Journal writing examples about life

18 Inspiring Journal Examples About Daily Life - Wanderings

Whether you’re just getting into journaling or you have a consistent practice, finding inspiring prompts that encourage reflection in your daily life can be difficult. Oftentimes when journaling it can be a struggle to figure out what to write about, and what will evoke the most thought and growth possible.

Some of the best example journal prompts about daily life include taking note of what you are grateful for, recalling dreams that have stood out to you, or even writing out a budget. There is a huge range of journal examples about daily life that are worth putting additional thought into.

Since it can be tough to find journal examples that inspire and elicit thought, this article will walk through 18 prompt suggestions that are worth jumping into! These topics can be used every day, regardless of what stage in your life you are in or your background as they encourage you to think more in depth about your own life and experiences.

A common reason many people do not journal frequently or consistently is due to a lack of inspiration. Since it is common to be at a loss as to what to write about, it can be helpful to look to inspiration wherever you can find it! Whatever it is in your daily life that inspires you or interests you, is a great place to start in your journaling practice.

This can help you develop more consistency and desire to write. In addition, a great way to get inspired and make journaling a habit is to write in a stream of consciousness. This means simply writing what comes to your mind as you sit down to journal. Whatever comes across your mind, put it down on paper.

Writing in this method can be very interesting to read back to see how your thoughts develop overtime as you write. You will be documenting the way your brain thinks and the topics that circulate through your consciousness as you are journaling. However, for some these methods are ineffective and turning to prescribed journal prompts is more helpful for stimulating creativity.

In that case, this article will provide you with 18 topic examples to jump into whenever you find yourself searching for a topic to write about. By keeping journal prompts relevant to daily life you will find that you feel more creative thinking patterns and have more material to write about as you base your journaling off of your experiences throughout your life.

Gratitude Journaling

One of the most common forms of journaling is the gratitude journal. Not only does this appeal to anyone and everyone, but it reminds you to look at the positives in your life and recognize what you are most grateful for in your life. This could look like a list, or paragraphs about the great things that you have in your life.

This is an especially powerful form of writing on days when you feel down as it will remind you to think positively and look on the bright side. Oftentimes people will practice gratitude journaling daily as a self-care practice as it can set the tone for a positive day or a happy night's sleep.

By implementing this into your journaling routine you may not only feel uplifted, but you will find that this is a journal prompt example that can be used as often as you’d like! Whenever you are running out of ideas to write about, you can always come back to your gratitude journal for a quick journaling session.

Dream Journaling

Another popular form of journaling is to keep a dream journal. The only catch here is that in order to keep a dream journal, you must remember your dreams. For those who dream vividly or can remember their dreams right after waking up, get into the practice of writing them down first thing in the morning.

This can be a fun start to the day and get your creative juices flowing from the moment you wake up. Dream journaling can not only give you a look into your subconscious mind but can also be analyzed further for any hidden dream meanings. This can turn into a very interesting journal idea as you can look for patterns over time.

Once you have consistently written your dreams out for a while, read back through each day to see if any dreams or themes are reoccurring. Is there an animal or symbol that comes into your dreams frequently? Take this as an opportunity to do some research into what that might mean. This can get you more in touch with your subconscious.

Bucket List

We all have lists we’ve made in our brains of things we’d like to do in our lifetime. Why not use this as a journal idea? Rather than keeping your bucket list in your head, put it on paper so that you can add to it and turn to it whenever you’re looking for a new adventure! This will ensure you never forget anything on your list and that you can turn to it whenever.

This is a journal example that can keep coming back as you will constantly be adding to and taking away from your bucket list as you go through life. Creating a bucket list on paper will also encourage you to go out and do more of the activities you are interested in! When they are written out in front of you it is more of a push to go out there and complete the tasks.

If you keep your list to yourself in your head, you will never have gentle reminders to go out there and do the things you want to do before you die.

I’ve Been Meaning to…

A great journal prompt is to make an “I’ve been meaning to” list. This is different from a bucket list as it is more of a short-term list rather than a list of things to do before you die. On your I’ve been meaning to list you should include anything that may be constantly slipping your mind. Maybe you’ve been meaning to go shopping for a specific item but can never remember to.

This list will not only serve as a reminder, it will spark your thought and creativity and push you to think of other things that may have slipped your mind. This is something you could do weekly to hold yourself accountable to get all your errands or tasks finished. A great place to start is to make an I’ve been meaning to list for the upcoming weekend.

