Do you keep a journal? Have you ever wanted to? Maybe you do keep one, but it doesn’t really have a purpose. With this post, I aim to show you a wide range of things that you could use your journal for.
But before we get into that, I want to make something clear. Journaling is only a medium. It’s a method with which you can take control of your development, and of your life. But no development exercises are any good without application.
Journaling will give you clarity. It will give you answers. It will even show you the way. But once you have all of that, or better yet, while you are in the process of gaining that, you need to get off your behind, and DO THE WORK.
You need to apply everything you learn. You need to use it. Kaizen Journaling is not just about writing things down, and then forgetting about them. Kaizen Journaling is about living a Kaizen Life, and that comes from application.
I’m not going to just give you the reasons for why you should journal and leave you hanging at that. At the end of this post, you will also get a Free 8 pages long Guide with 101 Journaling Prompts that will keep you occupied, and let you experiment with many different reasons for using your journal.
Now that I’ve clarified that, let’s dive into all the reasons why you should keep a journal. This list is by no means exhaustive. If you think of more reasons, please share them in the comments.
77 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD KEEP A JOURNAL
- Discover your ambitions
- Plan your goals
- Find your strengths
- Find your weaknesses
- Prioritise your actions
- Create your Ideal Life Vision
- Measure your productivity
- Evaluate your progress
- See how your goals change over time
- Form your success support group
- Consider your skills and resources
- Leave your legacy
- Make a personalised gift
- Create a keepsake for your children
- Vent your frustrations
- Improve your writing
- Increase confidence
- Map your career
- Create a business plan
- Develop your writing voice
- Find your passions
- Follow your dreams
- Keep a character journal (for your fictional characters)
- Write fan fiction
- Visualise your future
- Dig deeper into your past
- Face your demons
- Free therapist
- Develop your character
- Improve your observation skills
- Discover your favourites
- Record your daily life
- Get insights on people in your life
- Improve your people watching skills
- Improve your hand-writing
- Make decisions
- Fuel your dreams
- Reading logs
- Improve critique skills
- Record your dreams
- Do tarot readings
- Take a spiritual journey
- Gain self-awareness
- Objectively learn what you like about yourself
- Objectively learn what you don’t like about yourself
- Self-education
- Action plan for personal development
- Implement new habits
- Track your diet
- Embrace who you are
- Discover your values
- Learn from your mentors and heroes
- Record the good things in your life
- Increase your positivity
- Follow your principles
- Create a memory book
- Make a family project
- Write letters
- Have conversations with people you wish you’d met
- Remember your childhood
- Imagine your future
- Record inspiring quotes
- Face your fears
- Search through your emotional history
- Write poems & songs
- Talk to your favourite characters
- Draw
- Collage
- Discover your most productive times
- Discover your self-defeting behaviours
- Gain clarity
- Discover thought patterns that have you trapped
- Go to your happy place
- Learn a language
- Be unashaemdly you
- Then strive to be the best version of you
- Live a Kaizen Life
To download your FREE 8 Pages long PDF GUIDE with 101 journaling prompts, please subscribe below. If you are already a subscriber, don’t worry you won’t be double subscribed. Just enter the same email address again, and you’ll be taken straight to the download page.
No, but really, Dolly – do you have any reasons why I should journal?
;-)
Okay Dolly, y’got me. I’m gonna open up livejournal. Riiiight now. :)
Oooh…. you’ve given me a good idea. I’m in the process of creating a mini-workbook as an attachment to a post, but I should require subscription. So evil :)
“If you think of more reasons, please share them in the comments.”
lol. that just makes me laugh.
Do the work, do the work, do the work—and keep writing! Great insights.
Wow, Dolly – you’ve kinda blown away all my excuses!
Love it
#78 It’s a healthy habit that can lead to wellness in all areas of your life!
Bobbi,
Sometimes bit over-the-top is necessary! No excuses now.
Seriously? If that’s true, you made my day!
Hey, communities don’t build themselves you know! It takes all kinds of effort :-))
LOL, I am sure there are many more reasons. No doubt I will think of some myself.
Blaze,
Thanks. Yes, it always comes down to doing the work. Sometimes, I do wish it was easier, but then we probably wouldn’t value the rewards.
Claire,
That’s awesome! I hope you did some journaling ;)
Thanks, Loran! I knew there were more :-)
Well I’m glad I could make your day then! :) I really did journal for a bit, and it felt damn good. I’m facing a particularly stressful situation right now – perhaps journaling would be a good way to work through that too. Thanks for inspiring me to get back to the page, Dolly.
Kaylee,
That’s seriously awesome! Stressful times are definitely good times to start journaling. Enjoy the process.
I think you had us all on number 1, well done for coming up with another 76 reasons!
Ciara,
Your comment just makes me think of Jerry McGuire’s dialogue “You had me at hello” :-D
i hope you don’t mind if i skipped the long sentences to get to the short sentences?;):D<3<3<3
BTW, can you do a post about the numerous ways to set up a journal entry. I’ve always liked playing around with different schemes and setups, so I thought you should do one of journal entries. I’ve done my share of bulleted lists and random words, but do you know of or can you think of more?
Please reply!:D
Hi Dolly!
Wow, these 77 reasons are certainly all good ones. If someone wants to argue with the importance of journaling, these points make a great argument!
Now there is no excuse. We journal because it is really good for us!
Also, thanks for sharing the Guide with 101 Journaling Prompts. Very generous!
Hugs,
Margo
Jan,
Yes there are a lot of different ways to journal. No problem, I will be happy to do a post about it, with greater details. Stay tuned :-) Wherever possible, I’ll post some example pictures too.
Margo,
No problem. I love to share journaling joy :-) And yup….no excuses for not journaling.
I’ve never been one to journal, but you have given me reason to rethink. Thanks
Thanks a bunch!
Kathy,
That’s fabulous. Let me know if you give it a try.
Wow – what a wonderful list. I am definitely going to go back to my journaling after reading this post. Thank you.
Jane,
That’s awesome! Happy Journaling!
I have had a handwritten journal for the last 3 weeks or so, and can’t believe how much I have written, I also have a feeling that I am less stressed as a result.
Andrew,
Yes it’s incredible how much difference a journal makes. I also find that it helps with stress, and actually getting your head clear too. Once you get writing, there is no stopping :-) So keep going.