Journaling for Beginners: An Easy Guide To Getting Started
Journaling isn’t just about jotting down your thoughts—it’s a way to untangle a busy mind, spark creativity, and even find clarity in your daily life. Journals can be a safe space to plan your dreams, track goals, or simply vent about your day.
If you’re new to the practice, don’t worry; starting a journal can be as simple or as personalized as you want.
This guide to journaling for beginners will walk you through everything you need to know to make it a habit worth keeping. Whatever your reason for journaling, you’ll be able to start this practice right away and easily build it into a helpful daily habit.
Starting something new is always a bit scary, especially because you don’t know if it’s actually worth your investment.
I definitely get that feeling, but when it comes to journaling, here is the good news: Journaling can work for everyone. It’s a low-pressure, totally customizable way to improve your mental clarity, connect with yourself, and even get creative.
And the best part is that there is no stress following rules or trying to do things the right way. There is no such thing as the right way in journaling – you journal your way, and that is the right way for you.
However, I bet you still feel a bit lost about where to start and what journaling is all about anyway. That’s why I’ve created this post! So get ready to discover journaling and all the ways it can help you build the life of your dreams!
This guide will give you all the tips, tools, and encouragement you need to start today—even if you’re working with a blank page and no idea what to write.
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Journaling For Beginners: Step By Step Guide
Journaling doesn’t have to be an elaborate and complicated thing. Let’s start this guide with five simple steps you can take to start journaling today.
And don’t worry, for each step I’ll share all the information you need to make the right decision and move to the next one.
Either way, always remember that you’re free to change your mind and try new and different things. So let’s get started!
Step 1: Why? Benefits Of Journaling
Just like with everything you start, it’s important to understand why you want to do it. And the best way to find your why is to see what kind of benefits are possible to get from journaling first.
So here are a few things that journaling can help you with, but the full list can be much longer!
This will give you a good idea, and once you figure out your own “why,” it will be easier to follow the next steps and stay motivated to make journaling a habit.
- Mental Clarity
Ever feel like your thoughts are tangled? Writing them down helps process emotions, organize your ideas, and make sense of your mental clutter.
- Stress & Anxiety Relief
Journaling creates distance from overwhelming emotions. Studies even suggest it improves self-awareness, helping you better understand what’s going on inside.
- Goal Setting & Motivation
Big dreams feel less intimidating when broken down into actionable steps through journaling.
- Improved Mindfulness
Staying in the moment is definitely something a lot of us are struggling with right now. Reflecting or recording your day helps you ground yourself in the now.
- Personal Growth
Your journal is like a time capsule of your evolution. Going back and rereading your entries can help you gain a better idea of yourself and get insights for personal growth.
As you can see, just talking about each of these benefits can be a separate post on itself. So here I just gave you a basic outline.
Think of what you want to get from the journaling experience and get ready for the next step.
Step 2: Find Your Journaling Style
There are many different ways you can journal, and you can probably create your own style.
But when you start some structure, and ideas are always helpful, so here I wanted to mention a few different styles. Try them out one by one until you find the one that works for you the best right now.
- Freewriting (Stream-of-Consciousness)
Just start writing whatever comes to mind. No plan, no editing, no judgment.
This style can definitely bring you to unexpected results. It’s almost like giving your mind space to talk to you, you never know where this road can take you, and what you can learn.
- Prompt-Based Journaling
This is probably the easiest format to start with, especially if you’re a beginner. Following prompts can help you start writing and move it in the right direction.
If you weren’t to learn some prompts, simply check the end of the post; I have plenty of posts with all kinds of prompts for you to try.
- Gratitude Journaling
This is the type of journaling I started with, and I think this simple practice is extremely impactful.
Simply write something you’re grateful for every day, and it can be one word or a sentence. It really helps you to see the world in a different light.
- Daily Logs & Chronological Entries
I think this is probably what you usually think of when you hear journaling – just writing every day about things that happened and how the day went.
These are very interesting to go back to and reread to get the idea of what your life was like. But also, it’s a great way to reflect on the day and choose what things are worth writing about.
- Bullet Journaling
This is the way I opened the door on journaling, and it’s my favorite way to journal up to this moment. It can basically include all kinds of journaling on one page.
But it’s also a helpful tool to plan your days and schedules.
- Thematic Journals
You can approach journaling with a certain theme in mind, and it really doesn’t have to be anything too heavy – create a journal around your favorite literature, or maybe your dreams and aspirations.
- Creative Journaling
Use sketching, collages, quotes, or unconventional elements to make your journal visually exciting. In creative journaling, you get to express your emotions nd thoughts but in an artistic way.
The best part about different types of journalism is that you don’t have to choose just one.
Play around with different formats, combine and match them to get something that is unique to you and works for your needs.
Maybe today you want to create a collage and tomorrow you’ll write your daily gratitudes – how your journal is for you to decide.
Step 3: Choose Your Journaling Medium
The next step is to decide how you are going to journal. After all, there are many different mediums you can use for journaling.
They all have their own pros and cons; some can be more convenient than others. But there is no right way to do it – you have to choose the medium that works best for you.
I’d recommend trying it out and seeing for yourself. And always remember that this is not a lifelong commitment; if at some point you want to try something different, go for it!
- Paper Journals
This is honestky my favorite way of journakliing, i love having ap hysic thing I can hold anf poo my thtouhgts into. My journals are almost creative with personality.
