Following up on our recent blogs about journaling, we’d like to take a deep dive into 9 ways we’ve identified that journaling can benefit you. Naturally, journaling is a very subjective thing and how you go about it is as unique as you are. To illustrate how journaling might benefit you on a personal level, Sam would like to share a bit about his personal journaling habit after we introduce each journaling benefit. So, if you’re interested in journaling, are looking to be more consistent with it, or are looking to get more out of it, then here are some ideas  to test out or incorporate into your routine.

 

Hi, Sam here. My thoughts will be in italics for this piece to add some examples and thoughts about each of the journaling benefits we’ll list below. I’m no expert on journaling, but I’ve tried a variety of gratitude and goal journals, journal daily, and helped create our company’s self-reflection products. I find journaling very helpful for organizing my day and thoughts. Like Dylan, I’ve turned to journaling as a form of self-therapy (as in using journaling to sort out my experiences and feelings). I’ve experimented with different journaling formats and have experienced each of the 9 benefits of journaling that Decker will share below. After each benefit below, I’ll share specific examples of how I got that benefit and journaling approaches that might inform your journaling practice.

 

9 Ways Journaling Can Help

1) Journaling can preserve memories – years from now not only can you look back on the events that helped to shape your life, but you can also share and reflect on who you were and what you were thinking and feeling. Being able to look back on, and even share, these memories can be great for remembering treasured moments and reflecting on who you’ve become.

 

Sam:

My daily journaling is typically just 6 or 7 lines long, but I can see a rough record of my life as I look back over the entries. My to do list shows what I was working on and also shows how consistent I have or haven’t been with my daily habits and tasks. I list at least 3 things I’m grateful for in the morning. These things are often highlights that made the day special. Looking back, I can piece together the story of my life, remember when things happened, and celebrate some of the best happenings again.

Flipping through my old journals, I’m reminded of special moments.

2/25/2019 – This entry is from after my second therapy session during a rough patch in my life. I wrote: “I like what Ron (my therapist) does for a living. I could do that! Read, share, mentor, discuss, improve lives, help with catastrophes.”

Reading the entry instantly transports me back to the cushy armchair I’d sit in while Ron and I talked. It reminds me of that time in my life where I was learning new tools to live a better life. I can reflect on my impressions of therapists and see how my insight then still resonates with me and my desire to learn and help. 

 

 

2) Journaling provides a place to process your thoughts and feelings – journaling offers a unique environment to freely explore ideas without fear of judgment. Journaling allows you to explore, connect, and refine nebulous ideas, thoughts, and feelings into more concrete forms, helps you to think about and process a range of ideas, and offers you a chance to gain clarity on what you want to express.

 

Sam:

My favorite way to journal for processing thoughts and feelings is to ask myself questions then try to answer them. Flipping through my journals, I’ll see many of the same questions over and over. Some of my favorites are:

  • How am I feeling?
  • What happened with ___? (fill in the blank with a recent, baffling situation)
  • What am I missing?
  • What do I want?
  • What impact do I want to have?

As creators of conversation cards, we obviously value asking questions. Questions are the first step in getting answers. Answers help us orient, understand, and take better action. I find asking myself questions in my journaling prompts me to sort through my thoughts and feelings. Once they’re sorted, I have solid answers or at least am aware of my range of feelings and ideas.

 

 

3) Journaling creates space for yourself – journaling offers a time to check-in with yourself which can be psychologically powerful, cathartic, or inspiring. It allows you to tap into your strongest feelings and try to express them. It also gives you a chance to be mindful, breathe, and be yourself without distractions or filters.

 

Sam:

I like to start and end my day with journaling for this very reason. Sitting down with a notebook creates a few minutes of silence and stillness. I can check in with myself, remind myself of my priorities, take time to be grateful, and reflect on the day. By spending just a few minutes a day, I’m able to give more context to each day and be more aligned with who I want to be.

 

4) Journaling helps you to see growth – either by looking back through old journals and seeing your journey and the obstacles you’ve overcome or by helping you to keep on track with current plans, journaling can help you to see where you are putting in effort to learn and grow.

 

Sam:

One of my morning prompts is ‘What’s Important Now?’ This prompt helps me identify my top priority for the day by assessing my environment and responsibilities. I identify my most important task for the day and write it down. I identify it and, on a good day, get to work on it right away. If I make progress on my highest priority, the rest of the day’s work is a bonus. If I identify and make progress on What’s Important Now each day, I’ll make a lot of progress over time. Reviewing my journals I can see when I’m pushing myself by working on tough tasks or taking it easy and choosing too-easy tasks as my highest priority. I can observe my growth over time as I tackle tough challenges and recognize my slowing growth when my priorities are a bit too light.

I like to journal about my goals too. For the past 5 years or so, I’ve set yearly goals. It’s fun to see what I accomplished over the years and how each year of effort informs the next year. Simple check marks representing accomplished goals encompass loads of work, doubt, and persistence. Looking back over my goals and remembering what I’ve accomplished feels good and helps me believe that the work I put in today will be something I’ll be proud of in the future. Sometimes it’s hard to assess how much we’re growing; keeping a record of goals and daily progress helps me make the case that I’m making strides.

