Importance Of Journaling In Personal Development

Birthdays, anniversaries, meetings, etc. important dates we sometimes forget.

This is because we have too many thoughts in our mind that our brain just sometimes decides to choose what’s more vital for us based on our most current or continuous belief and forget the rest.

Devices have RAMs with a maximum storage capacity, which requires cleaning the cache or deleting certain services if exceeded. 

Although much bigger in storage and capacity, the brain isn’t much different than a device’s RAM. 

So if a device’s storage is full it says clear trash. The same thing happens to our brains. 

So how do we tell our brains that these activities are essential and not trash that needs to be forgotten? 

Personal development is a conscious act. 

Personal development requires extra effort because only then will one evolve from a place of self-doubt and low self-esteem to a place of self-awareness and confidence. 

One of the best self-development tips is journaling.

Yeah, you heard right, I said journaling. Now join me on this adventure ride as I show you the importance of journaling in personal development. 

Oh, don’t forget to write down your thoughts as you read. How else will you learn if you don’t practice 

Now I will first explain the meaning of journaling 

What Is Journaling? 

Journaling is more like freelance writing but this time around for yourself. A journal is just like a diary but a broader version of it. 

Journaling involves writing down your schedules, thoughts, ideas, goals, and even your daily activities. 

Generally, everything that ever comes to mind should be written in a journal. 

With journaling, you can write down your fears, goals, insecurities, everything you feel, and what to express without fearing judgment from anyone. 

Your journal is like your personal psychologist. 

Now we have seen the definition of journaling, so now why is journaling important? 

Improved Memory

What you don’t write, you probably won’t get done. 

When you write down things, you’re telling your brain that this is important, so your brain, in turn, helps you by remembering it. 

Confidence Boost 

Imagine not having to forget anything, you being like an alarm clock, always accurate and up to the task. 

This gives you an aura of self-confidence and helps you be more self-aware. 

This is one of the many reasons to note the importance of journaling in personal development. 

Better Communication

There is no perfect or wrong way to write. So it’s best to have that thought while writing. 

When journaling, for each word expressed, you open yourself more. That is, you become more open to communicating with other people because you are more self-aware, and so relate better with people. 

This is a great tip for introverts to learn how to express themselves and communicate with people better. 

This is also one of the benefits of self-awareness in personal development. 

Document Your Progress 

A journal helps you document your progress, little wins, and losses. There is lots of importance of journaling in personal development whether as a student or even an adult.

As a student, a journal helps you know how far along you have gone with a course/subject, whether you are doing well or if more effort is needed, and it also helps you prepare better for exams. 

In business, a journal helps you track your business goals and helps you know if you are on the path to fulfilling them or if you need a business goal makeover. 

Close business monitoring and progress tracking are one of the benefits of journaling in business. 

Personal development also requires you to acquire good habits e.g. exercise, eating healthy, 

Exercise helps keep you fit and maintain balance with yourself. 

So personal development may require you to gain or lose weight depending on the situation. 

Exercising can be a very tedious journey and can be even more tedious and frustrating, especially when you don’t see results. 

When you journal your exercise journey, it helps you monitor and track your progress, making it easier to locate any problem if there is one in your exercise journey. 

Things to journal include: Importance Of Journaling In Personal Development

Documentation is one of the benefits of self-awareness in personal development.

1. What do you eat/how healthy is your meal: 

You are what you eat. Exercise isn’t only about workouts. Your meal is also important in your weight loss or gain journey. 

2. Your sleep schedule 

Sleeping is underrated, while personal development requires you to work on yourself and your goals for your future benefit. 

It’s also important to have enough rest. 

So a journal is very much needed because it helps you schedule everything you need to do so you don’t forget anything and you don’t give more time than required to a particular activity. 

A well-detailed plan is one of the benefits of journaling for weight loss. 

3. Improved Mental Health

Have you ever wondered why people suffering from anxiety, stress, and other mental health conditions visit psychologists? 

