Tips for keeping a digital journal and why you should

Maintaining daily journaling doesn’t come easily to most people, but it takes less effort than you might imagine. It can also become a meaningful way to reflect and grow as a person.

I’ve been writing a few words every morning for over 10 years, and what I’ve learned from this practice has changed my life. My only regret is that I didn’t start sooner.

If you’re interested in adding a daily journaling practice to your life, these tips and tools can help you not only get started, but stick with it.

Why keep a diary or journal?

My journal is a tool for clarifying my thoughts, recording details of my life that are sometimes useful to know later, and reflection. However, the value of reflection only became apparent after I had been writing for a few years and could look back on my life to see it from a different perspective.

I have always been very strict with myself. I make no excuses and look at my failures with horror. Every time I went back and read a series of journals from the worst moments of my life, I was able to look at them from an outside perspective. I can see more clearly how difficult things were, or how many things went wrong at once, or the seriousness of an event that I may have downplayed in the moment. This reflection has led me to be more compassionate towards myself – and towards others. I learned to relax a little.

You may discover something else, whether it’s a pattern of behavior or something you want to change. Or maybe you realize in retrospect that the things you thought you wanted to change didn’t need changing at all. Journaling sheds light on all of these things.

Memory is volatile. The personal self-reflection we do entirely in our heads differs dramatically from what we can do with notes. In short, this is why I have continued to write daily for over 10 years.

What should you write in your journal?

Begin each journal entry with the date and your location. Why bother if your computer or phone can add them automatically? Several reasons. First, you’ll never be staring at a blank page and you’ll always know how to get started. Second, metadata can get messed up over time or during file transfers, so it’s more reliable to add it manually. Third, entering the date and location in the log entry itself ensures that this very important information is searchable.

What else should you write? A journal entry can simply be a brain dump. That’s what I do. Other things worth mentioning are important events, strong emotions, and hopes and dreams.

If following a method helps, you can try keeping a gratitude journal. Some parents I know ask their kids at the end of the day to think about their “rose, thorn, bud”—one highlight of the day, one challenge, and something they’re looking forward to—which is just as good a formula for journaling.

How to make it a habit

The best trick I have for forming a new habit is to tie it to an existing one. Find a habit you already have and combine it with a few minutes of daily writing.

I journal every morning as soon as I have coffee in front of me. My coffee making routine is non-negotiable, fixed, set in stone, seven days a week. Even when I stay in a hotel, I bring a travel coffee maker with me and write in my journal while drinking the coffee.