things to write down

You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience.

You're writing your first blank slate!

Here are the most important things when writing blank slates.

• First: Bookmark this page ( + d). Each time you need to write something down, click the bookmark and just start typing!
• Style your slates with markdown . Here's an example and the result when viewed
• To save, press " + s" at any time or click "save" in the bottom right
• To save as a Google Doc, press " + g"
• To download as a PDF, press " + p"

Style your notes with Markdown

• Titles: #This will be a title (##this is a sub-title)
• Bold ( + b): **this will be bold**
• Italics ( + i): *italics*
• Link: [click here](https://source-url.com)
• - this starts a list
•     * sub-list item 1
•     * sub-list item 2

Keyboard shortcuts

• + s: Save your note
• + g: Save as Google Doc
• + p: Download as a PDF
• To publish as a blog, just use a #title at the top and then "publish" on the view-note screen
• Markdown Info Close

Create a user or save note as a guest? Hint: guests can not access their notes on other devices and will lose notes if they clear their cookies.

• signup with google signup for permanent user continue as guest
• signup for permanent user continue as guest

61 Of The Best Journaling Ideas To De-Stress And Feel Happy

Sometimes, just allowing yourself to write whatever wants to come out is enough to get the words flowing, and daily journaling provides the perfect outlet for this.

But there are times when your brain goes as blank as the page in front of you. It happens.

This is why it helps to have a list of creative journal ideas handy.

The next time you find yourself looking for some journal entry ideas, I hope you’ll give this article another look (after enjoying it today).

With a list of journaling ideas at your disposal , you’re sure to find something to shake down whatever is blocking your writing flow.

Sometimes, it’s as easy as reminding yourself why you’re looking for things to journal about in the first place.

Benefits of Journaling

How to start a journal, 1. make a journal list., 2. a meaningful quote journal idea., 3. affirmation journaling ideas., 4. journal about something you’re grateful for., 5. create an “i forgive…” journal entry., 6. write in your journal something someone said or did that made you smile., 7. compliment yourself in your journal., 8. journal a description of your morning routine., 9. write down the answer to the question, “what would i love”, 10. answer this journal question, “what am i thinking”, 11. journal about a milestone you’ve reached or one you’re working toward., 12. write in your journal about the perfect day., 13. create an entry with someone who is on your mind (and why)., 14. journal about your vision for the future., 15. write out your personal vision for this day (your intentions)., 16. journal about the food you’ve eaten and what you will eat today., 17. write about an important event., 18. describe a challenge you’re facing — or one you’ve overcome., 19. write about your solution to a particular problem or challenge., 20. journal about something you’ve read., 21. write about a fear you have and how you choose to respond to it., 22. begin a journal entry with a prayer., 23. write about a “note to self.”, 24. write a letter to someone., 25. write a letter to someone who has passed., 26. start with a memory (recent or distant)., 27. use an image that sparks an idea for journal writing., 28. journal about a dream you remember., 29. use a timer for a journal writing sprint., 30. small daily journal sentence., 31. a creative character sketch., 32. write about something absurd., 33. write an encouraging personal note to yourself., 34. start with your favorite meal., 35. describe how your day is going., 36. write nice things about someone you’re angry with., 37. write about what you’d do with 10% of your income if you just pulled it out of your bank as cash and went to town., 38. write a description of the kind of person you want to be., 39. write about the power of forgiveness in your life., 40. write about questions you have regarding religion or universal beliefs., 41. write about something that scares you that you have to do anyway., 42. prepare compliments for special people in your life. , 43. write an internal dialogue by dictation. , 44. write about how you’ve grown this year or what has changed for you., 45. write about compliments you received that changed your life. , 46. write about something you can’t imagine living without. , 47. write about what you’re feeling right now. , 48. if you live with anxiety, write about how you’re coping with it today. , 49. journal about something that kept you up last night. , 50. write about the top three priorities in your life right now. , 51. write about something you learned from someone who hurt you., 52. write about what you would do with three wishes. , 53. journal about three bad habits you’d like to change. , 54. write about a moment you had in the spotlight as a child or teenager., 55. write about a simple healthy habit you can start building this week. , 56. write about the apps that are helping you function as an adult. , 57. write about a friend you haven’t talked to in years., 58. write about new financial habits you want to build. , 59. write about the bare minimum exercise you want to start doing every day., 60. write about three influential non-relatives in your life. , 61. write about a birthday memory that still makes you smile. , what to write in a journal, final thoughts.

