4 Factors to Keep a Consistent Journaling Habit

From a ‘journaling machine’ himself

I’m a journaling machine.

I keep several daily journals and a few daily tracking mechanisms (like noting down my weight).

When something is a habit, you don’t have trouble maintaining consistency. It’s automatic or semi-automatic.

Every morning, I sit down with my journal and answer one question that comes to my mind, using a pen.

Every evening, I scribble entries in my three gratitude journals.

Every day, I type in my online progress journal.

Some people turn on the TV or check their email in the morning. I journal. It’s a choice that, with time, becomes a habit.

A few things that help me to stick with my journaling:

1. I identify with this activity.

My motto is “Progress is my duty.” I didn’t even notice how journaling gradually crept into my life. I was focused on improving myself. I tracked some activities of mine, and I met with many recommendations to journal for personal development.

In the first several months I dabbled with journaling; it was quite regular, but not a habit.

Then, I recognized the importance of this activity for my personal growth. “Know thyself” is one of the cornerstones of success.

2. It’s natural for me.

I’m a reader/writer type. I hate watching videos. I like to listen to audio, but it’s very hard for me to gain use from it. If I need to absorb some lesson, I have to take pen and paper, rewind the recording a few times, and write the main points down.

But writing? It’s not a problem for me.

3. I enjoy journaling.

I like the feeling of writing down my thoughts. It clarifies them and provides me explanations to my behaviors and methods to deal with my obstacles, emotions, and moods.

I like helping people, and I feel I serve people via my public journaling, demonstrating that progress is not something mysterious, but available to everyone.

I love my gratitude journals. I know that they fix my thinking like nothing else by focusing my attention on positives or framing negatives in a positive light.

4. I like having data.

The sheer act of writing something down helps me to remember it better and brings it to my attention. For example, I track my expenses. Very rarely I analyze them, but I write down every cent coming out of my pocket.

I attest that it really helps with saving money.

A similar thing is with registering how much I slept. I don’t know if I analyzed the data a few times in the last few years, but the act of tracking this metric makes me aware of my sleeping patterns and energy levels.

Some data I analyze fairly often. I keep also a writing log, when I note down everything I wrote to be published — Quora answers, books, email broadcasts, articles and so on. In this log, I register the time, what I wrote, in which language, and my average speed. Thanks to the data, I discovered that I write as fast in Polish as in English.

I also noticed a significant improvement in my writing speed over the last few years.

Originally published in Quora.com.