Journaling Benefits and Tips

I've written for 1hr+ every day in 2024. It's been a game-changer for me. I wanted to form this habit for 20 years. (but always made excuses) -Not enough time -What will people think -I don't have enough to say All of that is BS. Everyone is unique and has a valuable POV to share. And it feels good to share it, I promise. So now, my only rule = don’t skip a day. Here are 12 benefits I've received Maybe these will inspire you to write more too: 1. Improve your writing skills ↳ Practice makes perfect ↳ The more you write, the better you get 2. Boost your creativity ↳ Writing daily sparks new ideas ↳ It helps you think outside the box 3. Build discipline ↳ Writing every day builds a habit ↳ It teaches you to stay committed 4. Clear your mind ↳ Writing can be a form of meditation ↳ It helps you process your thoughts 5. Track your progress ↳ Daily writing shows your growth over time ↳ You can see how far you’ve come 6. Enhance communication ↳ Writing improves how you express yourself ↳ It makes you a better communicator 7. Document your life ↳ Writing daily records your memories ↳ It creates a personal history 8. Reduce stress ↳ Writing can be therapeutic ↳ It helps you release tension 9. Develop a unique voice ↳ Writing daily helps you find your style ↳ It makes your writing distinct 10. Set and achieve goals ↳ Daily writing keeps you focused ↳ It helps you reach your objectives 11. Expand your vocabulary ↳ Writing daily introduces new words ↳ It makes your language richer 12. Joy ↳ Writing can be fun and rewarding ↳ It’s a journey of self-discovery Happy writing! ✌️📝

Growth is hard to notice. At least when it comes a bit at a time. Think of a baby - How small and tiny they are. And even though you know they're growing every day, It's not until you come home from a solo trip to the grocery store That you realize how much the baby seemed to have grown In your absence. Or of the garden - You see the seedlings pop up from the earth in the spring And sometimes you can tell they've gotten bigger. But before you know it, you go out into the backyard And are astonished at how many blooms there are, As if they appeared by magic! Or us - We set goals, and we work on them, But it's hard sometimes to see the progress we're making. This is why journaling is so important! Journaling helps us take stock of where we are at the moment. To both look back at where we've been And notice how far we've come in ways we can't do When we have both eyes trained on the goal itself. Journaling helps us recognize our accomplishments. To celebrate how much we've grown and accomplished. Journaling helps us measure our growth. It helps give us the distance we need to recognize What we've achieved Who we've become. It keeps a record, of not just our acts of accomplishments (Which is SO handy!) But of how we grew as people. It keeps our trail of breadcrumbs So we can find our way back to ourselves When we get off track. Do you have a journaling practice That helps you measure your growth? ********** 👋I'm Amanda. ✍️Good things come to those who journal. 💛I help you discover what that means for you. ✉️ My DMs are always open. Image description: Amanda stands in the tomato aisle of her local seed store, holding three packages of tomato seeds. On top are her favorites - Pink Bumble Bee cherry tomatoes. If you haven't grown them, you should!

Journaling nightly for ~10 minute has made me a better man. Feel free to steal my journal framework: ✔ 1 page free form brain dump of the day that just happened (What wins did I have? What would I do differently if I could live the day over again?) ✔ A quick look to the day ahead (this is a great place to prepare myself for the challenges to come.) ✔ List 3 reasons for gratitude (over time, this changes the brain to become more positive!) There is no better way to consistently set the direction for your life than daily reflection and planning (plus it's fun the laugh at the entries from a decade ago!)

Don't forget to close the tabs in your mind too Ever feel like your brain is bursting with a million open tabs? You're not alone. Just like a cluttered browser, our minds can become overloaded with thoughts, ideas, and to-dos, leaving us feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. But just as we clear our digital workspace, we can also cultivate mental clarity and peace by "closing some tabs" inside our heads. Here's how to gently declutter your mind and treat yourself with kindness: 1. Hit "pause" and assess: Take a moment to observe your thoughts like passing clouds. Which ones bring stress or anxiety? These are your non-essential tabs. Acknowledge them, and gently let them go for now. Remember, you can always revisit them later if needed. 2. Externalize your mental load: Grab a journal or planner and list down everything swirling in your mind. Seeing it on paper can clear your head and help you prioritize what truly matters. (Bonus tip: do this daily!) 3. Time for some focus magic: Divide your day into "time blocks" dedicated to specific tasks. This helps you concentrate on one thing at a time, reducing distractions and boosting productivity. Say goodbye to multitasking chaos! 4. Be kind to your mind: Regularly practice mindfulness activities like meditation, deep breathing, or journaling. These help you stay present and cultivate self-compassion. Remember, closing mental tabs is okay! Treat yourself with the same understanding and support you'd offer a friend. 5. Don't forget to recharge: Schedule regular downtime to unwind and de-stress. Do things that bring you joy, like spending time in nature, pursuing a hobby, or connecting with loved ones. A rested mind is a focused and productive mind. By closing the mental tabs that drain your energy, you're not just being productive, you're investing in your well-being. So be kind to yourself, and give your mind the calm and clarity it deserves. #mentalhealth #wellbeing #focus #productivity #mindfulness #selfcare