No doubt, you already know some of the benefits of journaling, and one reason may stand out from the others.

Here’s a list of known benefits, in case you haven’t learned them all.

• Better health by decreasing stress and anxiety
• An improved ability to articulate and clarify your thoughts
• Better self-knowledge
• A chance to improve your writing skills on a daily basis
• A better frame of mind for reconciling with others (improved relationships)
• Better problem-solving
• An enhanced capacity for learning new things

A fresh new journal represents a fresh start — with new ideas and discoveries.

It’s also literally full of blank pages , which have a mixed effect on writers. You want to fill those pages with content worthy of your intentions for this journal. 

Before you can start filling them, though, you need to let go of the idea that your content should be extra-special or next-level insightful. Some days you’ll drop nuggets of wisdom. Other days, you’ll write content that will embarrass your future self. 

No one actually dies of embarrassment, though. Think of it as part of the process. 

If you’re still looking at your gorgeous new journal and wondering how to get started (because “It’s too pretty!” We know how it is), here are some ideas: 

• Commit to jotting down at least one sentence at a specific time every morning. 
• Date your journal pages, starting with the first entry (after the first few pages). 
• Start with your intentions for the journal (a shortlist on one of the first few pages).
• Start with a note to yourself relinquishing the idea of perfection or originality. 

61 Journaling Ideas to De-Stress and Feel Happy

You can start by creating a list of anything, really. See if one of the following prompts helps you get started:

• Things you enjoy (for breakfast, relaxation, education, etc.)
• Fun things that you’d like to change
• New things you’d like to try
• List of things you're grateful for
• Things you can see from where you’re sitting
• Bucket list of places you’d like to visit

Brainyquote.com is one place you can look for quotes that get you thinking — and writing — about something important to you. Choose a meaningful quote that resonates or that makes you want to argue with it.

Choose a favorite positive affirmation or one on which you’d like to elaborate. It can be about your personal development, your career, money, relationships, or anything of great importance to you.

Gratitude and journaling belong together. Start with one thing you’re grateful for, and either expand on that one thing or add at least two more. Pretty soon you'll have a mood-boosting gratitude list you will find very uplifting.

No doubt, the words “I forgive” bring a certain person to mind whom you find it difficult to forgive. But for your own sake — so you can move past it — at least journal the words “I forgive ____, and I want only what’s good for him/her,” even if you’re not feeling it.

You might preface this journal entry with a memory of something that person said or did that you appreciate.

Or you can think of something this person might hold against you, try to see your words or actions from their perspective, and write a genuine apology to them.

Think of the last time someone did or said something that made you smile in gratitude or admiration.

What was that thing, and what was it about the context of that thing that made you more likely to smile about it?

Imagine you’ve been asked to write something positive about someone — only that someone is you.

This is a creative way to practice some self-love

Maybe you don’t do everything the same exact way every morning (or maybe you do), but there are probably some things you do every morning.

Why do you do them, and what new habits would you like to add to your morning routine to give your day a better start?

What morning habits would you like to replace with better ones?

This is a fun one, but you have to remember not to stop yourself with the question, “What is the point of even writing this when my circumstances probably make it impossible?”

Write it anyway, and remember to seal your answer with the words, “This or something better.”

This question can also be liberating. If you need to allow yourself to articulate these thoughts while answering the question from #9, go ahead.

Allow yourself to get those thoughts out into the open. Just don’t allow yourself to be tied down to them. Use them as a chance to air and then evaluate those thoughts.

Think of an accomplishment that gets you closer to your personal goals. Have you reached it? If not, how close are you to reaching it, and what do you have to do every day to get yourself closer to it?

This can take place in the present or three years from now. Put a description in your journal of the whole day, from waking up in the morning to going to bed that night. Write down all the important details — the big ideas that make your day perfect.

Write about someone you’re thinking about for some reason — someone you miss, someone who’s made you angry, or maybe someone you’d like to meet.

It can be anyone, and you can either write about why this person is on your mind, or you can write a script for an imaginary meeting or a necessary conversation.

Where do you want to be three years from now? Again, you’ll want to focus on the most important elements of that vision.

You don’t need to know exactly where you’ll be living or what your new favorite chair will look like (though you’re allowed to). What’s the bigger picture for this vision?