Once the weekend comes if you do not have any plans, open up your list and get started on the activities that you’ve been meaning to complete. This will leave you feeling accomplished and leave room for next week’s list!

Goal Setting

A huge part of achieving your wildest dreams is goal setting. It is extremely powerful to write your goals out with pen and paper rather than keeping them in your mind. By writing out your lifelong goals, your goals for the year, or even your goals for the upcoming week, you will work harder for them.

This journal will serve as a constant reminder of your purpose and goal. This will hold you accountable if you ever sway from your goal or will be a marker for you to compare to as your path shifts overtime. If you are very goal-oriented, maybe writing a weekly journal covering your goals for the week will be helpful for productivity.

If you do not want to write out your goals that frequently, it can be helpful to write them out once every few months to compare how your verbiage and overall goals have changed with your added life experience. Getting clear on your goals whether it be in career, relationship, or personal matters is important in making actionable steps to achieving those goals.

Budgeting

While budgeting is often a topic people do not like to think or talk about, it is critical to your daily life to think about your budget. Therefore, a great journal idea is setting and updating your budget. This could be a yearly, monthly, or weekly budget to keep you on track and aware of what needs to be paid when.

This can even be reminders to pay certain bills or an organized list of what needs to be paid when so that you never find yourself forgetting to pay any of your upcoming bills. Budgeting is critical for people of all ages and can be less daunting if you think about it thoroughly to ensure you are on track.

Those who put off their budgeting often come across more stress when it comes to money because they are unclear on how much they can spend in certain periods of time. By writing out your budget in your journal, you will find yourself becoming more confident with your money and saving more than you have previously due to yourself set guidelines.

Life Inventory

Engaging in a life inventory every once in a while can be very helpful to identify how you are feeling and where you could use more work in your life. This may look like asking yourself truthfully how you are feeling and what is causing any stress or negative emotion in your life. Or maybe that’s looking at what is causing your happiness and excitement for life.

By taking inventory of your emotions, you can better track your mood shifts and how you are feeling on any given day. This can help you identify causes of stress, unhappiness, as well as what fills you up and makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning! Consider your life balance and how it could either improve or be adjusted.

What is your work-life balance? What about the amount of time and energy you put into your relationships? This is a great time to take a deeper look at the way you are balancing and prioritizing things in your life to assess if anything needs to be altered or if you are in a good place overall.

Be honest with yourself about places you’d like to see changes and check back on your life inventory journals to see if you were able to adjust the things you’ve mentioned in the past. By continuously journaling your life inventory you will feel like your life is constantly improving and like you are in full control of the changes coming about in your life.

Inspiration

Who is your inspiration in your life, career, or relationships? Take note of who you admire in life, who you’d like to model your life after, and who has taken a path similar to yours that you respect. Take some time to write about the people, places, or things that inspire you to be the best version of yourself you can be.

Whether you are writing about a celebrity, a place, or an inanimate object, this will inspire you every day and serve as a great journal prompt to turn to when you are in need of some inspiration. In addition, by writing about and thinking more deeply about the people and things that inspire you in life, you will be able to get clear on more of your goals.

The more thought and time you put into topics such as this one, the more you will shape your future, career, or relationships in the most ideal way for you. This will aid you in reaching your goals and leading a life you are proud of and happy to live. This is extremely helpful in boosting your daily life and habits into those that are potentially more productive.

Stress Journaling

A great tool to turn to when you are stressed, overwhelmed, or overrun with negative emotion is journaling. Turning to journaling can help you to release any tension you are feeling and can even help you to solve the dilemma you may be facing. While you are letting your frustrations out onto the paper, your mind is bound to wander towards solutions.

As you turn your overwhelm to the pages in your journal, you may come up with ways to cope with your stress, or things that will aid you in getting through the tough time you are facing. This is a healthy and productive way to face your negative emotions and work through them rather than suppressing them or running away from them.

Next time you are feeling overwhelmed whether it be from work, school, or inter-personal issues, try journaling about your emotions and stressors and take note of how you feel once you’ve got it all out onto paper.

Quotes

While you are reading, watching a movie, or surfing the web do you ever find a fascinating, thought-provoking or inspiring quote worth writing down? If so, why not use that as an opportunity to journal. Think about why this specific quote has inspired you or led you to feel a certain way.

This can also serve as a great place to store your favorite quotes so that you can easily come back to them when you are looking for some inspiration. Keeping quotes written down and taking time to reflect on them can be therapeutic for so many and provide an incredible journal prompt.