This dead-simple 2-minute prompt has helped me journal every night for 1000 days in a row. I call it the “Daily Bullets”—here’s how it works: When I first started evening journaling, I made one big mistake: I had a complex, handwritten system that took 30+ minutes to complete. This was unsustainable, so every time I would fall off after a few days. Luckily, the Daily Bullets solves that problem—here’s how: Every night, as I’m winding down, I take out my phone and complete 3 steps: Step 1: I create a note with two headers: the date & “lessons/realizations" Step 2: I brain dump everything that happened that day, in order I don’t overcomplicate this. I simply put a bullet for everything that happened. • How I felt during the day • What I trained at the gym • The coffee shop I went to • What I wrote that morning • Any meetings or calls I had • Anyone I had a conversation with • Interesting things I read or listened to Step 3: I brain dump any lessons or realizations I had The list of what happened “primes” me for reflection & iteration. I’ll list habits that are working, ideas of experiments to run, people that are draining my energy, anything and everything. Then, I shut my phone and go to sleep. That’s it, that’s the entire routine. Why does it work so well? There is ZERO friction to doing this every day. • It only takes 2 minutes • I can do it from my phone, anywhere • I can do it even if my brain is working at 10% capacity Each of these is a requirement to stick with any journal practice (which was a realization from one of my Daily Bullets a few years ago). There are 3 big benefits to this routine: 1. Daily Bullets “close the loop” on my day. Rather than go to bed with swirling thoughts, this practice gets all the “open loops” out of my head and onto the page. Also, if I need to remember anything for tomorrow, I just put it at the bottom of that note so I don’t forget it. 2. Daily Bullets help me remember lessons I would have otherwise forgotten. Speaking of forgetting, most lessons slip my mind if I don’t write them down quickly. And this is why most people never make any progress. They don’t have a practice for iteration, so they make the same mistakes repeatedly. 3. Daily Bullets create a ledger of my year and set the foundation for my longer-term reviews. And finally, the best part is being able to look back on any day from my past to see exactly what happened & what I learned. At the end of every week, month, quarter, and year, I gather these recaps into one document to capture all the lessons in one spot. Aaaand that’s it. That’s the Daily Bullets system. Give it a try and let me know how it works for you.

On World Mental Health Day, check out this one daily science-based practice Emma Watson uses to stay grounded and sane: Mental health of children is often overlooked. Childhood fame doesn’t make that any easier. After extraordinary childhood stardom from the Harry Potter movies, Emma Watson was unmoored. “There were moments when it got so big where I almost had vertigo and felt it got so big that I felt l disconnected.” She took a four-year break from acting to focus on her mental health. After a lot of therapy and inner work, she emerged back into public life this year with a core practice to keep her grounded: Journaling with prompts. She’s not alone in feeling the benefits. I became one of the first teachers of Google’s Search Inside Yourself program which taught science-supported emotional intelligence techniques. Journaling with prompts was one of the most popular and effective practices that we taught. Although Emma's famous for magic, journaling is backed by science: In a 2006 study, nearly 100 young adults were asked to spend 15 minutes journaling. The people who journaled saw the biggest reduction in symptoms like depression, anxiety, and hostility, particularly if they were very distressed to begin with. This was true even though 80% had seldom journaled about their feelings and only 61% were comfortable doing so. Here are Emma’s daily prompts (reflecting on the last 24 hours): 1. Write 3 things that were fun or joyful 2. Write 3 things that happened that were kind 3. Write 3 things that I did well or that I liked about myself Takeaway: Journaling with prompts inclines the mind towards the emotions and perspective you want to cultivate. Science supports journaling as an incredible practice for mental health and well-being. Journaling helps you get your thoughts onto the page and into a healthy space. For a more complete set of great mental health tools to add to your toolbox, check out the link in comments from Tim Ferriss. If this resonates, please share ♻️ this post and follow Matt Schnuck for insights on inflections in life, entrepreneurship and 25 years in business.

I've journaled every single morning for the last 16 years. But I don't waste my time with: • Complex rules • A fancy journal • Or spend hours writing I just use a pen, paper, and 30 minutes to help focus my mind and find clarity. These are the 4 dead-simple prompts I use every day: Prompt 1: "What did I do yesterday?" The very first thing I do is reflect on the past 24 hours: • What did I do yesterday? • How did it feel? • What did I learn? I like this prompt because only the most important things come to mind. Pay attention. Prompt 2: "What am I working on?" A big part of journaling for me is repeating things I want to internalize: • Repeating goals • Repeating mindset patterns • Repeating feelings & lessons The more I repeat it in my journal, the more I think about it during the day. Prompt 3: "What's coming up?" Next, I look toward the future. 1. What's around the bend? 2. What can I start proactively processing through now? This helps prepare the mind in advance for feelings, challenges, or obstacles—and helps you not feel so "caught off guard." Prompt 4: "What am I grateful for?" I end every journaling session with a Thank You. I thank the path in front of me. I remind myself I am grateful for every opportunity to learn, whether it's difficult or not. And I welcome the day to come with open arms. I started journaling deliberately like this when I was 19 years old. I'd just gotten back from a rehab trip, and felt extremely lost & confused. I didn't know what I wanted out of life, or whether I would amount to much. So I wrote to myself about it. This has become my favorite part about journaling over long periods of time: You can literally see the progress in front of you. Things I journaled about when I was 19, I don't journal about anymore. I've grown out of them. Keeping a journal documents your growth as a human—I will keep this habit until the day I die. I attribute a significant portion of my success over the past 10 years to my daily journaling practice. There is no better way to: • Hear yourself • Become conscious of your thoughts • And take actionable steps forward — 📌 I used these prompts to start writing online, quit my ad agency job, and become a ghostwriter. Ghostwriting is how I wrote for 300+ industry leaders and made $180k/month in less than 2 years. Want to get paid to write & work with industry leaders? Get started with this free, 5-day email course: https://lnkd.in/eAz-TRE7