When you get to the end of this day, how will you want to have spent it? Or what top three things do you want to focus on today? How will this day get you closer to your vision for the future?

And feel free to make it sound as fancy or as decadent as you want. Try including sensory details in your journal to motivate yourself to mindfulness practice even while you’re eating.

Whether you’re starting a new dietary regimen or not, sometimes it helps to keep a detailed account of everything you’ve eaten and everything you plan to eat for the rest of the day. No judging.

Or pretend you’re a food blogger for a day and write about your ideal menu or a meal you had recently at a restaurant.

Whatever event stirs up memories (good memories or the other kind), write about that. Or write about an upcoming event that’s important to you.

What hurdles have you jumped in your career, with your relationship, or with your personal development? Or what breakthroughs have you had? What challenges remain?

You probably know solutions to some problems or ways to overcome a particular challenge. Maybe you learned it the hard way. Your journal entry about it could turn into a helpful blog post or even a book.

Whether you’re thinking of a memorable passage from a book you’re reading, a blog post or article you’ve read recently, or a magazine headline you saw while standing in a check-out line, write about what sticks in your mind and why it matters to you (if it does).

Ever caught yourself dwelling on a fear that you had — or still have?

How have you chosen to respond to that fear? Does it hold you back in some way? How will you overcome your fear?

If you pray to a higher power, your daily journal is a great place to articulate exactly what you want to say.

Whether you have questions you need to be answered, or you’d like help with something, writing about it makes it more likely that you’ll get closer to the answers, blessings, and accomplishments you’re seeking.

You can also begin with a note to yourself for any of the following:

• Something you want to remember that day
• Something you need to change
• Something you’ve noticed about yourself
• Something you like  about yourself
• Something you’d like to do short-term
• Something you’d like to do one day

A great journal writing prompt is to write a letter. In your journal you can prepare the message to someone with whom you’re having a dispute, someone you need to reconnect with, or someone you want to share your love for.

From there, you can either copy and paste it into an actual message or write it out by hand and send it by snail mail — maybe with a treat, you know its recipient would enjoy.

If you never had the chance to tell someone something you needed to say, writing it in a journal can at least provide some closure, even though it’s not the same as actually telling that someone.

If it helps, try writing it as a script, with your part and that of the person who has passed on. Make it a conversation that ends in a plausible and satisfying way.

Write in your journal about a memory that has come to you recently — perhaps because something in your life triggered it.

Whether it’s a happy memory or not, you might enjoy writing about it. Try to recall as many sensory details as you can.

If you’ve ever bought a painting that made you imagine a life that might one day be your own, or if you saw an image in a magazine or on the internet that caught your attention and took you places in your mind, write about that.

Some dreams stick around longer for a reason. What was your most memorable dream, and why do you think you still remember it?

What details stand out the most? Is there something about that dream that you want to recreate in your conscious life? Or does the dream represent a fear or concern you need to address?

Set a timer for ten to thirty minutes and just write whatever comes to mind. Don’t stop until the timer goes off. Sure, much of what you write will sound frivolous or random, but who cares?

Write whatever is trampling over other thoughts to get out the door. Normally, you wouldn’t want to reward such behavior, but thoughts get away with a lot more than we do.

Write a single sentence. Then another. Then a third sentence. You can stop then, or you can keep going. Maybe one of those sentences will trigger something. But even if they don’t, you’ve written three sentences, and that’s something.

If you’re not satisfied with just writing three random sentences, make them an answer to a question or write a sentence for each of the three things you’re most grateful for in that moment.

More Related Articles:

41 Sunday Things To Do That Are Fun, Relaxing, And Productive

201 Of The Best Loneliness Quotes

Write A Thoughtful And Romantic Love Letter To Your Crush Using Our 13 Examples

Write a creative journal entry sketch of a character based on yourself — or on someone you know. Or create a completely fictional character with strange quirks or with a terrible secret.

This journal entry might become the starter for a new novel or short story. Or it might just help you get better acquainted with a character you already have.

Start with a nonsense observation — like “the sun is a radish this morning” or something more ridiculous.

Write about how your favorite color is connected to the day of the week you were born and the number of hairs in your father’s left ear. Go crazy with this journal idea.

Begin like your writing in a diary and write an encouraging note to yourself about the day you’re going to have or about a challenge you’ll be facing today. Be a friend and write the words you need to hear.

