start your journal easily in less than an hour

Whether you’re looking to boost your creativity, track personal growth, or find some clarity, journaling can be a super useful tool. If you’re new to it, journaling can seem overwhelming — especially if you’ve seen some of those beautiful layouts online. Stop looking at those for now. Once you get more comfortable you can definitely do an inspo-scroll on Pinterest. For starters though, let’s work step-by-step to break in your new journal.

intention set

If you know me at all, you know my favorite question: Why? I swear sometimes it seems like I just speak in questions. Anyway, the very first thing we will do is set an intention for this journal. Why did you want to start it in the first place?

Is this a budget journal? Are you using it to track changes, improvements, notes, and tips? This should be something you think about before you put pen to paper. It’ll help you get in the right mindset and gather the correct resources.

prep work

Now let’s get setup. Decide what sort of journal you want. Analog or digital is truly up to personal preference. Since you have a good grasp of where you want to go with your journal you should be able to find a nice fit to get started with and test things out.

If you are shopping for supplies, try to limit yourself. It’s easy to get sucked into buying all the things. But since you are new to this you will need to test things out and see how they feel for you. Don’t buy the biggest versions if you’re still in the testing phase. Some companies even offer free samples or printable versions of their products to try before you buy.

You’re new to this, so you may want to go find a nice quiet place to write. Remove as many distractions as you can ahead of time. You want to put yourself in a position to thrive.

Once you’ve gathered your supplies, a hot beverage, and your intentions it is time to get started. Your first prompt: Why are you starting this journal? Go ahead and write it down. Make it pretty if you must but remember that this is just for you. Nobody will see this but you. It should feel like you. Get those IG feed pictures out of your mind. There really and truly are no rules here.

The benefits of journaling are pretty extensive. You can use it to process your thoughts and emotions, gain insight, work through challenges, and celebrate your triumphs all in one place. It’s a stress reducer, aids with better sleep, improves positive habits, and stress reducer. This can only really work for you by being honest with yourself, though.

Related: Getting More Comfortable Journaling

Related: Returning After A Journal Slump

a few insightful tips

Write first. Let your mind flow and get your thoughts out, and then if you really feel the need to make it prettier after that, go for it.

Start off small. Set a short timer for yourself, 3 to 5 minutes perhaps, max 10. Just start writing and don’t worry about what comes out. Keep it simple and small to take the pressure off of yourself. A blank page is only intimidating while it’s still blank.

Remember that there’s no wrong way to fill your journal. If it’s ugly just turn the page and boom, a fresh one. Stop judging yourself. This is your safe place. Be honest.

Reflect on what you’ve written before you move on. It can be useful to just get the thoughts from your head. It can also prove to be quite educational to go back and review what you wrote. You just might learn something about yourself.

Be realistic with yourself. Sometimes you’re in the mood to write but there’s just too many or not enough options. Use journal prompts when you aren’t sure where to start. You can find prompt lists all over the internet. I’ve got journal prompts all over the place if you want to start there, my newsletter often has one included.

I looked at lots and lots of bullet journal content while I was waiting on my notebook to arrive in the mail. I even read the book in that time (I was so excited). I get it. If you absolutely must “start the journal” and use things from the Bullet Journal system, try and keep it intentional. Still write up your why right up front. Pop in a Title Page and maybe an Index. But then I would suggest just writing in your journal. You can always plug in different Collections, that’s the point of the system. Your color coding key, year in pixels, password information, bucket list, addresses list, etc. can really be placed anywhere within the journal.

it’s up to you now

Just a little reminder that there actually are no rules here. Be patient with yourself and give yourself grace. Should you “miss” a day or two, just move on to the next page and pick back up. Nobody knows but you. And as I like to tell myself almost daily: done is far better than perfect. I’d rather have some journal entries over none, and if you’ve made it this far you probably would too.

Everything you need to get started is very near to you. Like any new habit, journaling takes time and patience to make it a natural part of your routine. Don’t let the intimidation of a blank page get to you too much. Try not to get overly discouraged if it even feels forced in the beginning.

You’re here because you want to be. Honor that. With consistency and an open mind you’ll soon pick up on the many joys of journaling.