Think about the ways in which the quotes you note relate to your life, how you perceive or define them, and think about the differing points of view others may take on when they hear the exact same quote. The way in which everybody relates to a quote differs greatly and can be an interesting topic to think more about in your journal.

Idea Journaling

Whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, writing down the good ideas you have can help you get ahead in your work and personal life. It is common to have good ideas throughout the day that escape the mind later on. Sometimes it’s while you are at work, exercising, or in the shower; regardless, start keeping an idea journal to keep track of all of your incredible ideas!

This could simply be a list that you can add to every time you come up with an idea that feels like it’s worth executing. By putting your ideas on paper, they are more likely to come to fruition and are less likely to be forgotten about.

Affirmation Journaling

Writing affirmations out in a journal can be a great way to encourage positive uplifting self-talk. Often people use affirmations when they are meditating, or throughout their day as a pick me up. If you find yourself down about a certain aspect in your life or looking to manifest something in particular, writing out affirmations is a great idea!

You could either use your affirmation journal to keep track of your favorite affirmations that you’ve heard in meditations or create your own. Think about the messages you want to be telling yourself in order to bring something better into your life.

A Letter to Yourself

A fun exercise to do in your journal is to write a letter to your younger self or your future self. What advice would you give yourself five years ago? Who do you hope you’ll be in 10 years? This can be an exercise that not only forces you to reflect on how far you’ve come and the goals you have but also to appreciate how you’ve grown as an individual.

This gives you something to reflect on, and something to look back on in the future. Even comparing your letter to yourself year to year you will see some consistency in your life and some areas where you’ve grown and changed. This is especially a great journal example for those who feel as though their life is slow or stagnant.

After doing this journal prompt a few times and comparing you’ll see how much you are growing and how your life changes from year to year.

Travel

Even if you do not travel often or far, keeping a journal of your travels will help you remember all of your adventures! From road trips with friends, to international getaways, those who keep a notebook outlining their travel experience are bound to remember the good and bad of each trip and be able to better plan future trips because of it!

You can even use your journal to plan future trips, keep a list of where you hope to go in the future, and any hotels or destinations that you see and want to remember for a future trip to the location. This will keep all of your travel plans in one place so that when the opportunity to travel comes up, you know where you want to go and how you want to execute the vacation.

Food Diary

Tracking your food does not have to be in relation to a diet or calorie counting. For food enthusiasts all over the world, keeping track of restaurants, meals, and recipes is common in order to recreate them at home or note which restaurants are worth frequenting. This could also help you next time you are searching for a recipe to make for a dinner party or a potluck!

This could also be combined with your travel journal as keeping track of your favorite places to drink and eat while you’re on vacation could help you next time you go back to this destination or help others who are traveling there and are looking for recommendations.

Self-Care Ideas

Who doesn’t love a good self-care day? However, sometimes it can be challenging to think up ways to treat yourself when it comes down to it. If you found a spa on the internet, or a great deal on the product you want to treat yourself to, write it out in your journal so you don’t forget. This is a great way to keep track of your future plans and desires.

If you take note of names, brands, and experiences as it pertains to self-care, you will have a place to turn to next time you’re planning a day of pampering for yourself or for a loved one!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

For some it can be difficult to remember experiences long after they’ve occurred. A great exercise for writing is to think of a fond memory, whether it be with your family, in your social life, or in the workplace, and write about it. By writing about the memory you will begin remembering more and more of it and find yourself taking a trip down memory lane.

This is a great writing prompt when you are thinking of a specific person or time in your life that you’d like to reflect on and think fondly of. This is a journal example you can do as often as you want! Your memories are endless, so why not write about them.

Career Planning

This is a great journal example for those who are focused on building up their career, changing industries, or wanting to move their way up in their company. Regardless of your long term goals, it is important to make a plan for how you are going to achieve them. Without a plan, you may miss a promotion or opportunity that you could have taken advantage of.

This may look like writing out your end goal in your career, your ideal position once you have all the experience and knowledge to get there. Then work your way down the ladder. What can you do now to put you ahead of the competition in your industry? Strategizing in this way will give you actionable steps to take to accomplish your goals, rather than leaving it up to others.

You can do this at any point in your life, it’s never too early or too late to plan your future.