Write about your favorite meal and how it’s prepared. Write about the best time you had when you were able to enjoy this meal — alone or with good company. Why is it your favorite?

Write about how your day (or at least your morning) is going so far, what has happened, and what you’re thankful for.

Write about the direction your day is taking, and whether it’s the direction you want it to take or you’d like to change course and make it better.

I know it’s easier to write about why you’re angry with someone, but try writing only positive things about this person.

If no words come to mind, try writing about good things you want for this person. The more goodwill you exercise toward other people in writing, the easier it becomes to forgive them.

If you took one of your paychecks and pulled 10% out in cash for your own personal spending, what would you spend it on and why?

Imagine doing this and describe how you’d feel while you were spending the money. Could you do this on a regular basis?

If you’ve never considered doing this, what would you have to do in order to make it a regular thing?

Write about the person you want to be, focusing on your end goals and the person you have to be in order to reach them.

Visualize yourself as this person and describe your lifestyle, where you live, and how you spend your time. Write about the qualities you admire and want to see in yourself.

When was the last time someone forgave you for something? How did that change things for you?

What did it do for your relationship with this person — and for other relationships? How did it change the way you feel about this person and about yourself?

What questions do you have about the afterlife, about religion, about a higher being? What do you want to know about the universe and your relevance and connection to it?

How would you answer someone else’s question about what you believe?

If you’ve ever caught yourself saying things like “I hate driving in the dark! It’s so scary…” or “I’m terrible at making small talk ! I make a fool of myself every time,” you already know why you prefer to avoid those things.

Now, imagine how differently you’d see those things if you instead told yourself, “Sometimes I really enjoy a nighttime drive,” or “Small talk is nothing to be afraid of.

It’s just talking about the first socially appropriate things that come to mind and listening to other people do the same thing. I’m great at talking, and I’m an even better listener.”

You probably wouldn’t be as anxious to avoid night driving and small talk.

What scares you that you have to do anyway? Maybe you have teenage kids with jobs, and you have to pick them up after their shifts end around seven or eight o’clock.

Maybe you live in an apartment complex and always run into a small crowd of familiar faces when you’re heading in and out.

Write about whatever comes to mind for you, and compose some empowering self-talk to help you get through whatever you have to do that (you think) doesn’t come naturally to you.

Not only is it good practice for writing about your fears and how to address them, this is yet another journaling example of how starting a journal can help you become the person you want to be.

Pretend you’re preparing for an exercise where each of you takes turns sitting in a chair while others each pay you a genuine and true compliment . Everyone has to take a turn in the “seat of regard.” And the only response the receiver can give (besides crying) is “Thank you.”]

Invite two of your “selves” to an honest conversation about something. Think past self vs. present self — or hurting self vs. compassionate caregiver self — or tempted self vs. powerful self. Make a pressing issue the main topic and take dictation for the voices in your head. 

Some years bring more change than others, but what specifically is different for you about this past year? Think beyond events and changes that everyone is experiencing and focus on your own internal changes and personal progress.  

Some compliments make a deeper impression than others, and you can probably think of compliments you’ve received along the way that took you by surprise and changed the way you see yourself. Describe one of these compliments along with who gave it to you. 

Get down to the things you’d absolutely want to hold onto if you lost everything else — whether that’s a special lotion, a kind of tea, your favorite pair of pants, or something else. How did you discover it, and why do you consider it an essential part of your life? 

Make an honest list of the emotions that come to mind and take note of the strongest ones. Then dig a little deeper to explore why you feel those things. If what you’re feeling is an understandable response to a painful experience, honor those feelings, and write with honesty and self-compassion. 

Are you anxious about something right now? Or what coping strategies have you learned that help you deal with your everyday anxiety or with unusual stressors in your life? Write about a moment when you used one of those strategies and how it helped. 

Was your mind playing in-house movies last night? What was on your mind, and why do you think you had such a hard time putting those thoughts to rest? Are you worried these thoughts will come back to disturb you tonight? 

What can you do to help guarantee a better night’s sleep?

You can be as general or specific as you like with this, as long as you identify your top three priorities. Then look at how you prioritize them every day. What does that look like? And what habits are making it easier or harder to keep your priorities straight? 

If you don’t want to name specific people, just write about a painful experience and what you learned from it. Have you changed the way you respond to similar situations? Have your actions since then helped you think of them differently or even forgive them? 

