I get it. Maybe you’ve been thinking about journaling, but you don’t know where to start. Maybe you’ve even purchased a new journal or notebook, and you don’t know exactly what you should be writing about. No worries, friend. I am here to help. Although a lot of people keep different types of journals, I prefer to dump all kinds of things into one journal. 

In this article, I am sharing 20 things that you can journal about, in hopes that it will get your creative energy flowing and help you get started. Feel free to add your own things to this list. Share them with me, so that I might have some new things to add to my own journals. Remember, there is no wrong way to journal.

20 Things to Journal About

ONE
Keep Track of Your Daily Activities

The most common way to journal is to simply write out the things that occurred throughout your day. You can journal what time you got out of bed (if you got out of bed that day), what you ate for breakfast, where you went, how things were, who you talked to, things that you observed, etc. This is a simple way of journaling, and it doesn’t take much to do it.

TWO
Log Your Feelings

Some Psychologists encourage their patients to write down their feelings at different points throughout the day. This helps you to learn what your triggers might be, and to better deal with certain situations. Logging your feelings is a great way to help you to do your work from the inside out and to make strides on your journey of self-improvement.

THREE
Document Your Weight Loss Journey 

Many people already document their weight loss journeys, especially now since weight loss transformations are popular on social media. Writing down your goals, and documenting your progress along the way helps you to stay motivated, and to have proof that could help other people stay motivated on their own journeys through watching you. I love seeing my starting weight and measurements compared to my current stats. They help me to stay positive during the times that I feel like I’m not making progress, because the proof is in my face on paper. If you are on a weight loss journey of your own, you should keep a log of your progress. You’ll love yourself for it.

FOUR
Keep A List of Your Ideas

I didn’t come up with this one by myself. I read “Think And Grow Rich”, and one of the many pieces of advice that Napoleon Hill gave was for the reader to write down several ideas every day. He shared that many of the ideas would be useless, but eventually there would come an idea that is worth delving into. That idea could make you a lot of money and/or bring you much happiness. Don’t let those ideas go to waste, write them down. Who knows, maybe they don’t mean much to you right now, but later on they could mean everything to you and your success.

FIVE
Write Down Your Business Plans

If you are an entrepreneur at heart, you definitely will find yourself planning out your business ideas and your next moves. I have always said that as you change your business will change as well. I made the mistake of not writing things down, in the beginning, because I wanted to “go with the flow”, but I took a very unnecessary detour to get where I am now. The funny thing is that if I had written down my plan, I would have realized that I would go straight to the path that I am on now, rather than spending time trying to force things to work doing things that I saw others doing. Don’t do like me, begin by writing your business plans down, and following the path that you’ve laid out for yourself.

SIX
Try Travel Journaling

Many people keep travel journals, as they collect stamps in their passports. Their journals are full of photos, drawings, descriptions of the foods they’ve eaten, places they’ve experienced, languages they have learned on their journeys, etc. If you are a traveler, this is a must. You should document your experiences as you travel the world. 

SEVEN
Thought Throws

A thought journal is where you can dump every thought that you have as you’re writing. If you have read my ebooks, you know that I am an advocate of throwing your thoughts on paper. This helps you to see what your thoughts consist of and to get a better idea of who you are on the inside. Set a timer for 2 to 5 minutes (longer or shorter if you like), and write everything that comes to mind until the timer goes off. It’s a pretty fun exercise, and you will have a documented log of the types of thoughts you think at different times in your life.

EIGHT
Self-Improvement Journey

Self-improvement is a job that is never done, because we change every day, and growth is an ongoing experience for us. As you read books, watch documentaries, educate yourself, learn more about who you are and where you’ve come from, you can document your journey in your journal.

NINE 
Find Your Interests

As a part of your self-improvement journey, you will discover more interests, and you may want to dig deeper into those interests. Maybe you would enjoy trying different things out, and figuring out which things stick. What books, movies, travel sites, foods, etc. are you interested in? After trying them, how do you feel now?

