a notebook to journal in, get a (large) desk calendar or date book, and then just challenge yourself to write a sentence or two every day, on that day.

This small amount of writing a day feels attainable. By writing it on a calendar, it’s very obvious when you’ve missed a day.

Sometimes the hardest part of journaling is staring at a blank page and not knowing what to write about.

Create a template that you follow every day. Maybe that’s writing three things you’re grateful for every day, or asking yourself a question each day, like “What can I do to make tomorrow better than today?” If it’s helpful, you can create printable journaling “worksheets” that lay out the activities you’ve promised yourself to do.

Find a bunch of interesting prompts that you’re excited to write about, and then spend each day journaling on a different one.

Search for “journaling prompts” and start collecting your favorites. Compile them all in a Word document or on the first page of your journal and work your way down the list.