You picked up a “genie lamp” from an antique store, and with a few rubs with your polishing rag, suddenly a genie is offering you three wishes. What do you do with them? Would you change your career, your home, your income…?

And would you use your last wish to free the genie?

What habits have you picked up that are not serving you well? And what habits would you like to replace them with? How might your life change if you replaced even one of those self-sabotaging habits with an empowering one? And which habit will you change first? 

Maybe you were in a school play, concert, or recital, and your family and friends celebrated your performance. Whatever comes to mind, write about it in your journal, adding every detail you can remember. 

Maybe you want to start practicing daily meditation. Or maybe you can stop at two cups of coffee and switch to tea before the jitters set in. Whatever change you’d like to make, describe it and write about how you think it would change your life for the better. 

Start with a shortlist of the apps you use most. Then describe one or more of your favorite apps and how they help you every day. Why are they better than any competitors you’ve tried. What difference have they made in your life? 

Journal about a friend from years back and describe a special moment during your time as friends. When was the last time you talked to them? Do you know how to get a hold of them? Do you want to? Why or why not? And why are they no longer a part of your life? 

Maybe you want to start saving $25 or $50 from every payday. Or maybe you want to start paying off your smallest debt more quickly. Whatever financial concern is at the top of your list, write about what you’re thinking and what action you plan to take. 

You know your body needs movement. Ever since hearing that “sitting is the new smoking,” you’ve thought of how to make exercise a part of your daily life. So, what can you start with today or this week that you know you could stick with? 

Think about teachers or coaches, counselors/therapists, bosses/managers, roommates — anyone who made a positive impact in your life. Write about how you met and what they said or did that helped you make a better choice or see things differently. 

You wake up, and a special, handmade gift is waiting for you on your dresser. Or you come downstairs to find your favorite breakfast waiting for you. Whatever you remember, describe it with as much sensory detail as you can recall.

Whether you use daily journaling prompts or just write whatever is on your mind, knowing how to journal opens a word of self-discovery.

Journaling gives you a safe space to explore creative things and to ask yourself deeper questions.

Keeping a journal is also a way to process and keep a list of things you’ve been learning from a new book, course, or online program.

The simple exercise of writing someone else’s message into your own words helps you make sense of it by filtering it through your own understanding and perspective.

Not only are you then better able to incorporate what you’ve learned, but you’ve also become better at learning.

They really should teach this in schools.

What you write in your journal is your own, though, and however you get those thoughts down onto the page — as neatly printed (or typed) lines, doodles , mind maps, or a combination of all these — the most important thing is to keep journaling daily.

So, there’s no need to ask how to write a journal. Better to ask how journaling can best serve you — and what personal journal ideas can help you make the most of it.

Journal Writing vs. Journal Typing

So, is typing your journal entry as good as writing in your journal by hand?

When it comes to the most powerful benefits of journaling, yes. While there are proven cognitive benefits to writing by hand, the important thing is to get your words onto a page — whether it’s digital or something you can touch.

The most important thing is to create and maintain the habit of journaling every day (or as close to that as possible).

You can always mix it up and do both, choosing one or the other based on convenience or a desire to do something different (or to use that brand new journal).

Journal is a way that works best for you. Your brain will be healthier and happier either way.

Did you find helpful ideas on what to write in your journal?

If you’ve found value in this journaling ideas post, I hope you’ll share it and encourage others to pass it on.

The benefits of daily journaling are too good to keep to yourself, and you know you want to contribute to a more self-aware and generous world.

So, if this article will help you to thrive today and become the person you want to be, please bless another person today — or as many as you can. And may your generosity and goodwill infuse everything else you do today.

2 thoughts on “61 Of The Best Journaling Ideas To De-Stress And Feel Happy”

I love this! One of my most favorite ways to journal has been a dialogue between various parts of me. When I’m hurt, I journal from that part. Then I have the validating, caring adult side of me respond. It sounds trippy but it has been really helpful in overcoming some challenging emotions and situations. Great ideas here!

Wonderful This really helps me and inspire me to write my diary Thank you so much

Comments are closed.

50 Creative Things To Write In a Journal That Aren’t Boring

By: Author RachelJo

Posted on Last updated: July 31, 2023

Categories Journaling , Self-Care , Self-Development

Share this! Thanks!

