Five Minute Journal

I’ve always struggled to journal consistently by opening a blank page and writing. My method is inspired by the “5 Minute Journal” approach: spend just 5 minutes writing a few bullet points in response to prompts first thing in the morning.

This simple habit provides many benefits and is an excellent base for building a writing practice. The hard part is consistency and simply opening your editor to start. Some days I’ll write just a few thoughts, but often I’ll get on a roll and have much more to say.

Morning prompts

These are the prompts I use:

What am I grateful for?
What would make today great?
What am I worried about?

What am I grateful for?

I reflect on the good things happening in my life. Studies suggest gratitude journaling helps improve mental well-being. Entries can be simple (nice weather, sleeping well, a great TV show) or significant (family, health, stable job). Sometimes they’re repetitive, but focusing on the good puts me in a positive state of mind for the day.

What would make today great?

I use this to make a mini-plan for the day. I define at least three “must-do” tasks and achievable goals that would constitute a successful day.

Before, I felt like I never accomplished “enough” no matter what I did. I realized I never defined what “enough” was. Separating planning from execution helps because I’m in a different state of mind when coming up with ideas versus acting on them.

What am I worried about?

Writing down concerns helps me stop ruminating throughout the day. Usually, the time you recognize a problem isn’t the best time to solve it. Knowing I’ll return and create an action plan prevents intrusive thoughts.

Over time, you can look at entries for common themes. Looking back on worries that turned out fine helps you feel better.

Evening prompts

I have a similar version for the end of the day to reflect on how things went:

How am I feeling?
What’s something good that happened today?
What did I do well?
What could I have done better?

How am I feeling?

I rate each day on a scale of 0-10 based on how happy and productive I was.

What’s something good that happened today?

This puts me in a positive state of mind before bed. Similar to my gratitude entry, but for one specific thing during the day.

What did I do well?

Reflect on what worked and what I tried that was successful.

What could I have done better?

Reflect on what didn’t go well and how to improve. If I broke my diet or didn’t follow through on something, I acknowledge it and think about what I should have done instead.

Additional practices

Morning pages

A practice from “The Artist’s Way” to improve creativity. Write a stream of consciousness each morning: 750 words or about three pages. Takes about 30-40 minutes.

They say pushing yourself to write the full 750 words is important because the second half is usually most interesting. They also recommend keeping them private. I do this occasionally when I have extra morning time.

Writing prompts

I enjoy responding to specific prompts. Stream-of-consciousness writing is difficult, so having a question to answer helps. I prefer prompts in question form over creative fiction prompts.

Examples:

What life lesson did you learn the hard way?
What do you wish you spent more time doing five years ago?
What’s something you know you do differently than most people?

Prompt collections:

My favorite prompts

What’s the best thing you’ve got going on in your life right now?
What incredibly common thing have you never done?
What has taken you the longest to get good at?
What food do you love that others might find odd?
What takes a lot of time but is totally worth it?
What is the most amazing fact you know?
What website or app doesn’t exist but you wish it did?
What topic could you give a 20-minute presentation on without preparation?
What’s something people are missing out on because they don’t know about it?
Who is the most interesting person you’ve met?

Logseq template

I use Logseq for daily journaling. I expand this template on my daily notes page:

plaintext

[[Morning Questions]] #daily
  [[What Am I Grateful for?]]
  [[What Would Make Today Great?]]
  [[What Am I Worried About?]]
[[Evening Questions]] #daily
  [[How Am I feeling?]]
  [[What's Something Good That Happened Today?]]
  [[What Did I Do Well?]]
  [[What Could I Have Done Better?]]

I try to do the morning journal every day. I almost always do the evening journal, and I occasionally do morning pages.

This process has been helpful for improving my thinking and self-reflection. The effect is subtle, but I can feel my thinking improving. I enjoy looking back on old entries.

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