Conclusion

Journaling can be tough when you are searching for new prompts to write about. Furthermore, staying consistent in your writing can feel impossible if you do not have the ideas to back your creativity. By starting with these 18 examples about daily life, you can channel all of your creativity into reflecting on aspects of your life rather than thinking up journal examples.

With many of these examples, you could use an entire journal for one prompt. Set aside one whole journal just for writing about career and budgeting, or about your travels and food. This keeps all of your ideas in one place and makes them accessible for when you want to go back and revisit your work.

Remember that while journaling can feel like work when you start out or feel uninspired, by becoming more consistent with your writing you will feel your drive and creativity increase, making it easier for you to sit down every day or every week to write in your journal. The best way to get started is simply to stick with it until it becomes a self-care practice in itself!

Reflective Writing: Personal Journal Entry Examples

What is Reflective Writing?

According to the UNSW, reflective writing is:

“A form of personal response to experiences, situations, events or new information. It is a processing phase where thinking and learning take place. ”

It is a critical form of in-depth learning, as it bridges the gap between our external experiences and you – in a way that can be traced (through writing).

The beauty of reflective writing is that there is no wrong way of going about it. It is tentative, private, and solely about exploring your thoughts and insights about life.

Today, I wanted to write to you a more personal blog post, because I feel as if I’ve been missing this for quite a while from my blog.

I want to share with you a couple of my recent reflective journal entries.

I like to journal everyday during my spare time. It’s a great way to piece my thoughts together and be a little more self-aware about my life.

I would like to say that these are my raw writings: They have not been edited and I do not premeditate very much before I start writing.

My writing may be elementary in that regard and not so eloquent, but I hope this helps any of you who are wanting to get into reflective journaling. You definitely don’t have to be a great writer.

There will be a lot of cringey things that come out during your writing sessions… but there will also be so much of yourself that you will love that comes out as well.

So I hope you enjoy. I hope this inspires you even just a little bit.

Reflective Journal Entry #1: From 1/6/19

The time I have with myself is the most important.

I change. I grow. I know myself a little more each time.

I want my voice back.

This year, I would like to work on that a bit more: Finding my voice.

Knowing who I am just a little bit better. So that I can love me more with each and every passing day. The thought is a little sad actually: We are all so busy with our lives, we don’t have enough time to grow.

And I find that just spending 1-2 hours by yourself, for yourself, isn’t enough at all. It takes 5+ hours sometimes of contemplation, of feeling, or exploring that tentative zone of darkness within us.

Because it’s within that dark zone where the best and beautiful parts of ourselves “hide”. And they “hide” only because there is nothing like it in the physical world for us to compare it to. For it to be known as real.

It takes time and presence to translate those “things” in the darkness into something of words, feelings, thoughts, and ideas.

The beginning is never easy.

More than anything in life, we as people need this.

For art. For beauty. For poetry. For love. For souls.

It all begins this way. In understanding.

Reflective Journal Entry #2: 1/6/19

My eyes are getting heavier tonight. I should sleep soon. It’s funny how I always think I have nothing to say but once I play with the start of ideas, it all starts to come down like rain.

I needed this. To know I still have it in me. If I were to ever lose this part of myself… I’m not sure how I’d take that.

For sure, I would feel so sad and so alone. Lost even.

Writing is another love of mine. Writing is a form of looking in the mirror. Like drawing a figure. It is the drawing of one’s soul. Of one’s subconscious.

Perhaps if you write the cusp of one’s soul and draw it out like a thread from the tangle of nothingness. And perhaps soon – it can become poetry.

Reflective Journal Entry #3: 1/7/9

The mind can be its own worst enemy sometimes… More so than any angry comment, uncaring action, or thoughtlessly spewed words by others to you.

You say the worst things to yourself. You make yourself cry and you mean to make yourself cry. Why? Why are you so mean to yourself?

The world can be so hurtful sometimes, so why must you stoop so low to even yourself?

You must take care of yourself even more so during the times the world is busy and can’t seem to care at the moment for you. Later, they will ask for forgiveness. Later, they will be kind and care. Later they will explain.

But right now, you must not hurt yourself even more.

Reflective Journal Entry #4: 1/8/19

Am I always going to keep others at arm’s length?

You will never be able to make true, close friends like that. You must learn to give completely. Not be afraid. Freely love. Freely give love and affection to everyone.

It is what you are missing the most from life right now. So love. Love not just internally. Let the love go everywhere around you. Stop being so afraid of getting hurt. You will gain more than what you could ever lose.

—

I named my painting “What I See of You”. My art is a reminder of how much I love and care for people.

