Self-development is something we all strive for, but we often don’t know where to start. Have you been looking for a way to finally reach your goals or improve areas in your life? Journaling can be an outlet that helps you pinpoint where you’re struggling and how you’ve grown. It’s also a great way to purge the mind of negative thoughts and document positive feelings and accomplishments.
When you journal, you’re putting aspirations and frustrations into words. Once you begin writing these moments down, you will find yourself on the road to achieving your dreams. Here are 6 tips to help you get started with journaling for self-development.
1. Set Your Intentions
The first step for starting a journal is to decide why you want to begin writing and what you hope to get out of it. Maybe you would like to have a memoir-style diary where you document your feelings, tasks, or daily activities. Keeping a daily log is a quick way to jot down thoughts and get things off your chest. Or perhaps, you are beginning a new chapter in life and want to keep a record of how things started and progressed, like a fresh relationship, new job, or health journey. Journaling with the intention of recording your growth can be extremely eye-opening.
Finally, you might consider starting a journal to give to someone else. If you’re a new mom or dad, consider keeping a diary of what it’s like to be a parent and family life, then gift it to your child when they’re grown. Whatever your intentions for journaling may be, it’s important you begin the writing process with a clear purpose. This ensures you will stay motivated to journal and work on self-development.
2. Choose Your Medium
When you document your thoughts, it does not always have to be in a traditional lined notebook. You might find it easier to express your feelings when you speak out loud, so using a recording device as your diary may be more beneficial. Or perhaps, you’re the type of person who has long trains of thought and would rather quickly document them on your phone or computer.
If do you stick to a classic notebook, finding one that you’re excited to write in will push you to journal more consistently. You might also consider starting a video journal, where you record messages and document significant life memories. Talking to a camera can be a great outlet for expressing your feelings, and it creates a project you can always look back on.
After you are confident in your purpose for journaling and what medium you plan to use, you can then begin documenting your feelings in ways that will allow you to work on self-development.
3. Find a Schedule That Works for You
If you’re trying to journal for self-development, then you want to avoid it feeling like a chore or a burden. This can happen if you don’t set aside the ideal time of day to write or record. The best journaling session time will be different for everyone.
Maybe you’re the type of person who is most focused early in the morning with a cup of coffee, and this is the time when you can really put your thoughts into words. Or perhaps, you’re someone who is always on the go and rarely has a moment to yourself. If so, you might find using a recorder and talking things through on the drive home from work is effective. It’s all about finding the right time to journal that fits with your lifestyle.
If you try to force yourself to write every single day but find you’re too busy with meetings or taking care of kids or a pet, then aim for journaling once a week. It’s perfectly fine to just write a recap of your week or touch base every few days. Even journaling once a month can still provide measurable results.
No matter how often you journal, you will instantly feel lighter after every session. You do not have to write for an hour as you may have thought when considering journaling. It can be a quick check-in that is as short as 5 minutes just to jot down your emotions. Discover how much time you can truly commit to journaling, form the habit, and you will feel more relaxed from the process.
4. Categorize Your Goals
Another aspect of journaling for self-development is writing down your aspirations. When you put your goals into words, you are more likely to achieve them. The key is to categorize your dreams into different areas of life so that they become more tangible. If you’re journaling in a notebook, you can divide it into separate sections for career, health, relationships, and life adventures.
In your career category, you might document achievements you’re proud of, or list out frustrations while brainstorming ideas to overcome them. If you want to lose weight, you might use the health section to keep track of your progress. It’s an opportunity to write down inspiring words that will encourage you to keep going.
For the relationships category, you can journal about your dating life and the excitement and nerves that come with a first date. You might vent about your parents always fighting, or how friends are getting on your nerves. Writing down aspects that do or do not work well will help you learn what is really important to you in life.
Finally, personal growth isn’t just about your career or relationships; it’s also about devoting time to your passions. That is why the life adventures category is so important. This is where you can journal about places you want to see or talents you want to develop. It’s your chance to openly write about dreams and put a plan of action together.
In no time, you will be able to look back and see how much you have achieved. Dividing your aspirations into sections will allow you to concretely devote time to each area of your life.
5. Write About What Inspires You in the Moment
A journal does not have to fit a concrete outline. Although sometimes in life, we need to check a box or have firm expectations, in a journal, you can creatively let your feelings flow. In fact, the most effective journaling sessions will be ones where you write freely about topics that excite you at the moment.
You can write about your day and list things that happened, the activities you did, or tasks you accomplished. Or you might develop a mood journal where you have short daily entries about how you were feeling that day. This allows you to express your feelings in a safe place and talk yourself through emotions.
Another option is to start a gratitude journal. You might consider writing down 5 to 10 things you are grateful for every day or week. Pausing and taking a moment to reflect on aspects of life you are grateful for can create a more positive mindset.
The possibilities for journaling are vast, and it’s all about finding what comes naturally when you sit down to write. From there, you will be able to leverage journaling for self-development.
6. Use Your Journal as Your Own Best Friend
The beauty of a journal is that it is a safe space for all of your thoughts. Journaling is essentially writing to yourself and being your own best friend. In the movie of life, your friends and family are all the supporting characters, and you are the main star.
Journaling is where you have the opportunity to really focus on yourself and make sure you continue to shine. When you journal, you can truly say anything you want. You can be brutally honest about your performance on a presentation or your excitement from meeting someone new. You can write motivating words to yourself that you can always look back to when you need a confidence boost. By venting frustrations, you might realize you were overreacting, as journaling helps to improve our perspectives.
There is also room to document any events or thoughts you might feel silly sharing with someone else but want to remember. Your journal is the ultimate keeper of your secrets and your loftiest goals. Having the ability to be your own cheerleader through journaling can be an empowering source for self-growth.
Final Thoughts
The hardest part of trying something new is actually starting it. Once you make it over the hurdle of writing your first journal entry, the rest will come easily.
Self-development is a never-ending process, and journaling is a way to document your growth. We are always changing and improving every single day, whether we are aware of it or not. It can be very enlightening to look back on journal entries you made a few months ago and compare them to more recent ones. You might find that you accomplished more goals than you initially planned or that your desires have actually changed.
Journaling can give you the deepest insight into your feelings, which is the path to becoming the best version of yourself. So, take these 6 tips on how to start journaling and challenge yourself to embark on a journaling adventure. In no time, you will be proud of how far you’ve come.
More Tips on How to Start Journaling
- Why You Should Keep A Journal And How To Get Started
- How to Build a Journaling Habit in 28 Days
- The 5-Step Guide to Starting an Online Journaling Practice
Featured photo credit: Thought Catalog via unsplash.com
