How to Effortlessly Start Journaling Daily (Create the Habit Now)

by The Productive Pixie - October 16, 2021

Journaling has amazing benefits! (If you are a journaling skeptic, I'll be going over the benefits of journaling regularly in just a second) It can be hard to create habits. REALLY hard. You might want to start journaling daily because you've heard of how journaling daily has helped other people, and you want those benefits in your life too. Well, you are in the right place! You can effortlessly start journaling daily with these tips!

How to Effortlessly Start Journaling Daily (Create the Habit Now)

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Updated for 2024

I have been journaling daily for years now. Some days I'm only able to write a line or two because it's late and I'm in a hurry to get into bed, but journaling is something I always do every day.

How have I been able to journal every day for years so effortlessly?

A lot of it has to do with turning journaling daily into a habit. But journaling should also be something that you enjoy doing if you want to turn it into a habit!

If you don't especially like journaling, but you want some of the benefits below, don't worry because there are lots of little no-stress ways to journal!

The Benefits of Journaling Daily

1. You Have a History of Your Life

This is probably the most obvious benefit of journaling. When you are older, you can go back through your journal and reread all of the fun things you did in your life, and after you are... *ahem* gone your ancestors can read it.

Who knows?

Maybe your journal will be the next "Anne Frank's Diary", and tons of people will read it to see what it was like to live when you did. You have a unique perspective on life so you should write it down!

2. You Won't Forget Important Events

Very similar to the one above, but it's a tad different so I wanted to add this one to the list. For example, one of your friends might have a birthday coming up, and you know what month it is, but you don't know what day it is on.

No problem!

All you have to do is go back through your journal to see what day your friend's birthday is on. That is if you wrote down what day it was on last year!

If you didn't, well then... this really isn't going to help you.

3. Sense of Accomplishment

When you are in your eighties or maybe even your nineties, you'll probably have a couple of journals filled. That's a huge accomplishment!

But journaling has immediate benefits too. If you didn't have a very good day, before you go to bed you can journal for a few minutes. Even if you didn't achieve anything else that day, you can go to bed knowing that you documented your personal history or opinion for the day.

4. Journaling Helps You Become a Better Writer

You don't have to be a writer (not even close) to journal, but journaling helps you to become a better writer. Here's a little secret for you, if you feel like you aren't a good enough writer to keep a journal: no one else has to read it so it doesn't matter how good of a writer you are.

5. You Can Release Emotion

You can be entirely honest in your journal. No, you don't have to do the "Dear Diary, [insert rant about your day]" version of a journal. If you have a bad day though, you can write it all down.

If your life isn't working out, you can think things out on paper, and no one is going to judge you.

6. Journaling Helps You Understand Yourself

As you journal about your day, you can go back and read about previous versions of yourself to see how you've changed.

You don't have to journal about your day though. You can use journaling prompts or you can journal about things that are of interest to you.

6. Journaling Helps You be Creative

Your journal can be whatever you want it to be! You can do creative writing, drawing, or decorating. You might write stories or you might have a gratitude journal. It could be a bullet journal that contains a bunch of these elements.

It's all up to you!

How to Effortlessly Start Journaling Daily

1. Pick a Journaling Format That Works for You

First, and foremost, you need to pick a journaling format that works for you. It should be convenient, and enjoyable.

If you prefer paper and pen, then use paper and pen. If you prefer a digital journal, then use a digital journal. It's still a journal even if it is an app!

If you want to use a paper notebook, then move on to the next tip, but if you want to use a journaling app, here are a bunch of high-rated journaling apps for android (may also be available for iPhones) that you can try!

(Please note that I haven't tested any of these apps myself so I can't guarantee that they will be amazing, but they all have 4+ stars. If you are interested in me doing a post on the best journal and bullet journal apps, just let me know in the comments.)

2. Choose Supplies You Like

If you are using an app, then you already have everything you need. You can move on to the next tip. If you are using a paper notebook, then you need to find a pen you like.

Have you ever been frustrated while writing with a pen that doesn't work properly?

Yeah, me too! It's awful to write with a pen that contains ink that doesn't flow smoothly. At the beginning of your journaling journey, you should allow yourself a new pen that you'll want to write with.

And for those of us who love stationery, I don't think it will be hard for us to treat ourselves with a new pen! 😂

3. Do One Line a Day to Start

One of the easiest and best ways to make a habit stick is to start out as small as possible. If it only takes five seconds of your day, it's not going to be much of a bother to do it daily, right?

To start your journaling habit, you can write just one line every day for around thirty days, and then you can write as much as you want.

Think about the most important thing that happened to you that day, and then summarize it in one sentence. If you want to draw in your journal, then you might consider doing one doodle a day.

4. Bullet Journal + Diary in One

If you already bullet journal, then adding journaling to your life will not be hard! You can choose to either journal in your bullet journal or journaling in a separate notebook. Keep in mind that if you journal in your bullet journal, you will use up your notebook quicker.

If you journal in a separate notebook, you can tie that into your already existing bullet journaling habit, by writing in your journal right after you update your bullet journal.

If you have an old unused planner, you can use that for your journal. Just cover up the old dates, and write in the current ones. You have space to write for each day!

5. Incorporate Journaling Into Your Day

I could give you a bunch of tips here on how to incorporate journaling into your day, but I already have quite a few detailed posts on how to easily create habits so I'll link them below.

If you don't have time to read all of those articles, here is a quick tip for you to help you incorporate journaling into your day: try and journal at the same time every day and make sure that you link the task to a task that you already do every day.

6. Use Journaling Prompts

You know how it goes. You open your journal, you grab your pen, and then... nothing. What did you even do today? What do you want to write about?

It's happened to me sooo many times! Using journal prompts will eliminate this problem for you once and for all!

I started using journal prompts a few weeks ago, and it has made journaling a lot more enjoyable. I'm planning on writing a post with journaling prompt ideas that you can use, but if you want to get started now, I've been using the journaling prompts in this post.

How to Effortlessly Start Journaling Daily (Create the Habit Now)

Good luck with your journaling habit! Keeping a journal has been a huge benefit in my life, and I hope that it will be for you as well. If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. :)

If you liked this post, you can read these ones too!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Save this post for later, if you want to create a journaling habit that sticks. Thank you!

Tags : lifestyle