Why Journaling Will Change Your Life Forever

How To Get Started With An Effective Journaling Practice

If you have an interest in personal development you have likely already heard people spouting about the power of journaling. If you are yet to get to grips with this tool, or you just don’t know where to get started, then this article is designed to help you get going with a journaling practise as a beginner.

Journaling, diarising, recording of thoughts is nothing new, it’s been around for centuries many of the greats of the world testify to keeping a journal from Albert Einstein, Mother Teresa, Thomas Edison, Gandhi to today’s business leaders, Oprah and Richard Branson. Tim Ferris described keeping a journal as

‘The simplest most effective way to be happier”

I can remember keeping a dear diary as a teenage girl attempting to navigate my feelings during adolescence. Whilst I don’t remember what I used to write in it, or why I started. I do have a vague memory of it bringing me comfort. Especially as being someone who is naturally quite introvert and didn’t always feel comfortable talking to others about the way I was feeling.

Journaling as I do it today isn’t some dear diary formula, it’s become so much more than that. I was told by a coach of mine some years ago to get a notebook and start a journaling practice. With not much more information or guidance to go on, I began having no idea what I was doing or really why I was doing it.

Having developed a pretty consistent practice over the last 7 years, it really has become the transformational tool that my coach back then promised me it would be, despite going into it with blind faith.

It has helped me to coach myself and to become a better coach for my own clients. I now feel more confident, happier, less stressed, less likely to lose my sh*t, to be more productive, to overcome self-doubt or when negative thoughts try and take over. It’s allowed me to know who I am on a much deeper level, to know what I want for my life and feel empowered in discovering how I can create that for myself.

I started out being very flexible with it, and I think that’s an important element is not to force it. Don’t journal every day just because someone told you that you should.

I developed it over time, it became more impactful on my life, which became the driving force behind me wanting to do it more regularly. I did it more because I could see it working. I now journal pretty much every day, because of how good it helps me to feel.

It helps bring clarity, focus, motivation and allows me to work through thoughts or emotions that are challenging me. Its’ the way in which I am able to make sense of life. If I don’t feel like doing it then I don’t, there are no rules, it gets to be fun, it gets to be a joyful practice, something that is just for you and no one else.

“Keeping a journal will change your life in a way that you had never imagined” — Oprah Winfrey

With all that has happened over the last 12 months and having to deal with a global pandemic. Journaling has been the number one thing that has allowed me to remain balanced and to ultimately keep functioning the best that I can. I believe that is a result of allowing myself to express all my emotions in my journaling practice. The people I see that are struggling the most is because they simply haven’t been able to process or accept all that is going on. And this is becoming backed by research too. Expressive writing can help you to deal with your emotions, it slows down the emotional response to situations and allows you to evaluate them.

How To Get Started

Journaling is about your own exploration and to figure what is the style that you connect with the most.

There are many different styles such as art journaling or bullet journaling. These always look amazing to me, so beautiful and for those that like to express in being creative, these maybe roots for you to explore. However, I am not arty and have zero interest in doing that.

If something is going to become a habit in my life it has to be easy, effective and quick!

I tend to spend anywhere between 5–20 minutes journaling, depending on what I want to write about. It forms part of my morning routine, I get to check in with myself first before I go and check-in with the rest of the world. Sometimes I can write a few paragraphs, or if I’m having challenges showing up or things I want to work on it can be 3 pages or more. Each day is different, I take from it what I need in the moment and also with the time I have available, and that is the beauty of it.

I simply use the written word in a plain lined notebook and a simple Bic biro. Simple yet effective!! My handwriting is messy, there is no editing or worrying about spelling, none of that matters.

Here are some of the methods I have used to get started.

Reflections

Reflect on the day that has just passed. What wins did you experience? What’s working? What progress was made? What shifts are you noticing? We tend to be very negatively biased and so it’s important to train your brain to look for what’s good in your life. This will help to feed into your self belief, confidence and increase your motivation to want to go in search of and take the actions that will help you to create more of those wins.

Identify the challenges you faced. What didn’t go to plan? Create an understanding which are the habits and behaviours that are supporting you, and those which are holding you back or leading you to feel dissatisfied, unhappy, or stuck in sabotaging behaviours.

Reflective work will help you to make sense of what’s happening with your life and also deal with any emotions that are showing up. It let’s you express and face your emotions rather than continually packing them down. It’s also going to let you interpret the facts and what’s realty of what’s going. The mind has a tendency to fabricate stories based on our emotional responses rather than actual facts. Writing it down will help you to, process, summarise and create a deeper understanding of the things that you are writing out.

Intention Setting

This is where you get to clarify what it is that you are working towards as you go forward, setting the intentions for the day ahead. I like to have a moment to create the vision of how I would be showing up in my ideal life. If today was going to be the day when everything went with perfect flow and you ended the day feeling like a complete boss who is living her best life, how would you be showing up?

What would you be getting done?
How would you feel?
Who would you be connecting with?
What would you be experiencing?
What is your energy/confidence/focus like?
What are you excited for?
What are you calling in to your life?
What would get to feel fun?

Write it out in as much detail and really feel into what your ideal day would look like.

After this section that I like to integrate the use of a planner. I will write out the key points as the action steps I want to complete for the day and I transfer them over to the Daily Action sheet in my life planner.

Gratitude Journaling

We have heard many times the benefit of practising gratitude. It brings you into the present moment and allows you to have a deeper appreciation for the life you already have. If you want to attract more success and happiness into your life, it’s important to be able to realise all that you already have

“ I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to achieve happiness — it’s right in front of me if I am paying attention and practising gratitude” — Brene Brown

Pick one thing each day that you are grateful for, and then write down 5 reasons you are grateful for that one thing. Gratitude x 5 helps you to deepen the emotional connection with the things that you are choosing to be grateful for. The stronger the emotion the greater the impact.

Journaling Questions

A big part of journaling is going within yourself to answer the questions that you have for your life. Simply writing out the answers to profound and meaningful questions.

If you are not sure what the right questions to be asking are, a great way to get started is to use journaling prompts. Pinterest is personally my favourite way to go in search of journaling prompts. You can use it as a search tool for whatever area of your life you are looking to improve.

Just type in ‘journaling prompts for …’

Self-belief, relationships, success, healing, mental health, self discovery, anxiety etc…

The list could go on, but you get the idea right? What is the area you want to work on the most, then go and find or ask yourself the questions that you need answering in your own life. The answers are already within you, you are your own best coach. Journaling, the pen and that pad of paper will help you pull out the answers and find the solutions you are searching for.

These would be my most basic get started templates. But this really is just the beginning of exploring this powerful tool. It’s an ongoing practice that I am constantly learning more about and evolving as I go and I encourage you to do the same.