Make a Daily Journal

It is always good to keep a journal to express your thoughts and feelings.

Steps

Sample Entries

Doc:Personal Journal Entry,Reader Response Journal Entry,Task Oriented Journal Entry

Making a Daily Journal

  1. Choose a journal. Your journal should be easy to write in and attractive to you. You can get journal with ruled lines to help you keep your writing neat or one with completely blank pages if you'd rather choose the size of your writing. Some journals are bound so that they open flat, which can make writing easier. Others may have places to keep a pen or pencil or some of your treasured mementos. Small journals are easier to take with you wherever you go. You can purchase a journal with a design you like or customize one with stickers, photos, or artwork.
  2. Set your goals. Since this is a daily journal, you obviously want to write in it at least once a day. You can also decide on a minimum amount you want to write each day: a sentence, a paragraph, a page, or whatever. Maybe you want your journal to focus on a specific subject, such as your fiction writing or a new sport you're just starting.
  3. Pick a time to write in your journal. Right when you get home or shortly before bedtime are good times to write in your journal, but you can pick any time when you are able to spend a while writing. If you have a time set aside for writing in your journal, you'll be more likely to stick with it.
  4. Have fun! If writing in your journal starts to feel like a chore, you might stop doing it. So keep it enjoyable. Make sure your goals are reasonable. Look at it as a way to unload everything you've been to on bad days and to record good days so you can always remember them.

Tips

  • If you miss a day, try to make it up later. You can jot down some quick noted about what happened that day and write a more fleshed out journal entry later when you have the time.
  • Write down a list of general topics to write about. If you have a day where you don't know what to write about, you can pick one from the list and use that as a starting point.
  • Put your phone number or e-mail address on the outside or inside front cover of your journal. That way, if you lose your journal, whoever finds it can return it to you.
  • Find a way to keep a pen or pencil with your journal, even if your journal doesn't have a built in spot for it. You don't want to waste your writing time hunting for something to write with.
  • If you fill up your journal, start a new one. Some journals can be refilled with new pages. If that's the case, you might want to stock up ahead of time in case the company ever stops making them. Keep your old journals someplace safe and write the start and end date on each.

Warnings

  • Don't put your home address or too much additional personal info in your journal. You want someone who finds your lost journal to be able to contact you and return it, but you don't want your journal to be an invitation to stalkers or other dangerous people.
  • Be careful about allowing other people to read your journal. You make think it's fine to let your friend see what you've written. But what if you have an argument and your friend decides to tell all of your innermost secrets from your journal to everyone you know?
  • If you discuss very personal topics in your journal that you wouldn't want anyone else reading, you will need to protect your journal.
    • Simply writing "Private! Do Not Read!" on the first page can help, but only if the person looking at your journal is doing so by accident and already respects your privacy.
    • A safe or lock box can keep your journal away from prying eyes, but doesn't do much good if you plan to take your journal out of your room or home.
    • Some journals and diaries come with locks that will keep your private writings private. Just make sure you keep track of the key and that you can cut and replace the lock if the key ever gets lost.
    • Writing in code is an almost foolproof way to keep anyone from learning your most secret thoughts, so long as you pick a code that isn't too simple to decipher. It can turn your writing into more of a chore, so consider only writing the most sensitive information in code.
    • If you make no effort to guard your journal and leave it lying around open in public, don't be surprised or angry if other people read it. Keeping your journal safe is your responsibility.
  • Don't try to write in your journal all the time or as you're experiencing something. Live your life first, then write about it. You don't want to get to the point where you're spending so much time writing in your journal that all you have to write about is writing in your journal.

Remember that successful people write in journals.

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