No, you won’t find any “Dear diary…” here. You’re about to discover the benefits of journaling and how it can help you with your success.
You’ll find out how to start a diary and get ideas for topics, so you can write your first entry today…

And before you shrug this off as a silly activity for an adult, know that hugely successful entrepreneurs like Oprah or Richard Branson use this powerful tool, too.

So just wait and see why you might want to give this a try.

We saw the benefits of Journaling for success briefly last week in Part 2 of this personal development mini-series. Today, we’ll explore this helpful activity a little deeper.

Section 1: The benefits of journaling for success

There are physical, emotional, and mental benefits to consistently keeping a journal. Something happens in your mind and with your emotions when you record your day’s events and thoughts.

When you link your journaling to your values instead of just your observations, it becomes even more impactful.

So before we see how to start a diary, let’s first check out some of the many benefits of keeping a journal.

1. Boost your mood

Keeping a journal boosts your mood in serveral ways.

• You get the stress and negativity out of your system
• You remember the awesome little things that happened
• You keep yourself inspired with your goals
• You can measure your progress

Imagine looking back on an older diary entry and see how much you improved on that topic. It makes you realize how far you’ve come.

And that’s very powerful because we always forget how “bad” we actually were at the start.
Your success journal allows you to go back to your humble beginnings.
And seeing your progress makes you feel great.

2. Get more confident

When you connect your journaling to your personal values it can improve your confidence.

In the short term, writing about personal values makes people feel more powerful, in control, proud, and strong. 

Stanford professor Kelly McGonigal in The Upside of Stress

And even if you don’t include your values, you can write down all the great things that make you feel proud of yourself.

This can be things you appreciate about yourself but also compliments from others.
We tend to forget that, so it’s an awesome reminder to write all of this down!

Then, when you need a confidence boost, you can look up all the nice things you put down.

3. Reduce your stress

Instead of bottling everything up, you can write down your frustrations and fears.
Seeing it on paper, you can then choose your priorities and think of possible solutions.

And that’s a great relief. So instead of running on auto-pilot, you get a glimpse of hope.
…Just by taking the time to consciously think about your challenges.

4. Change your Perspective

As we saw in benefit #2, journaling can provide a greater sense of confidence and self-identity. It helps you identify important patterns in your life which you can then change.

What’s a pattern? Maybe you’ll realize that the first thing you do when you get to work is complain about it to your colleague.

This sets the tone for the rest of your day. So, once you’re aware of this, you can work on starting your day in a more positive way.

It also allows you to see opportunities for growth and helps you overcome adversity.
Journaling helps you focus on yourself instead of on other people’s negativity. 

5. Improve your memory

When you write down any new information you’ve learned, your brain will make stronger connections with this information.
That’s just one more reason how and why it helps to start a diary.

It’s almost like studying, only it doesn’t feel like such a chore. By repeating what you learned and putting it down on paper, your brain remembers it (better).

6. Keep your thoughts organized

Your brain has limited active storage, so when you write down your thoughts and observations, you make more room for new things and ideas.

Also, it keeps you from overthinking and breaks looping patterns. Once you got everything on paper, it gets easier to look at it objectively.

The diary entry topics you’ll see later in this post will help you get started.

7. Achieve your goals

One of the benefits of journaling is that it keeps you focused on yourself – but also on your goals. It allows you to dig deep and get clear on what you truly want.

Clarity is the most important first step to achieve the life of your dreams.

A bonus benefit is that if you write it down, you are more likely to achieve it.

Not sure what your dream life exactly looks like?

8. Improve your self-discipline

Journaling improves your discipline, especially if you do it around the same time every day.

This can be early in the morning when everything is still quiet. Or just before bedtime when you wind down and relax.

Whatever works best for you.

A scheduled time also has the added benefit that your mind will get into the right mode.
Routines let your mind know what it’s supposed to do, so your task becomes easier and easier over time.

9. Spark your creativity

A journal is a great place to record your ideas. And when your mind knows that your ideas are “safe”, it will come up with even more of them.

More creativity is one of the great benefits of journaling so write down everything you can think of.

Also, when you declutter your brain (on paper) you leave more brainpower for more creative ideas.

And reviewing your collection of ideas can spark even better ones, too.

Section 2: How to start a diary

Don’t worry, you can start small

Don’t worry if you’re hyperventilating now or thinking you still don’t know how to start a diary.

You don’t have to start off as Hemingway.
If you put too much pressure on yourself, you can’t get to the good stuff you need (to fuel your success).

Journaling is not about sounding good or writing plenty. You can start super small with just a few bullet points, or simply one sentence.

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Journaling is a positive and stressfree activity with lots of great side-effects.

What you write down is just for you, so it really doesn’t have to be perfect. No pressure!
You don’t have to get writer’s block over this.

And if you really have no idea how to start a diary, you can check out this list of entry topics below to get your success journal rolling.

Get a list of entry topics to help you start your diary

Examples of diary entry topics

• What are you good at or passionate about? How could you make money with that?
• What habits would you like to pick up? Why and how can you get started?
• Write down 3 things you are looking forward to this week…
• What are some good qualities you have? How do they help you?
• Are you worried or excited about your future? Why?

The most important part: Your turn

It’s time to give success journaling a try. You’ve seen quite a few benefits of journaling.
You know how to start a diary and you even have entry topics so you can get started today.

Journaling is an activity for anyone who is serious about wanting a better life.

Don’t make the mistake of shrugging this off as a girly thing.
Highly successful men like George Lucas (Star Wars), John D. Rockefeller, Albert Einstein, and Richard Branson keep (or kept) a journal, too.

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You can write a lot. You can write a little. It can be full sentences or bullet points.

You can write in a beautiful notebook, on loose paper (if all else fails), in an App, or on your laptop. The form doesn’t matter.

It also doesn’t matter if you have more time in the morning or you feel more inspired in the evening. Whichever works best for you.

What matters is that you try it today, and every day for the next 10 days.
That’s how to start a diary and it should be enough time to find out if this works for you.

Happy journaling your way to success,

Check out the other parts of this Personal Development Mini-Series.
Part 1 explains the Benefits of Personal Development.

And Part 2 gives you 20+ great Personal Development Activities so you can improve your life today.

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And check out more helpful Ninja Top Posts on this blog.