Do you know what a psychologist’s first words to their patients are? 

They say talk to me or rather ask an open question: how are you feeling? 

This is because your mind is filled with raging thoughts, and you need to declutter your mind to be able to feel at ease. 

So having a journal helps improve mental health because you don’t have any thoughts burdening you, so you have a free mind. 

4. Growth 

Growth is an essential part of life and personal development. Growth is one of the most important aspect of journaling in personal development.

Growth is the increase from where you are to somewhere higher. 

People grow financially, emotionally, and spiritually.

Having a journal to track helps track your growth journey,  you see how you have come compared to where you once were, and you know what caused a major growth for you. 

And if you are stagnant, you also know why too. 

This helps you become more conscious and is one of the benefits of self-awareness in personal development. 

5. Idea Generation & Creativity 

Every great idea turned into work started from a written sketch. When I started the art of journaling, I realized way more importance of journaling in personal development.

Journaling has the power to reawaken your creativity that you might not even know you possess. 

What it is you do is you are an artist. You need to sketch your art to avoid mistakes.

Are you a writer? You need to write down your ideas before creating that awesome writing. 

Whatever creative work you do, you need a plan, a written draft, and an idea sketch before creating that masterpiece. 

Where do you put all these pre-things, obviously, in your journal? 

Just so you know, so many great men and women journaled their thoughts before they implemented them into actions, so no worries, you are on the right path. 

6. Attain Your Goals

Out of sight is out of mind. What you don’t see, you tend to forget. 

Journaling helps you stay true to your goals. It helps you track your wins and losses. 

When you journal, you don’t just write your goals, but you also write the how-to. This is a plan of how you intend to achieve these goals and in what time frame.

This makes your goals realistic and helps you stay on track because you see your goal and their time frame, so you know you’re not just talking big or building castles in the air.  

Journaling 101 Tips 

Journaling is supposed to be a fun and exciting activity, don’t make it otherwise. 

So

1: Don’t bulk write 

Yes, journaling is good, but a straight hour or two of journaling sounds stressful and might scare you not to want to write again, especially if you’re not used to writing. 

So instead of an hour, how about every 15 mins, e.g., you set a timer that goes off every 15 mins, then another timer of approx. 10 mins to write, and the cycle continues. 

This way, your journaling is fun and exciting. 

2: Don’t wait for the day to be over before you write in your journal 

A journal is supposed to track your progress, so don’t wait until your day is over because then you are tired, and so are your brain and your memory. 

This means there is every possibility that you may forget certain things, and those little details, as small as they may be, that is important.

3: Who says you have to use a pen and paper 

Journaling is writing, but it doesn’t have to be the old way on paper. You can journal digitally. 

There are so many writing apps nowadays that can be used. 

It even makes it easier as you can have these apps on your mobile so you can journal on the go. 

4: Why Not Audio Journals 

Journaling is said to be writing, but you don’t have to write to have a journal. 

It’s your thoughts, your ideas, so if you are not used to writing or you feel more comfortable talking out loud, then, of course, you can have an audio journal. 

This is even easier as speaking is easier and faster than writing, as you don’t have to worry or figure out the right words to use to express yourself on paper. 

You just speak as you think and let the words from your thoughts flow. 

This is also a great speech booster because your continued talks make you more fluent in talking. 

Conclusion  

Are you feeling low or overwhelmed? Are you finding it hard to cope with your schedule? 

Do you have so much to do, but the days don’t seem enough? 

Are you trying to track your goals and how far you have come with them? 

Are you feeling happy, don’t have someone, or don’t know how to express it? 

Are you super excited about an idea you just had? 

Whatever you feel or think, a journal is your best bet for expressing yourself without any limitations. 

Forget the fancy word journal. It doesn’t have to be a fancy book. Any book will do; what matters is it’s yours and yours truly. 

So how about getting a journal and turning it into your reality show script, don’t worry about the pages filling. You can never have too many journals. 

Just write away.