Are you struggling to keep up with journaling? Do you find it difficult to be inspired or know what to write about? The problem is likely not about journaling itself or not benefiting from it, but not really understanding your own purpose and WHY you want to write in a journal in the first place.
Having a WHY helps you to identify your focus, helps to know the benefits, encourages you to make journaling a habit and helps you stay motivated.
Helps to Identify Your Focus
Journaling encompasses so many things, that if you are not quite sure what direction to go, you can lose steam reasonably fast. So, the first thing you need to understand is why you are journaling. Having a specific focus or purpose helps you begin journaling but also helps to keep you going once you start. When you know your purpose for journaling, it guides you in the right direction as far as what you are going to journal about or what type of journaling you would like to do. Otherwise, you might find yourself a little lost and decide not to journal at all. Having a WHY helps you to identify your focus for journaling.
So how do you identify your focus?
Think about the things that got you interested in journaling and this may help you to identify your WHY and what you would like to focus on. As an example, if you are interested in gardening you may want to keep a gardening journal. If you are trying to lose weight and get healthier you may decide to keep a weight loss journal or some type of lifestyle journal. You may decide you want to record your memories so that you have something to look back on in years to come. It all comes down to your WHY.
Helps to Know the Benefits
Having a WHY is going to help you see the benefits of journaling, not just in general, but those benefits that might be more specific to you. If you do not know what you are trying to get out of it, then what is going to motivate you to keep writing?
The benefits you personally want from journaling are often different from someone else. Maybe your best friend told you about journaling and how they use a scripting or a law of attraction journal, but you want to use it to reduce your anxiety or stress. Or maybe you want to obtain more clarity in your life. This is another reason to know your main why for journaling so you can reap the benefits. Maybe you own a business and you would like to keep a journal of your marketing strategies, or the changes your business is going through. Keeping a journal will benefit you in keeping up with those changes for your business. If you experience depression you may want to keep a journal to help track your thoughts, keep up with what triggers your feelings of depression or the thoughts that help you to feel better and work through your depression. All these things are benefits to you specifically and having a WHY for journaling will help you to realize those benefits.
Encourages You to Make Journaling a Habit
To form a new habit, you start a new routine or add something to your current routine and continue doing it. Once you have healthy habits like journaling, you do not even have to think about them – you are basically on autopilot. You probably have plenty of habits in your life now that you do automatically without even thinking about it, things like brushing your teeth when you first wake up or eating lunch every day at the same time. This is what can happen with journaling.
Knowing your WHY can help to encourage the habit of journaling. When you know why you are doing something it helps to continue with that habit.
Helps You Stay Motivated
Lack of motivation or just lack of interest is the most common reason why people give up things in their life. Journaling can be one of those things if you do not have a reason for doing it in the first place. When you know your purpose for journaling, you suddenly have more inspiration and motivation to continue with it.
If you decide to keep a weight loss journal, it can be exciting and motivating to continue when you see your progress. Keeping a record of your memories can be a joy to look back on in a few months or years from now. I enjoy going back and looking at some things I’ve written about and it brings back a flood of memories for me such as when I was going through a tough time and I remember coming out on the other side or I read something I wrote about my kids when they were little. It brings a smile to my face.
Take some time to think about WHY you want to journal and the purpose for it. This will keep you coming back to your journal over and over. Having a WHY can help you to stay motivated and keep you journaling for years to come.
Happy Journaling!
Pamela