I think there is a certain power in writing your thoughts with a pen; it takes a bit more time, and it allows you to work through everything you write as you write it.
But of course, it has its own limitations – it takes longer. A notebook is not really something you can conveniently always have with you, and maybe privacy is an issue.
- Digital Journals
Use apps like Day One or Notion for convenience and easy organization. Google Docs or even your Notes app works too.
And considering your phone is always with you, it gives you an option to add new entries to your journal anytime you feel like.
And there are several apps that have an option fory iou to have a digital journal, where you can mix being creative with journaling.
- Voice or Video Logs
Not into writing? Record your thoughts through audio or video. As long as you journal in any format that you enjoy, it’s great.
Personally, this format didn’t work for me – I realised those entries just got lost in my phone or became too connected with the app I used.
But we all are different people, and you do you and choose what feels easiest and most accessible—you’re more likely to stick with it!
Step 4: Start Journaling
You probably expect that here I’ll share with you what you should write i. your journal. But honestly, this really depends on the journaling style you choose.
So here I’ll just mention that if you’re looking for promos, I have plenty of them that you can find at the end of this blog post.
Either way, once you choose your style and format, just go for it, don’t overthink the process, simply get started.
Step 5: Set Up A Journaling Routine
Just like with most things, you will get the best results if you do it regularly. Creating a routine for journaling is definitely the best way to ensure it quickly becomes a habit you do every day.
So I’ll share here a few tips on how to set up a journaling routine, but here is a little shortcut – you might want to start by adding journaling to an existing routine.
For example, every evening before bed, you do skincare and then spend some time reading. This is your routine, so maybe add five minutes of journaling after skincare.
Adding a new habit to an already existing routine will make it easier.
Whether you decide to add journaling to your existing routine or create something completely new, here are a few tips that will help you make it a success.
- Choose a Time
Morning journaling clears your head for the day ahead, while evening journaling helps you reflect. But honestly? Anytime works.
Try both and see when in your day you have more time to fully dive into journaling for a few minutes.
- Frequency
Journaling every day is great, but it’s not required. Even once or twice a week makes a difference.
Try to evaluate your needs nd the time you have available to see how frequently you’ll be journaling. I always recommend some kind of pattern, it will help you build a habit, like journaling every Sunday.
- Create a Relaxing Space
Find a cozy spot, pour yourself a cup of tea, light a candle, and make journaling feel like a treat. Make sure that, at least for a few minutes, you allow yourself to not think about the world outside and just be there with your journal.
- Keep It Short
As a beginner, it’s easy to feel like when you sit down to journal, you will be writing pages of text. But that might be difficult, not very realistic, and sometimes tiring.
So start with something shorter, it will help you get into journaling and keep on going. But of course, it all depends on the style of journaling you choose as well.
And there you go, here are five easy steps you can do to start journaling right away.
Common Journaling Challenges & How to Overcome Them
Now that you know everything you need to get started with journaling, let’s have a small talk about different challenges you might face on your journey.
After all, every time you try something new, you find some difficulties. And I’m here to warn you about it and get you prepared to easily overcome them.
So here are the issues and things i hear people say the most, and each has a pretty easy solution:
- “I don’t know what to write.”
I know this one very well, but that’s where prompts come in useful. They are the best thing to start journaling with.
Using prompts can give you enough confidence and ideas on how to journal so that, at some point, what to write will not be an issue anymore.
- “I don’t have time.”
I often hear that as well, but journaling doesn’t have to take much time. If you have five minutes a day, even that can make a lot of difference!
- “I can’t stick with it.”
This is why it’s important to know your reasons for starting journaling. If you know what you want to get from it, it will definitely help you stick to this new habit.
But you can also make it fun, get some supplies that you enjoy, and turn journaling into a fun little treat rather than a chore.
All these challenges are valid worries and considerations, but it’s pretty easy to dismantle them and continue on your path to making journaling your powerful habit.
Journaling Tips To Keep Going
Now, before you leave, I wanted to share a few extra tips to help you build and maintain your journaling habit.
- Don’t strive for perfection.
Too often, we strive to have “perfect” things – a journal entry with perfect handwriting and color coordination. But perfect does n’t exist, and it’s not the purpose of journaling.
The main goal is to have your mind flow and open to you new aspects of yourself, so embrace the mess and imperfections of your entries.
- Revisit old entries once in a while to reflect on how far you’ve come.
Writing a journal entry can help you in the moment, but a lot of lessons are forgotten. Going back and rereading your old entries can help you gain a new perspective or just remind you of the things you learned.
- Experiment with your journaling styles.
I always say that about journaling – as you grow and your life changes, so does your journal. You might have new needs or find that the former you chose does n’t work for you anymore.
It’s always good to experiment and see what works for you at this particular moment of your life. You want journaling to be helpful and impactful, not just something that feels like a chore.
More importantly, just start. This is the most important thing for you to remember – don’t overthink, don’t try to get things perfect, or find a perfect journal – just take a piece of paper and start journaling.
Thanks to this guide, you already know how to get started, so just go for it right away!
More Resources
I promised more resources and prompts to help you get starte with journaling, so here are soem more blog posts i think you’ll find useful.
Check out these next:
- 55 Powerful Journaling Ideas For Beginners
- 39+ Journaling Ideas For Self Improvement
- 23 Fantastic Daily Gratitude Journal Prompts
>>> What kind of journaling do you enjoy the most? Share with us in the comments!
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And remember: Keep Bullet Journaling, and Don’t Be A Blob!