One of the most powerful tools few people talk about? Journaling. Not the “Dear Diary” kind with locks, and stickers (although stickers are allowed). Just a simple notebook (or app) where you can dump the chaos in your head and find clarity. I don't like using apps personally because I prefer to handwrite my thoughts - it's how I remember my ideas. Ever have one of those epiphanies within your day but don't take the time to write it down thinking you'll remember it later? And then the day bogs everything down and you never go back to that stroke of genius again? That's why you write stuff down and journal it. Journaling isn’t just for writers or self-help gurus. It’s for: 🫵 Founders processing the emotional rollercoaster 🫵 Operators juggling 10 things at once 🫵 Creatives trying to get unstuck 🫵 Anyone trying to make sense of their day, their goals, or themselves I know CEOs and NBA coaches who use it daily. Here’s what journaling does for me: ✅ Creates a place to think clearly and critically ✅ Helps me spot patterns in my thoughts and behavior ✅ Slows me down so I don’t just react and instead reflect ✅ Grounds me in what matters: what I’m grateful for, what I’m working toward, who I want to be as a leader and founder You don’t need the perfect system. Or a fancy journal (I like fancy journals). Or to do it daily. Start with one question: “What do I need to get out of my head right now?” Write. Don’t edit. Just go. Try it for a week. If you used to journal and stopped, consider this your nudge to start again. You might be surprised what comes out when you finally make time to declutter your head. #Journaling #LeadershipHabits #MentalClarity #SelfReflection #FounderLife #EmotionalIntelligence #PersonalGrowth #MindsetMatters #DailyPractice #MentalFitness #GrowthMindset (that's me, visiting a friend in Nantucket recently, enjoying the peace and quiet that comes with early mornings) -- 👋 I’m Sasha, founder, businesswoman, wife, mom, immigrant, movie and music festival fanatic; ✍ I was told by my friends on LI to start expressing my professional opinions more because they think I'm hilarious. They obviously have a great sense of humor; 🏃♀️➡️ Follow me Sasha Yablonovsky for honest, funny, and maybe relatable stuff

You don’t know 𝗗𝗿. 𝗝𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿. But his research has impacted your life. Allow me to introduce his work. He pioneered research demonstrating how writing about trauma can benefit your health. And not just mental health or emotional health, but physical health, too. You get: —> Improved sleep —> Lower blood pressure —> Decreased stress hormones Blood samples even showed boosted immune function after writing sessions. It won’t cure cancer, but cancer patients had better outcomes because of these benefits. Now, just writing in a journal won’t cut it. If you want those benefits, follow do this: 1. 𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟭𝟱 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝘂𝘁𝗲𝘀 2. 𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻. No stopping for spelling, grammar, or style. Nobody’s grading this. If you run out of things to say, repeat yourself. You can type, handwrite, or speak into a recorder. 3. Focus on something that’s bothering you. 𝗗𝗶𝗴 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽. Let go. It’s OK to switch topics in the middle of a session or from one day to the next. Trust your intuition. 4. Keep it 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹. You can throw it away, tear it up, or burn it afterwards. 5. 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗮𝘁 for 4 days in a row. Transforming your thoughts into language helps you to understand them You worry less because you understand more. Not big on writing everyday? No problem. He doesn’t. He likened this method to taking a pill when you’re sick. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁. --------------- PS: If you like good vibes and mental health, follow Troy Karnes

On our return from the winter break I wanted to start to introduce some new strategies/techniques to support player wellbeing & self development. Through research& speaking with other professionals about what has worked within their own environments I decided to introduce the concept of ‘journaling’. A journal is private space for players to write down their personal thoughts, feelings & reflections, it has been found to be positive in supporting mental health by: • Reducing anxiety • Breaking away from a non-stop cycle of obsessive thinking • Improving awareness & perception of events • Regulating emotions • Encouraging awareness • Boosting physical health This is optional for all players & may not be something that they want to participate in, it may be out of their comfort zone. All I have asked is for them to consider giving it a try, I left the basket of the journals in the players lounge so the players can access them if they wish. A few have disappeared, so for me that’s a win, if it helps at least one person, it’s achieved its objective ✅ #selfdevelopment #wellbeing #mentalhealthsupport #playersupport #playercare #journaling #football #wsl #muwfc #mufc