Reflective Journal Entry #5: 1/12/19

Why would I care about how I look? What’s the purpose for it? So that I can be liked by others?

I won’t fall for it.

Because when I open my eyes and look around – I already know how beautiful I am.

To be able to see a world as rich, peaceful, beautiful as this – whether I am in a messy, ill-lit room or in a forest path – it is all so, so very beautiful. And only beautiful eyes can do that. Only a beautiful mind. Only a beautiful heart.

So I don’t care how I look. This life is beatuful.

I know I am beautiful.

Reflective Journal Entry #6: 1/12/19

Every person has a story that will make you cry.

Make you feel everything a human being should feel from another person: Love. Sympathy. Care. It is all there. Hidden –

Until you ask. Until there is trust. Until there is vulnerability.

So never be afraid of the past and never be afraid of sharing your truth. It is meant to be shared. Your story has the power to change someone’s life merely through a few sentences.

How to keep a diary: 10 tips • Arzamas

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CourseWhy people keep diaries and historians read themAudio lecturesMaterials

Don't worry about mistakes, write when you want, encrypt secrets, carry a notebook - and other valuable recommendations

Author Ilya Venyavkin

1.

It's never too late to start

There is no specific time or age when you need to start a diary: you may need it at any time in your life. For example, first-grader Alexandra Ippolitova began to take notes directly in her school notebook. She tried to write down everything that happened to her at school and at home:

"January 17, 1984 Here and below, fragments of the diaries are given in accordance with the author's spelling and punctuation.
School.
Today at school everyone said that we would have 5 lessons in the class. And I said to myself that we would have three lessons. Because the third lesson was 3 filmstrips and the 4th lesson was the Mosconcert. And in the 5th lesson there was a skiing physicist.
Houses.
I forgot!

A page from the diary of first-grader Alexandra Ippolitova. 1984 © "Prozhito"

And an anonymous author from Ust-Narva, whose diary is kept in the archives of the Research Center for Eastern Europe at the University of Bremen (Forschungsstelle Osteuropa), started writing notes a week after his retirement:

"9-VIII-68
I know that the proportion of many who have "gone on a well-deserved rest", - this is how our sentimentally sugary newspapermen and party trade union speakers define pensioners - is unenviable: they are little by little, but still very visibly and tangibly, grow fat, go crazy, get sick and quickly merge with their mother- nature, participating with their remains in the eternal rotation of matter. Salvation is not to lose shape, to do something, to strive for something, to participate in something - while the bowler hat is cooking and the legs are being worn. Keeping a diary is a kind of such work.

2. Short notes are valuable too!

To keep a diary, one does not need to have any literary talent, nor a love for detailed descriptions or introspection - even fragmentary entries can be of value. Emperor Nicholas II kept a diary from the age of fourteen and always did it in a sparse factual manner - regardless of what was happening around - war or revolution. The last entry was made on June 30, 1918 - a few weeks before the execution:

“Aleksey took his first bath after Tobolsk; his knee is getting better, but he cannot straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."

The last entry in the diary of Nicholas II. June 30, 1918 State Archive of the Russian Federation

3.

Use the diary for observations

You don't have to wait until something extraordinary happens in your life. Just looking around is enough. Biologist Boris Golov watched birds all his life and wrote down his observations in a diary:

May 3, 1938
Grishkov forest. I scared a jay out of a hollow. It is possible that a nest is arranged there. Last year, in the same hollow, there was a jay's nest. Two buzzards fly very low over the forest. A black kite flew by.

Diary of Boris Golov. 1938 © "Prozhito"

Ilya Melgunov, an employee of the Leningrad post office, followed the life of the ficus:

February 5, 1971 years old
Ficus is sick again. Leaves are falling. There are 9 leaves left. Today I took a ficus out of the pot, washed the ground. I planted it again not so tightly for the roots. <…>
February 18
The ficus has only 3 leaves left. I expect the latter will either fall or get better. I suspect a cat - didn’t she go into a pot of ficus?

4. Talk to the diary

It is difficult to establish who first turned to his diary as an interlocutor. One can only say that this practice became popular at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries and arose under the influence of the epistolary genre. At this time, many authors notice that an interesting and trustworthy interlocutor can be not only a pen pal, but also a diary.

Diary of Magdalena van Schinne. Cover of the 1990 edition © Uitgeverij Verloren

In October 1788, the Dutch girl Magdalena van Schinne, instead of writing and sending a letter to her friend, simply wrote on a piece of paper:

“Oh my paper, you are the only one who will hear my ideas, feelings, worries and joys. Here I can pour out my whole soul; with others, even my best friends, I want to learn how to hide my feelings, or at least I don't want to tell them about myself anymore. You are my only confidant."

Since then, the diary has repeatedly helped people in a situation where they lacked a reliable and understanding interlocutor.

5. Share experiences with your diary

The diary helps to turn feelings, worries and doubts into text on paper, and therefore look at them from the side. Sometimes it is necessary to take a breath, make a difficult decision or understand something important about yourself.

December 1, 1923 Soviet Komsomol member Valentina Sokolova wrote in her diary:

“<…> Now I only think about the future. What will come of me. Am I always going to feel out of place. After all, it is flour. I thought that I love adventures and suddenly everything was shaken. What to do? For what? Yes, and will anything come of it? Am I going to be an extra person? Let's put the last question, I solved it last year and it seems right. And now what to do?

Diary of Valentina Sokolova. 1923 State Archive of the Perm Territory

6. If you don't like to write, record on the recorder

A diary does not have to be on paper at all: it can be recorded on an audio cassette (as the hero of the Rewind podcast journalist Evgeny Berg did) or simply on a smartphone.

7. Or draw, stick on photos, magazine clippings, tickets and anything else you care to keep

A diary is not always exclusively a text that you yourself wrote. In fact, this is an archive of your impressions, into which you, like in a herbarium, paste everything that you do not want to forget.

Anonymous diary. 2000 © Prozhito

So, in 2000, a fan of the St. Petersburg Zenit pasted portraits of her favorite football players, drawings and a photograph of the Depeche Mode group into her diary.

August 3, 2000
Yesterday I was at Zenith with the girls. It was cool. Zenit - Spartak Alania 2:1. Zenit is a champion!!!
How cool it was.
At the 7th minute, Radimov scored so beautifully from a free kick a goal into the far nine.

Party playlist for football fans and more

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8. If you feel that the records are too personal and may fall into the wrong hands, use the cipher

Portrait of Samuel Pepys. Painting by John Hales. 1666 © National Portrait Gallery, London

The author of one of the most famous diaries in history, London official Samuel Pepys, used a mix of Spanish and French to make it difficult to read fragments about his love affairs.

February 17, 1667
The Mitchels and his wife paid us a visit, we drank and laughed a lot, after which - it was a beautiful evening, the moon was shining - the Mitchels and I went for a boat ride. To my chagrin, I saw how all the way ella huddles a su marido and hides manos, quando yo I try to take one de los - so this evening nothing happened to me con ella. When we landed, I, on some plausible pretense, sent my husband back to the bateau, hoping to snatch a couple of baisers from her; I took it by the hand, but ella turned away, and quando I said: “I can’t tocar te?” - with a slight modo she answered: "Yo no I love it when they touch me." I pretended not to notice this, after which I politely said goodbye, et su marido andar me almost to the micasa, where we parted. Alexander Livergant.

And the Soviet schoolboy Oleg Chernevsky used a self-made cipher from brackets, semicolons and other signs.

Encrypted diary of a schoolboy of the Stalin era

What Oleg Chernevsky wrote about in 1937-1938

9. Don't force yourself to write every day (if you don't feel like it)

The diary must not be regular. You can contact him when the need arises. For example, Leo Tolstoy kept a diary almost all his life, but in the 1870s he took a break and wrote almost nothing. Or, conversely, always carry a notebook with you and write down everything you see. So did the engineer Eduard Yanovich, who left more than 300 notebooks.

10. Don't worry about mistakes and handwriting

Many diary authors strive for perfect handwriting and literate writing, but it is important that the internal corrector does not kill the desire to write.

Horizontal turner Nikolai Belousov studied a lot, read and was very worried about his mistakes, but still kept a diary.

October 19, 1937
Weakness in orgonism, but does not quench the burning desire for reading, I read so much that vacationers are surprised. I see myself among them, lonely, and thinking many young women are afraid to speak with doubt, thinking that I am very proud, this can be seen from the stern look. But they, like many people, are easily mistaken when they think this about me. I don't get close just because I don't think I'm worth it."

Tsarskoye Selo resident Elizaveta Sarapik wrote in a completely horrendous handwriting, but Prozhito volunteers were able to decipher her notes.

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Success diary: how to keep it right, examples

Success diary is a powerful tool in your hands to achieve goals and overcome difficulties. By recording your achievements and events that cause positive emotions, you can accelerate progress towards your goals. Let's talk about how to properly keep a success diary, look at a few examples, and why everyone should do these entries.

Content

What is a success diary
The benefits of keeping a success diary
Success Record: Practical Exercise
Why is it effective
- What will happen if you record achievements
which is best recorded
success diary

How to start keeping a success diary

Rules for keeping a diary

Conclusion

What is a success diary

Many people report that their lives are filled with many daily tasks. However, at the same time, they do not move anywhere, as if they freeze at one point without the slightest personal growth and progress. And all this happens because the focus is not on that. Human consciousness tends to concentrate and keep in memory, rather, negative events than positive ones.

Successful people have developed the habit of keeping a daily success diary of their accomplishments and positive situations. And all because they noticed: this activity consolidates and multiplies their achievements, helps to remember good events and pleasant moments. In a difficult moment, a diary of successes and achievements helps to strengthen the spirit, analyze an unpleasant situation and find ways to resolve it.

A success diary is an ordinary notebook, notebook or diary (you can keep records in electronic form). In it, you celebrate your successes at work or at school, positive emotions, compliments from acquaintances and positive assessments of colleagues, pleasant meetings - that is, everything that cheers you up and brings you closer to achieving your goals.

Important! Learn to celebrate even small victories, and not just celebrate high achievements. Happiness is built from small joys. Small victories are the building blocks of big success.

Make it a rule to make at least 5 entries daily. Write everything that the day brought you positive: you read a book, went to the park with the children, did morning exercises (or went for a run), refused a portion of fast food, etc. Record everything that you have done to become better, feel healthier and more successful.

On the pages of the diary you can write down motivational phrases, affirmations, quotes from famous people, your own revelations. This will keep them from leaking out of your mind and will keep you on the right wavelength.

It's not hard to find inspiring moments to write down in your success diary. But many abandon this activity, believing that it does not make sense or they do not have time for this. "Everything ingenious is simple, and everything simple is ingenious. " Don't let the simplicity of the activity fool you, there are many benefits to keeping a success diary.

Benefits of keeping a success diary

Filling in a success diary every day, you will quietly develop a lot of useful qualities that distinguish a successful, harmonious and happy person:

The ability to think positively is a very valuable skill. Positive thoughts will displace negative ones, erase the destructive attitudes that could have been planted in the subconscious even in childhood. This will not only lead to the fact that negative moments will disappear from your life, you will begin to feel more confident and filled with happiness.
Confidence and self-respect comes with the realization of one's success. Raising self-esteem is necessary, as most people have wrong attitudes about themselves and their abilities. Especially devastating to a person is chagrin about his insignificant (in the subjective view) successes compared to others. A success diary will help you get rid of the bad habit of comparing yourself to others and teach you to focus on the steps to achieve your goals.
Intrinsic motivation is the most stable force that can move us towards the realization of desires. Inspiration cannot be unchanged, sooner or later it disappears and then comes the moment of decline. When discouragement, apathy, and the desire to do something disappear, your success diary entries awaken intrinsic motivation. You will realize how far you have already come, and you will have the strength to move on.
High self-esteem, self-respect, the presence of internal motivation - all these new qualities change you as a person, correct your outlook. You have a different attitude to life, your environment, the events that happen to you. Look at all situations through the prism of positive emotions and expectations. Even in failures, you see opportunities for growth. This helps to move on where we used to give up, give up. As a result, you become a winner. Now you are in control of the circumstances, not they you.
Keeping a success and achievement journal, in which you focus solely on your strengths, achievements, skills and abilities, helps to attract even more success and successful accomplishments to you. After all, we attract what we focus on.

Another advantage of keeping a diary of success is organization: at first you force yourself to write down every day, and then it becomes a habit. Such a skill as organization is useful in any field. With him, getting rid of laziness becomes much easier.

If you feel depressed, lack self-confidence, and tend to self-blame, be sure to start keeping a success diary. No matter where you are in your life path, you can change your life for the better. The main thing is to tune your brain to the right wave.

Recording Success: A Practical Exercise

How to start keeping a success diary? Write down your first 10 merits (skills, skills, talents) that you think will help you achieve your goals. Here are some examples of positive affirmations depending on your goals:

If you want to get a well-paid job, list your qualities and skills in a diary: “I communicate well with people”, “I am an attentive listener”, “I am obligatory, diligent and organized”, “I always do more than from me expect”, “I have excellent persuasion skills”, “I dress stylishly and look attractive”, etc.
If you are looking to start a relationship or start a family, write down all your talents: “I am confident and always make a positive impression”, “I am caring and considerate”, “I have a great sense of humor”, “People like to spend time with me ”, “I am a great hostess”, “The people around me are crazy about my charisma”, “My last boyfriend always said that I have very beautiful and expressive eyes”, “Girls constantly say that I have an athletic figure and an attractive nature” and etc.

You will always find something to praise yourself for. Look at yourself in the mirror without focusing on what you don't like about your appearance. Find what you like. Remember the compliments of friends and colleagues. Praise partners and bosses. Do not hesitate to recognize your merits and write them down on paper.

Why it's effective

Even the smallest achievements, in your opinion, activate the part of the brain that is responsible for rewards. At this moment, chemical compounds begin to be released in the body - hormones that give us feelings of happiness and pride in ourselves.

What happens if you write down your achievements every day

By writing down your progress every day, you will begin to notice all the positive things that usually do not stay in memory. One of the qualities of human thinking is the concentration on the negative. We tend to replay unpleasant memories in our minds over and over again. But the reconfiguration of thinking, the constant search for the positive will open before you that in life, it turns out, there are more positive moments.

By writing down everything, even the smallest achievements, you will raise your self-esteem and learn to find positive even in mistakes and troubles. After all, through failures, we gain invaluable experience.

What is the best thing to write down

You keep a diary for yourself, because there are no restrictions on what to write there. Wishes come true, pleasant moments that cheer you up, compliments, even a great time spent in idleness - write everything that gives you pleasant feelings. For example, you overcame some complex of your own, learned something new, signed up for a gym, increased profits, forgave the offender, helped a neighbor, got out of your comfort zone, cooked a new dish.

In your diary, thank the people who have done something good for you, yourself, that you are doing so well. Let this be a diary of success and gratitude - it will help you become not only more confident in yourself, but also friendlier, attract new interesting people to your environment.

Success Diary Template

If you still don't know how to start a success diary, you can use this template as an example:

Google Sheet 9 Template0018 Gradually, you will get comfortable in recognizing your merits and will be able to easily notice the positive moments in life without relying on any success diary templates.

How to start keeping a diary of success

Get a nice notebook or notebook with lots of pages. Write "Success Diary" or "Journal of My Achievements" on it. You can even paste your photo - so the diary will become even more personal.

It would be good if at the very beginning you describe the motives why you started keeping a diary of success, and what goals you want to achieve.
Achievements can also be recorded electronically by starting a digital diary format. The main thing is to start without delay, right today, without waiting for some global events that can be the first to be recorded in the journal.

Summarize the results for the week, month and year. Choose 5 main achievements of the week, then the month, and then the year. You will again feel the pleasant emotions from the previously experienced successes and be surprised how much you have already been able to do.

Diary rules

Stock up on multi-colored markers, pens, pencils, which you will use to highlight and mark achievements that are especially important to you. Make your diary colorful so that you enjoy holding it in your hands and reviewing it.
To get the most out of journaling, stick to the following rules:

Write daily or you won't make progress. By writing down achievements 1 time in 3-4 days, you will miss many positive moments, they will simply be “erased” from your memory. And the brain will not be enough of such an irregular recharge, so you will not feel any progress either in your attitude or in life.
Record your progress in the evening before bed or throughout the day. The second option is even more preferable, because this way you will not miss a single positive moment.
Carry a small notepad with you, where you can make entries anywhere. Thanks to this, you can immediately write into it an idea that you have or an emerging goal. In the evening, you simply rewrite these entries in your success diary.
Do not keep your notebook of achievements in plain sight, keep your notes confidential.
The minimum number of entries is 5 per day. Gradually, you will begin to write down more and more successful cases. Structure them, highlight the most important and important with color - this will improve perception.

Can you divide life areas into separate categories: "family", "health", "career", "habits". This way you will see which area is lacking your attention, and you can develop it more fully.

Conclusion

A diary of success is an effective tool for analyzing one's actions, abilities, and environment. He is able to streamline your life, improve relationships with others, help you become a more successful and self-sufficient person. Try to appreciate all the benefits of keeping a diary of success and achievements so that this activity does not become a chore for you. It is truly great to have records of your successful cases on hand - any difficulties will be on your shoulder, and your goals will be achieved in the shortest possible time.

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