Are you looking to firmly establish your journaling habit within your daily routine? Do you want a more regular journaling practice within the bounds of your already-hectic schedule?
Then step forth as we explore some of the reasons why it can be difficult to keep a journaling habit, how to get started, and how to keep to it over a longer period of time.
Difficulties When Building a Journaling Habit
Like most habits, there are a number of reasons why it can be challenging to keep a journal regularly:
- Lack of time in an otherwise busy schedule is one of the main reasons anyone struggles to start a journaling habit, irrespective of whether it concerns gratitude journaling practices or bullet journaling ideas.
- In a similar way, people can find it challenging to start journaling because they do not know how to start, overthinking the point of entry to the point of not starting altogether. This is one of the big reasons that journal entries can so often invoke procrastination.
- Equally, there can be an inclination in prospective journalers and those otherwise looking to start a daily journaling habit toward perfectionism. This is something that readily presents itself in all walks of life, so it should be no surprise that journaling techniques bear it too.
- A lack of consistency is another of the main things that can have an impact on the potency of journaling tips to make a dent in any of the other points listed above. It's one thing to start writing out journal prompts in a journaling style but to stay totally consistent with it is another thing entirely.
- As much as journals are an amazing place for personal growth, they can also be overwhelming in their potency, perhaps even touching on a nerve that might otherwise like to remain untouched. Using writing prompts for growth in this way ought to be done with caution.
- Lastly, but by no means least in terms of its effect on the difficulty of maintaining a journaling habit, is a lack of motivation that can affect any journaler every now and then. This occurs no matter how solidly and consistently you have otherwise been keeping up with it previously and is, in this way, impossible to predict.
Kick-Off Session
Still in the early stages of establishing your journaling habit? Then try using a kick-off session to properly set an intention for it, answering the following questions in your own journal entry:
Why do you want to build a journaling habit?
Useful for starting any leather journal, no matter what type it might be or what you specifically hope to get out of it.
What does a 'journaling habit' mean to you?
Before you start out it would be useful to define what you mean by a habit - i.e. how often you intend to fill a blank page in a digital journal with your musings.
What challenges do you anticipate in keeping a journal?
Reviewing some of the reasons keeping up a journaling habit is difficult listed above and make a note of which resonate with you the most.
How can you make journaling a part of your current routine?
The key to making a routine of it is to adopt it into your daily life and the routines you already have in it. A journaling session should fit snugly amongst what you already do.
How will you reward yourself for keeping a journal in this way?
Having an incentive in this way can be a great way to trick the mind into yearning for it. Try treating yourself to something after you have, say, completed a whole week of consistent journaling.
What tips can you adopt for building your own journaling habit?
Pick out a few tips from further on in this article and write down a few that you intend to use for your own journaling practice. Much like positive affirmations, this is a great way to enhance your journaling technique by making promises to yourself.
12-Step Program: Tips for Starting a Lasting Habit
So, you know yourself and your weaknesses. Let's build some strengths with these top tips for getting started in the world of journaling.
- Starting Small - starting with small manageable goals is one of the keys to actually sticking to a habit rather than just giving up in the face of difficulty.
- Daily Routine - incorporating your practice into your daily routine will ensure that you stick with it rather than giving it up, for it is likely to feel like an actual part of your life and not just some extraneous wonder orbiting you.
- Simple & Easy - it's important to remember that a journal entry doesn't always have to be a florid and supplicant entry to some higher power. Rather, it can be as simple and easy as a few sentences or even bullet points. Sometimes, it doesn't even have to use words at all...
- Reminders - if you are the kind of person that is prone to forgetting, a great way to avoid this forgetfulness when first getting into the habit is to use alarms to prompt you into engaging with it. This is another great way to ensure that you are incorporating your journal into your routine at a specific time of day.
- Prompts - there's no shame in using journal prompts to get you started, to stir the juices within you to the point of over-spilling out onto the page. In a world where we are constantly dissociated from overwhelming reality, prompts like this can be entirely necessary.
- Templates - in a similar way, you can find templates for journals online and use them for your own needs as and when necessary. Though it is advised that you don't copy it verbatim, it is fine if you need a little inspiration to get you started.
- Perfectionism - as already alluded to above, you should try to let go of perfectionism as much as you can. It can only lead you down false alleys of ego and self-centeredness, especially when you realize just how imperfect the most perfect things are.
- Backfilling - who's to say that you can't go back into your journal and fill in those missing entries that you couldn't otherwise fill in at the time? This is a common thing for those who have maintained a consistent journaling streak over a long period of time, enabling users to keep their streak without necessarily journaling every single day.
- Tracking - keeping track of your progress in a journal or an app of some kind is a great way to ensure you are keeping to your journaling practice while also staying motivated. There will even be some apps that offer you motivational quotes, something that will no doubt appeal to some users more than others.
- Experimenting - what works for some users will no doubt work less effectively for others, so it is important to experiment with different types of journaling and see what works best for you, even if it doesn't necessarily appeal to you at first.
- Celebrate - ensure that you are commending yourself on the victories that you accomplish throughout your journaling practice, no matter how small they might seem in the grand scheme of things. By rewarding yourself and congratulating yourself, you are engaging in positive reinforcement which will no doubt make you more likely to stick to it.
- Reflection - equally, it is useful to reflect and assess where you are at with it from time to time, checking what works and what does not so that you can streamline your practice for the better.
Final Words
So, there you have it! Hopefully, you are now feeling ready and able to get into your journaling practice once and for all, showing it who's boss.
FAQs Journaling Habit
IS JOURNALING A GOOD HABIT?
It sure can be, depending of course on what you fill your journey with. Filling it with negative thoughts is not that great of a habit to be engaging with.
IS JOURNALING A HABIT OR A HOBBY?
There is no need to be so distinct about these two things. Rather, a habit can be a hobby as much as a hobby can become a habit. Habits have got a bad rap as being a bad thing that we can't control, though this is not always the case.
HOW DO YOU KEEP THE HABIT OF JOURNALING?
Mostly by ensuring that you are staying true to yourself and what you want, though you can also try tricking yourself into it by using alarms and other technology to affirm your practice.
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE JOURNALING A HABIT?
This will greatly depend on each individual user. It could take anywhere from a few days to several months to establish a journaling habit within your routine. This will especially be the case for those with more hectic schedules within which the practice is being slotted.