What if you are passionate about keeping a journal but struggle with knowing what to write? How do come up with enough ideas and creative things to write in a journal ?

I use journals since my childhood, and I’ve always been on and off with writing in them regularly. Turning anything into a habit once or twice doesn’t mean it will stick forever. Therefore, I often end up slacking off the journaling sessions. I sit down with the pen in my hand, and I let it hover over the top of the page for a few seconds before I realize that I have nothing to write about.

Well, it’s not that I have nothing to write about, but I am tired of chewing the same problems and issues ; I have no “deep thoughts” on life and the Universe I’d like to lay on the page. So, what do I write about in that journal then? For sure, I wish to sit and scribble a few paragraphs… but what’s the topic?

Can you relate to that?

Do you also often lack ideas on what to write in your journal?

In moments like that one, there is only one thing that helps: journal prompts. And a lot of them.

So, if you are in a journal-writing slump, I’ve got you! I will gift you with 50 fun and creative things to write in a journal, and I will also give them to you as a printable you could keep inside your journal. Next time you are out of ideas, instead of scrolling half an hour on Pinterest (and forgetting the initial reason to log in to the app) , you could pull the printable out and choose your next journaling topic.

Disclosure:  This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you sign up or make a purchase I might get a small commission at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting my business.  See full disclosure .

How To Keep A Daily Journal

In case you are absolutely, completely, and totally new to journaling, you might be wondering how to keep a daily journal. How do you turn journaling into a habit, and how do you allow it to change your life . Yes, that’s correct; I just said you “allow” it to change your life and improve your mental health and overall happiness. Those are just a few of the benefits of journaling, so I congratulate you on your decision to start journaling in the first place.

Keeping a journal isn’t as hard as it sounds. Everyone says it, but you still can’t believe it because you ARE struggling with keeping a journal, and you ARE frustrated with yourself for not making it work.

There are three reasons you might be struggling to keep a journal:

• you didn’t choose the right journal to keep;
• you didn’t choose the right time to journal;
• you didn’t prepare yourself for journaling ;

How To Choose The Right Journal To Keep

There are so-so-so many ways to keep a journal (no joke, I’ve listed at least 110 types of journals to keep ) that it could be overwhelming which one to go for. However, if you are trying to turn journaling into a daily ritual, I suggest you start small with any of the following types:

• Simple daily log – you just write what happened on the day, dairy style journal ;
• Gratitude journal – my most favorite type of journal that changed my life (see best guided gratitude journals here);
• Happiness journal – super easy and fun guided journal that focuses on what truly matter in your everyday life;
• Morning/Evening pages – in this post, we focus on this one as it gives you more creative space to expand your thoughts.

How To Choose the Right Time To Journal

Once you have the right journal to keep, you should focus on choosing the right time to write. Don’t leave it to chance or for “whenever I can”, as those could never create habit nor make a long-lasting change.

Choose a time of the day where you are usually with yourself. To me, that would be early in the morning while everyone’s still sleeping. Journaling is part of my 10-step daily routine. However, I do gratitude journaling in the evenings too, it requires just a few minutes of my time, and that’s always doable.

How To Prepare Yourself For Journaling

You’ve got the right journal; you chose the right time… What do I mean you have to prepare yourself?

Imagine this…

You’ve decided to journal in the mornings. You get up, go through the bathroom, do your morning rituals, get to the kitchen, and half-asleep, turn on the coffee machine and get your morning glass of water . Then you sit on the chair and decide to journal… Oops, your journal is still resting in your purse… which is in the bedroom… where your husband is still sleeping.

What if you decide to journal in the evenings? You’ve had a long and stressful day ; you just took a shower and finally rested your tired back on the pillow . Now it’s time to journal… but your journal is on your desk … in the living room… on the other end of the hallway.

You might have guessed it so far. Preparing to journal means you have everything ready for you when your journaling time comes. If you have to make an extra move to get to the journaling, you would most likely just skip it. Make it simple and easy for you.

I keep my morning journal in the kitchen, next to the coffee machine , and my gratitude journal always rests on my bedside table. If I change their places, I will most likely just skip on journaling.

Make journaling simple for you!

Creative Things To Write In a Journal

The same goes for the things to write in your journal. If you sit with your journal and don’t come up with something fast to journal about, you will just get frustrated/bored/tired and put the notebook back aside.

Make it simple!

Keep a handful of journal prompts and ideas to write, so you never get to the point of finding an excuse not to write.