TEN 
Gratitude Log

Many positive thinking and law of attraction teachers tell their students to keep a gratitude log, because it helps them to stay in a positive mental and emotional state. It also helps one to easily manifest the things that he/she wants. Being grateful is a practice that more people are adopting. For this exercise, I sometimes set a timer as well, and I write as many things that I can think of to be grateful for. The beauty about this is that I never ever run out of things to write down before the timer goes off. AND that in and of itself is something to be grateful for.

ELEVEN
Manifest Your Desires

I briefly mentioned this in my last post, but it is worth mentioning again. Writing down your desires is a great way to manifest them. It is also fun to look back later on, and see all of the things that you called into your life. Writing down the things that you are grateful for is a part of this practice. When writing to manifest, you should write down the things that you desire as if you already have them. I included an example of how to write your statements in this post.

TWELVE
Bible Study Notes

This could actually work for anything that you’re studying, but I have a scripture journal, so I mention Bible study here. It is a great way to keep a journal on a specific subject that you care about. I’m thinking about sharing my scripture journal entries, but until then, there are lots of great examples of how to layout a scripture journal on the internet machine.

THIRTEEN
Food Journaling

This one is kind of fun for a lot of people. Journaling what you ate all day can either keep you on track to reach your weight loss goals, or it can make you feel guilty. LOL I remember keeping a food journal while I was on Weight Watchers with some co-workers, years ago, and I only stayed on track, because I didn’t want to have to write down that I ate something that I wasn’t “supposed” to have. I was reading through an old journal the other day, and on one page I had written down several of my favorite foods at the time. It was nice to know what I was eating then. I still eat some of the same things now, but I laughed and turned my nose up at old me for some of the things that were on that list too.

FOURTEEN
Script Your Future

I’ll explain. Scripting is when you write a story, in the present tense, about yourself, the way that you wish things were in your life. I have done this by typing out stories, but I haven’t kept a journal doing it. I would write things about my day, living in luxury, or simply having a great day, and it made me feel really good. It also helped that those things started coming to fruition, after a while.

FIFTEEN
Document Your Recipes

If you enjoy cooking like I do, you may have come up with an original recipe or a few. Though you may not need to write down your recipes, it would be pretty cool for someone from a younger generation to later read through your journals and possibly recreating something that you ate by using your recipes. And who knows, maybe later in life you will want to create a cookbook. 

SIXTEEN
Create Your Bucket List

I just finished watching “The Bucket List” on Netflix, and although it is not a new thing, I now care a little more about creating a bucket list for myself. Actually, it’s just a list of things I want to do, see, experience just because I believe it will enhance my life. Your list could be as simple as you want or as extravagant as you desire. Just do some things that you have never done before, and enjoy it.

SEVENTEEN
Document Your Dreams

I write down my dreams all of the time. I believe that my dreams are telling me something that I may not be able to understand in the moment. I have found, though, that when I write them down, I remember them longer, and later, I can even recognize when they come true. It is important that you keep your journal close so that when you wake up you can immediately write it down, because dreams fade quickly, and by the time you check your phone or use the bathroom, you won’t remember what your dream was about at all.

EIGHTEEN
Your Favorite Things

I am not asking you to be Oprah, but I am asking you to pay attention to the things that bring you joy. Start writing down the things that you enjoy the most. What are your favorite foods, books, words, sounds, songs, jokes, places, people, etc. The list goes on, of course. You can have so much fun with this one. 

NINETEEN
Write Letters to Yourself

There used to be a website called futureme.org that I used to send my future self emails. The first time I received an email from past me, it freaked me out, but it was so cool. Past me knew that I had graduated from college and was working on my own business. The letter was so encouraging, and I instantly felt a sense of obligation to make past me proud by continuing to do well. So, now I encourage you to write letters to yourself. Write advice to past you, and encouragement to future you. Because you aren’t sending them off, you will have to remember to go back and read your letters.

TWENTY
Say Yes

Have you ever just said “yes” and ended up having a wonderful time??? I have, and those experiences have inspired me to say “yes” even more. You should try saying “yes” and document your experiences. I feel the need to say that you should be careful about what you are saying “yes” to. Make good decisions, but have a good time with this one. It should be fun!