Journaling is a powerful tool that can help you become more productive, find clarity through reflection, enhance your creativity and enable you to better understand your goals.
Gaining a deeper understanding of your thoughts and motivations, will help reduce stress and inspire a new sense of confidence in your daily life.
The key to journaling is to write openly without censoring your thoughts or limiting your ideas. This is your journal, on your terms - don’t feel you have to conform to a particular style or format that you’ve seen elsewhere. Decide on the approach that suits you.
If you like building lists and icons - create that way, if you prefer to have less structure and write with an open stream of consciousness letting your thoughts spill onto the page - do that. The more comfortable you are with your journal's look and feel, the more you will use it.
Remember, there is no right or wrong. Do what feels natural when you open your journal.
If you haven't decided which type of journal you should use (dot grid, blank or lined) check out our handy guide here.
Before you begin
Pick a time of day to write in your journal that is both convenient and realistic for your schedule and lifestyle.
If it's hard to keep writing every day, try setting up a rule e.g., "I have to write for at least 5 minutes every day" or "I have to write for 1 hour over the weekend"
Think about what you want from your journal: Is it for reflection? For self-improvement? For creative ideas? Or a mix of all three?
What should I write about?
If you're on the fence about starting a journal or have been journaling inconsistently, don’t worry we’re here to help.
Many of us have had the best of intentions to journal but all of us have face writers block. Where to start? What should I say? Can I commit to this right now?
Ultimately, when it becomes too daunting or overwhelming we often close our journal - untouched and convincing ourselves we’ll try again later.
Here’s 17 journal prompts for self-improvement
To help you overcome the fear of the blank page and spark your imagination, we’ve put together 17 prompts that you can use as starting points when you journal next.
Each prompt is designed to help you reveal more about your motivations, offering insights and starting points on your journey of constant self-improvement.
1. What’s one thing that you really want to do, but haven't achieve yet. What's holding you back and how can you overcome it?
2. What is a goal that you are working towards, who or what can help you get there faster?
3. Celebrate the wins, what situation or challenge have you recently overcome that you're proud of?
4. Is there a topic you want to learn more about or skills you wish you had more of? What are they?
5. What's the niggling task you've been delaying that is starting to make you feel anxious? Map out a quick action plan - lets get it done.
6. Who is someone in your life that you'd like to spend more time with? What could you do together?
7. Which apps on your phone add the most value to you? Once you've narrowed down the list, which can you remove to reduce distractions?
8. Brainstorm some random ideas for things you can do with your family and friends - quality time and human connection is important. It just doesn't always have to be on the couch.
9. What small win are you most proud of in the past week? How can you build on that success?
10. If you had to write down your perfect day in just a few sentences, what would it involved, where would it be and who would be there?
11. What are three things you could do today to make the day easier for a loved one?
12. If you could accomplish 10 things this month, what would they be and which is the most important?
13. Write down where you see yourself in 5 years time, just bullet points to keep it loose and free. Then expand on them.
14. Write your bucket-list. Don’t hold back. The sooner you start, the sooner you'll complete it.
15. Is there something or someone you need to let go? Write it down and let it fade into the past.
16. When did you last feel refresh, inspired and energised? Who or what made you feel that?
17. When you think of the future, what's the first thought that comes to mind? Explore and expand on that.
We hope you find a few of these starting points useful and helpful in your journalling journey. Which of these do you think you'll start with first?
Don't forget to check out our range of Phantom limited edition journals and notebooks too.
