Why am I writing this post?
I’ve been journalling an average of 30-40 minutes everyday for the past two years.
Over that time, I’ve noticed several benefits from the practice.
I am writing this post to:
List each benefit
For each benefit, attempt to explain why journalling may be responsible.
If this piece inspires you to try journalling, I’d love to hear about your experience.
This is not a prescription.
I can’t promise that all or indeed any of these benefits may apply to you.
I expect everyone’s journalling experience will be different.
How do I journal?
I journal an average of 30-40 minutes daily.
I typically journal on my laptop for 30 minutes in the evening and on my phone throughout the day.
A journalling session consists of continuously writing down whatever comes to mind first.
I produce a continuous stream of thoughts without filtering or censoring myself.
Contiguous thoughts don’t have to be related.
I don’t do anything else while journalling - pure focus.
I end the session when I feel like I’ve written down everything that’s on my mind.
The benefits
Journalling is enjoyable.
I’m giving my mind a space to be heard - similar to talking to a good listener or therapist.
It’s fun forcing yourself to continuously write the first thing that pops into your head.
This free-styling is similar to improvisation.
After a few minutes of focused writing, I enter a flow state, which is associated with dopamine release.
If you’re looking to introduce more flow into your life, journalling might be an easy place to start.
Journalling unclogs my brain of latent thoughts and emotions, which leaves me feeling calm, refreshed, and sometimes even blissful.
If I don’t journal for a few days, I have a lot of pent up thoughts and emotions, which manifest themselves as irritability and stress.
The mere act of acknowledging my thoughts in writing weakens their control over me.
By making my conscious mind aware of my thoughts, they no longer control my subconscious mind.
When I write down my thoughts, I observe them as a third-party, which creates distance between them and myself.
By feeling more calm and less biased by emotion, I’m able to make better decisions.
Journalling helps me better understand myself and the world.
When I write down a thought it creates a stronger “hook” to that thought than if I mentally took a note.
This stronger hook means that when I have a similar thought in future, I can more easily connect it with the original thought.
Overtime, I can identify common themes and observations that emerge in my writing, which develop into insights about myself and the world.
For example, journalling has helped me identify the aspects of entrepreneurship that I enjoy most.
This has allowed me to focus on my favorite activities while delegating (some of) the rest.
Journalling has helped me identify the types of people that I enjoy spending time with, which has made my social life more fulfilling.
Journalling is a productive use of idle time.
There is a surprising amount of idle time in our lives (e.g. transportation, waiting in lines, work breaks, etc.).
Instead of using this idle time to escape from my thoughts and emotions via social media, I prefer to directly acknowledge and process them in my journal.
Journalling is an easy habit to build.
Unlike going to the gym or other hard-to-build habits, journalling was easy to ingrain into my life.
Three main conditions stand out:
It’s easy to start a session (low activation energy).
The activity is painless and enjoyable (dopamine release).
I feel calm and sometimes even blissful after a session (peak-end rule).
What are the downsides?
So long as the journal is kept private, I don’t think there are any significant disadvantages.
One potential drawback is time spent.
Having said that, the benefits I’ve experienced significantly outweigh the time I spend journalling.
If I didn’t journal during idle time, I would likely be scrolling through social media, which is less productive.
Conclusion
These are the main benefits I’ve noticed:
Journalling is enjoyable.
Journalling leaves me feeling calm, refreshed, and sometimes even blissful.
Journalling helps me better understand myself and the world.
Journalling is a productive use of idle time.
Journalling is an easy habit to build.
For me, journalling is a low-effort, high-reward activity without significant drawbacks.
If this piece inspires you to try journalling, I’d love to hear about your experience.
Thanks for sharing this! I was at brunch and sharing life updates, and mid-sentence I literally paused and heard the words I was saying out loud. I came to a realization about how much something mattered to me *as* I was describing my feelings to my friends.
I feel that had I journaled everyday and wrote down the things that had been on my mind, I would have recognized things sooner.
Thanks to your sharing the benefits you've noticed, I've been inspired to journal more often! I use the Notes app and created a folder called "Jotted Thoughts" for my entries.
This is fabulous Jaime. One question, would you journal in a physical book rather than in the digital space (app)? What do you find more effective?