I have some truly awesome 10 gratitude journal prompts you could grab for free by clicking here.

However, the prompts below are a little bit different. They are much more focused on being fun, self-exploring , and bringing the creativity inside out.

These journal writing ideas will make you dream and imagine other worlds and different possibilities. What I love the most about them is that they don’t sound serious at all, but they might give some pretty cool outcomes that could work on your mindset and the way you see yourself.

Ready for them? Yes, I’m giving them as a printable, too; you will get that option just at the end of the post (you want to make sure you like them first).

50 Interesting Things To Write About In a Journal | Creative Journal Prompts

1. If I had a magic wand and could perform one spell only, that would be…

2. I am most proud of…

3. I feel excited every time I have to talk about…

4. If I were to re-live one full year of my life , that would be… (explain why)

5. The one thing I never wish to forget is…

6. If there were no phones and no internet, how would my life look like?

7. If I were to write a book , it would be about…

8. If I had all the power in the world, I would…

9. The biggest milestone I’ve ever reached was…

10. If I could choose a different life, how would it look like?

How To Find What Makes You Happy

11. If I could achieve one thing only in my whole life, that would be…

12. I wish I could invent…

13. What if… (write the first things that come to mind)

14. My biggest fear no one knows about is…

15. This is how my day would look like if my life were absolutely perfect…

16. I wish to create more…

17. These are the words I wish to live by…

18. I cannot imagine my life without (a thing, not a person)…

19. If I were a Disney Princess/Prince, I would be…

20. My very first childhood memory is…

List of Creative Things To Write About In A Journal

21. This is how I met my best friend…

22. If I was the scriptwriter of my life, this is what would happen in the next few weeks…

23. The best conversations I’ve ever had were about…

24. If my life were a movie, the name would be…

25. 10 years from now, I want to be (where | with who | doing what)…

26. The most creative thing I have ever done is…

27. The best life advice I would give someone is…

28. The thing I think the most about is…

29. If I were to organize a glamorous event, it would be for…

How To Make Your Journal Creative Despite Lacking Creativity

30. If I weren’t lazy/tired/out of time, my perfect morning would look like this…

31. I could easily write an essay on…

32. One year from now, I want to be grateful for having/doing…

33. If I were to live forever, these are all the things I would do…

34. The funniest prank I’ve ever done on someone was…

35. The most unusual thing I have ever seen in my life was…

36. I wish people asked me more often about…

37. If today were a color, mine would be…

38. If all my dreams were to come true, this is the one I wish it to be last…

39. The most ridiculous thing that could possibly happen right now is…

Last Journal Prompts To Make Writing Interesting

40. If I was in a locked room with the person who annoys me the most in this world, how would we spend our time ?

41. The one superpower I wish I had is…

42. If my life was a poem, this is how it would be…

43. If I could choose to be a comedy TV show character, I would be…

44. The most favorite year of my life so far was…

45. If I could choose what to dream about every night, I would choose…

46. Write a note/letter to yourself for one year from now (Ideally, find a way to remind yourself a year from now to read it)

47. Write a letter to someone who has passed away (a parent/grandparent/friend/even someone you never knew).

48. Write a letter to someone you wish to enter your life (a child/a partner/ a mentor/ even a celebrity).

49. Write as many positive words as possible in 2 minutes (use a timer) .

50. You have 5-minute to describe your biggest dream in the smallest details (use a timer).

Download the full list as a printable PDF by clicking here.

Conclusion on Creative Things to Write In a Journal

Journaling could have different looks and purposes , but one thing always relates to it: it’s creative, enriching , and life-changing. Learning to put your thoughts in order and give them real verbal expressions gives you a different perspective of life… of your life.

Journaling by itself is an act of self-care and self-love because it shows that you pay attention to the way you feel, respect your ideas and feelings, and are willing to dig deeper into your true Self.

I hope these 50 creative things to write in a journal sparkled a few more ideas and made your creative wiring juices flow even more.

Pin this for later

50 Creative Things To Write In a Journal That Aren’t Boring

Blogger, dreamer, procrastinator, and lover of everything soul-touching. My mission is to make you laugh, provoke your thoughts, light up your day and inspire you to fall in love with life and yourself.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Positive Journal Prompts: 60 Journaling Ideas to Boost Your Mood and Productivity

By: Author Valerie Forgeard

Posted on September 12, 2022

Categories Inspiration , Self Improvement , Writing

Journaling may be the answer if you’re looking for a way to boost your mood and productivity. Journaling can help you to get your thoughts and feelings out in the open, which can be very therapeutic. It can also help you to stay organized and on track with your goals. This blog post will provide 60 journaling prompts to help you achieve these things!

