Journaling to some, may seem like a silly idea. ‘Why would I journal? There’s nothing wrong with me? I don’t need to write down my thoughts, gratitude’s or positive affirmations, or any of that woo-hoo mumbo jumbo!”

I understand but trust me when I say, journaling also a practical application. In this blog I’ll detail how I started my journaling and share tips on how you can start to. It’s really easy, and in this blog, I offer 3-tips to help.

1. Write at the end of the day.

2. Ask yourself these questions.

3. Don’t be shy!

First let’s start off with why.

Why Journal?

I started my journaling in June 2023, when I lost my career due to an incident (which I later declared as my “prosperous shipwreck”). I found out about journaling through Lewis Howe’s book, “The Greatness Mindset”, a self-improvement book with many exercises to steer your life into the right direction. Howe’s discusses the benefits of journaling and one of them being a place to dump your thoughts.

All too often we pack our thoughts into our mind, storing them into tightly spaced storage areas in our brain until we can’t put stuff in there anymore. With so much being stuffed into our container, eventually it’ll explode, pouring out of our heads and unfortunately, out of our mouths. So, to prevent such a calamity, journaling is like an external storage device. We offload our annoying thoughts, our annoying troubles onto the journals.

Ryan Holiday, author of many Stoic books like “The Obstacle is the Way” and “Ego is the Enemy,” discusses how many successful people journal, to have a conversation with themselves. Like chatting with a friend, you talk what went on with your day, what events occurred good or bad, that got you emotionally riled up. “Write them down,” Holiday states. “Because paper doesn’t talk back. It’s always there for you.”

If you want to go even deeper, Alex Hormozi, CEO of Acuisition.com and author of the widely successful series of business books, “100M Offers” and “100M Leads”, stated he has a conversation with his 85-year old self. He asks his much wiser, more experience self, how would he deal with a situation or what decision should his younger self make in the present moment. His older-self guides him and offers him insights as to what to do. I sometimes do this when I’m stuck making a decision. Now let’s get into some tips I learned to help you start journaling!

1. Write at the end of the day

Again, real simple. Grab a notebook, or a notepad or open up a new document on your computer (Word or Google docs). And start typing! Write whatever comes to mind. Ryan Holiday suggests to write both the morning and at night before you go to bed. I prefer to journal and ‘put my day up for review’ at night before I sleep. This way, you can take a look back at what happened and discuss the events that occurred. To further add to this, I write 3-things I’m grateful for in the morning. For example, just after I get up, I open my journal and write “I am grateful for this beautiful day” or “I am grateful for this roof over my head.” Write anything you’re grateful for in the morning to kick start your day and then journal at night. By journaling before you go to bed, you off load any annoying thoughts onto the page, making your sleep that much better!

2. Ask yourself these questions

When writing in journal, you can jot down whatever you like but to be even more effective at journaling, you can ask yourself some questions. I prefer to ask “what did I do today that aligned with my values, goals or purpose?” I also ask, “did I behave today, like a good person would?” and “did I improve on anything? Did I learn today that can help me do a better job ( put down whatever you’re striving for)?” These questions help narrow down your thoughts, and stimulate a conversation with your inner self. You can go the Alex Hormozi approach and chat with your older self, which I’ve done numerous times and it has worked wonders.

Ask your older-self if you’re having problems making a potentially, life-altering decision. “Is this the right path? Am I making the right decision? Is this something I should do?” Alex Hormozi engages with his older-self like having a normal conversation. It may seem silly to some but trust me, deep down your intuition seems to know exactly what to do. By taking a moment and recording the back and forth conversation, you begin to get a sense of what to do because you’re laying down all the fears, doubts, expectations etc. It’s all on paper and you can read it back with a clear head and say, “Okay, I see it all now. This is what I have to do.” It’ll take some time and practice, so do this several days in a row to stretch those mental muscles!

3. Don’t be shy!

Writing in a journal may seem awkward and cringe at first but there’s nothing to be shy about it. Nobody’s going to read it, and it’s all for your eyes-only. So go ahead and be cringey! Write down those thoughts that make your “stomach jitter” or sends “chills down your back.” Write down what makes you scared; the fears you had, the fears you’re experiencing, the worries and the anxieties. Lay it all down and don’t leave anything out. Get whatever is on your shoulders and heave it onto the paper. By doing this ‘emotional dumping’, you’ll feel little lighter. Yes, the problems or circumstance still exist but at least the pressure inside is relieved a bit. You’re not keeping it all pent up inside you, waiting to explode. You’re pouring it all out and letting the stress flow away, bit-by-bit.

Eventually, when you start journaling for a steady streak, you’ll somehow come to find solutions to your predicament. It’s strange really. I don’t know how it all comes to be that way, but from what I learned, like going out for a walk, journaling let’s the mind wander freely. By putting down your thoughts, the brain seems to free up cognitive space to function and by magic, produce a solution. However, from my experience from journaling these past 7 months, is that you can’t be shy and don’t hold anything back.

Be open to your journal. Let yourself be exposed, and write your thoughts down. It’s only after putting your entire soul onto the page does the magic happen. So, don’t be shy. Be open, and go all in.

Well, I hope this all helps you out! Journaling has done wonders for me and I am grateful to have stumbled upon it during my setback. Journaling has helped me cope with the obstacles, and helped me move through life with peace of mind.

If you’re still not convinced, I suggest watching the video below by psychologist Dr. K, or best known by his Twitch tag “HealthyGamerGG”. He dives deep into the effects of journaling using scientific data and peer-reviewed research. If my rambling above didn’t convince you to start journaling, perhaps Dr. K can.

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