 

5) Journaling can be inspirational – Sometimes you’ll be surprised where journaling can lead you. By writing about, reflecting on, and connecting with the things that inspire you or by taking steps to plan out dreams of your own, journaling can help to motivate and inspire you to learn, grow, and achieve. If you write down goals, look at your goals, reflect on your goals, and interact with your goals, you’re more likely to act on them! From daily affirmations to yearly planning, keeping a journal can motivate and inspire on any time frame.

 

Sam:

I write out the same two affirmations every day as part of my journaling process. I connect to my intentions, write the affirmations, and say them to myself as I write them. A bit woo woo if you ask me, but I think there’s a benefit in firmly stating what I will become. At the very least, this portion of my daily journaling helps me keep my eyes on the prize: who I want to become.

 

6) Journaling can provide mental clarity – sometimes, especially when we are busy, we collect a lot of things to keep in mind. Journaling can help to get these things out of your head and onto the page to reclaim mental space so you can organize your thoughts, find and understand underlying feelings, and identify the most important things to you so you can focus on them instead of the junk.

 

Sam:

I include a to-do list in my daily journal for exactly this reason. I plan tomorrow today by writing out my top tasks for tomorrow just before going to bed. This way I have ‘assignments’ upon waking and don’t need to decide what I’ll do the day of. I can check my to-do list and get to work. This reduces my mental clutter and gives me a touchstone throughout the day; when I finish a task and am not sure what to do next, I pop open my journal, check my to-do list, and tackle the next thing. One of my favorite things about the to-do list is crossing something off it. I celebrate each finished task as an important step in my growth.

7) Journaling can help you keep a routine and be accountable – journaling can act as a core habit around which a lot of other routines can be built. It can be a way to keep track of your other habits, help you to plan out required steps for goals, and helps you to better manage your time.

 

Sam:

Absolutely! I keep my journal on my headboard so I remember to write in it first thing in the morning. When it’s time for bed, I track down my journal, do my night time journaling, and put it in its resting place so I’ll see it and be reminded to start my day with it the next day. Journaling has become a staple of my daily routine and helps me start and end my day on a positive, reflective note.

8) Journaling can show you the way – journaling can help to provide crucial time for you to plan, brainstorm, and solve problems. From just allowing you to have some space to think about problems to planning steps to solve them, to even taking time to review the results of what you tried, journaling can help you to discover solutions and reflect on feedback.

 

Sam:

I use journaling to problem solve. When I face a difficult problem without a clear solution, I write basic questions like ‘What’s going on?’, ‘Why is this so hard?’, or ‘How do I navigate this well?’. Writing responses forces me to think through the problem and either identify elements of the problem I need to pay attention to or helps me plan action items for working through the situation.

Over the course of our business, I’ve journaled in response to hundreds of questions about the quandaries we faced. Additionally, personal questions, life questions, and even questions about arguments or fights are recorded in my journals. In my answers, I see the seeds of what I did about the situations. Journaling has been a great way to seek my own counsel and plan my approach to complicated problems.

9) Journaling helps you to be true to yourself – You can’t lie to yourself. As you write truthfully, you may gain insight into what really matters. It can help to identify the things that are holding you back and encourages you to grow. By working through and writing down what you learn about yourself, you cut through the noise to discover what will ultimately help you.

 

Sam:

Lately, my daily journaling centers around gratitude and priorities. This suffices most days to keep me organized and feeling good. However, when I run into a big issue that deserves significant attention, I’ll write multiple pages of thoughts, questions, and rough plans. Because I’ve done this for several years, I can look back to see what was on my mind months or years ago. There are topics that pop up again and again. These recurring questions or points of interest seem to be the themes of my life. I’d say these themes are the things that really matter to me and are revealed by journaling over time.

There is something to be said for the non-judgmental disposition of a journal. Our journals don’t judge us or dominate our conversations. Journals are very good listeners so I think we feel free to be truthful or unguarded with them. I’ve had some hard conversations and explored some tough feelings in my journals. The writing aspect makes exploring these ideas a little different from just thinking about them. Putting the words on the page requires some clarifying work from the writer. In sharing the ideas with a non-judgmental, silent listener, we cut through the noise in our heads and have a chance to understand ourselves better.

 

 

As you can see, journaling offers a suite of benefits. And because how you journal is unique to you and fully within your control, you can select the most appealing benefits and structure your journaling methods to promote those benefits.

There is no right or wrong way to journal. You just have to experiment to find what works best for you. Even so, sometimes people are hesitant to start journaling. Maybe they don’t know what to write or feel like they’re feelings aren’t worth writing down. Others might feel like journaling is pointless because it doesn’t seem to be doing anything for them in their daily lives. From our personal experience, we’ve gotten a lot out of journaling and recommend it to anyone looking to sort themselves out. If you want to give it a try or want to tweak your current journaling format, pick from the above benefits and the 20 journaling methods shared in our previous blog to find the journaling format that works for you.

Picture of Decker

Decker

Co-Founder of Upgraded Us

Picture of Sam

Sam

Co-Founder of Upgraded Us

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *