Journaling creates a feedback loop. Feedback loops calibrate you. More and faster feedback loops is the key to improvement in nearly any dimension of life.
This is slightly more interesting and where I believe a lot of people get stuck. Movies and folklore suggest that journals should typically be analog notebooks that cover years worth of material and one’s deepest thoughts. I have nothing at all against those, but I’d consider that more of a diary. Whichever term you prefer, go for that.
Journal: A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis;
Diary: A usually daily written record of personal experiences and observations;
My key to success in journaling has been to keep it very simple and chain it to other habits. Journaling is a part of my morning ritual.
I very occasionally journal for more than 20 minutes. All I ask of myself is to describe the events of yesterday/this morning in broad strokes and consider adding an anecdote or two. Once every few months, I’ll explore my feelings in depth - usually on a topic that has been weighing on me for several weeks. Simplicity (often less than 3 mins) is what allows me to be consistent. Journaling is not inconvenient at all.
I learned this technique from Atomic Habits. Do you brush your teeth every morning? Check your email? Open social media? Pour a cup of coffee? Simply make it a requirement that before you do X (something that you find very easy to do 100% of the time), you have to write 2 sentences in your journal. Honestly - write “I don’t feel like journaling today. I have no thoughts to share.” Believe or not, you’ll find that nugget interesting a few years from now when you’ve established the habit.
I use Evernote, but Apple Notes, Notability, OneNote should all suffice.
Boom! It’s really that easy. Every day you add a new entry. Next year (because you’ll still be doing this a year from now), instead of adding a new entry, you find the entry for the date, add a line at the top for the current year with new thoughts. Rinse and repeat.
This approach is particularly fun if you have visibility into how many entries are in the notebook. As you approach filling out all 365 (er, 366) days of the year, its quite rewarding.
Congratulations. You’ve reaffirmed your humanity by screwing up. NBD. Evaluate a better approach, journal about forgetting to journal. I occasionally skip journaling while on vacation (although vacations are better with journaling!) but rarely go back in time to update missed events. That’s not evil, just not worth it to me. I hit the reset button and forge ahead. You do you.
If filling out each and every day is important to you, I recommend looking at pictures. It’s easy to look at your pics by date and adding a pic to your journal is ... wait for it ... worth 1000 words.
This can also be useful for backdating. If I go through a particularly sparse section of my journal, I’ll find a photo from that date years ago and add it (sometimes with as much context as I can remember, sometimes just the pic).
Snap a picture. Upload to your sweet new digital journal. Or keep your analog journal if it works for you.
Journaling is a powerful and insightful activity that has truly changed my life. I encourage you to give it a shot. I have never once regretted journaling and don’t think you will either.