June 12, 2024 5:12 pm

Ruthie

There are many reasons why someone might decide to develop a journaling practice. Journaling for personal development is one of those reasons.

There are many ways of journaling for personal development, such as gratitude journaling, mindfulness journaling, and problem-solving journaling, just to name a few. Although the focus of each of these types of journaling practices may differ, at the heart of them all is the goal of becoming the person you want to be and living your best possible life.

Here are three things you should know about journaling for personal development before you start…

Know what type of journaling you want to do

When you first start journaling for personal development, you’ll likely start by simply writing about your problems and issues in order to figure out what causes them and what you can do to correct them.

This is probably the easiest form of journaling to start with. All you need is paper and something to write with. You could even use a digital journal on your iPad or tablet if you like, but I’d recommend using a good old-fashioned pen and paper. There’s definitely something to be said about the effect that writing by hand has on the brain.

If you have challenges with the physical act of writing, you can also dictate or type your journal entries. You’ll still get benefits from it; they just may not be as much as if you were able to hand-write in your journal.

Figure out what you want to journal about

Once you have the type of journal you’re going to use figured out, the next step to tackle is deciding what you’ll write about. The easiest place to start is with a problem that is bugging you and you want to find a solution for. Then you write down your thoughts on the topic as they come to mind – almost like a brain dump – without judging what you’re writing.

Once you’ve finished, only then should you go back and read what you’ve written. It takes some time to get used to writing without judgement, but once you get the hang of it, you’ll find that what you write will be the truth about what you want, what you think, your fears, etc.

The reason for this is that journaling bypasses the security barriers of your subconscious which is mostly just trying to protect you. And it’s getting around those barriers that is a huge key to personal growth. This is what makes journaling for personal development so effective as a tool for working through issues.

It can also help you figure out exactly what those issues are, if you’re not sure. You can use freewriting to simply write about whatever is on your mind and see what shows up. I’ve found that this can sometimes be meditative as well, because when you get into the flow, your brain just naturally spews out what’s bothering you.

The other way to start journaling for personal development, especially if you need more clarity on your issues, is to use guided journals with prompts. These are very popular and can help you avoid the issue of not knowing what to write about.

You can find a selection of guided journals with prompts in our shop.

You don’t have to write a book

One mistake I see a lot of beginner journalists make is to feel like they have to write a book for each entry. I’m here to tell you that this is not the case. You should write just as much as you need to feel like you’ve said what you need to. You can always revisit the entry later and add more or reflect on what you’ve written to see if anything new pops up.

In reality, you only really need to journal for ten to fifteen minutes a few times per week in order to start seeing the effects of journaling for personal growth. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. You write what you need to write for as long and as often as you need to in order to start seeing the results.

Final Thoughts

I might be biased here as someone who has been journaling since I learned to print my name, but to me journaling for personal development is one of the least time-consuming and expensive tools for personal growth you’ll find.

All you really need to do is find a quiet spot, grab a pen and some paper, and let the words fall onto the page. You might be surprised at what you learn about yourself!

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