Questions You Can Ask Yourself to Help You Feel Positive

• What’re you most proud of?
• What was the best decision you made today?
• What’ve you learned lately, and how did it make you feel?
• When in your life have you felt most supported by others? Why was this time so special to you?
• What did you enjoy most about today?
• What did you do today that made you proud?
• How can you show gratitude to the world around you today?
• How can you be kinder to yourself today?
• How can you be kinder to others today?
• Who’re the people who inspire and motivate you, and why are they inspiring/motivating you?
• When was the last time you laughed out loud? And why?
• List 3 things that make you happy right now. Why do they make you happy?
• What do you love about yourself?
• Who do you love the most in this world and why?
• What’ve you done better lately?
• Think about your favorite meal. What makes that meal so good?
• What’s your favorite childhood memory?
• Who’s made a positive difference in your life and why?
• Who makes your day better every day?
• How do you want to grow in the next year?

Choose a Journaling Prompt That Will Help You Overcome Challenges

• How are you doing with this challenge?
• What obstacles are holding you back?
• What do you think is causing this challenge?
• Why has it gotten in your way?
• What’s helped you in the past when you faced a similar challenge?
• How can you use my strengths and resources to help you overcome this challenge?
• What skills do you have that can help you overcome this challenge?
• How can you make the most of this challenge, even if it’s not what I expected?
• Is there an opportunity here? Can you learn something from this situation, or can you use it as an exercise for another time in your life?
• What’re the benefits if you overcome this challenge?
• What’s one small step you can take today to overcome this challenge?
• What’s your next step, and how do you best approach it?
• How will you feel when you’ve overcome this challenge?
• What’s one small victory you can celebrate right now?
• What’re you lucky to be alive and doing that you’re doing?
• What do you need to do differently to reach your next milestone?
• What’s your biggest fear, and what’s the worst thing that could happen if it comes true?
• What’s working well for you right now?
• Are you taking care of yourself? What does your self-care routine look like?
• If you were to die tomorrow, how would you feel if this challenge was or wasn’t resolved right now?

Positive Thinking Prompts to Help You Keep a Positive Mindset

• When I wake up in the morning, I feel like I can conquer the world.
• I feel happy to be alive.
• I’m grateful that I’ve enough money to eat today – and tomorrow, and the day after…
• I’m strong and resilient.
• I’m a force of nature.
• I’m confident in my skin.
• I’m courageous.
• I’m powerful.
• I’m an amazing person.
• I love how my body feels right now.
• I can handle anything that comes my way.
• I’m capable of anything I put my mind to.
• I believe in myself more than anyone else ever could.
• Today I’ll be kind to myself and others.
• This week I’ll try to do something new that excites me.
• The sun is shining, and it will be a beautiful day!
• This week has been difficult, but I know it’ll get better soon!
• I’m looking forward to this weekend because it’ll be super fun and relaxing!
• My heart is open and ready to receive love and happiness.
• I’m connected to the universe.

How Do You Start a Positivity Journal?

The best way to start is to think of the things that make you happy or how you want to feel and then write them down.

You can start with one journal prompt you want to focus on or write down anything that comes to mind. The goal is to list positive journal prompts that make you feel good and why you feel good. You’ll see once you start writing down what makes you happy (eg: favorite memory), it’ll be easier to remember and more fun too!

Another Way to Start Is to Think of Something That’s Made You Feel Good Lately and Then Write Down Why It Positively Impacted You

For example, “I had the opportunity this week to pursue my favorite hobby” or “I got positive affirmations from my boss today.” We tend to forget to practice positive thoughts in our daily life because we’re always focusing on what’s wrong – but if we practice becoming aware of all the great things that happen around us every day, we’ll start to feel better about ourselves and our lives overall.

Daily Gratitude Journal Prompts Can Help You Boost Your Self-Confidence

If you’re looking for a way to boost your self-confidence, try using a gratitude journal prompt. It’s as simple as it sounds – you just write down what you’re grateful for and what went well in your day.

It may seem small, but it can make a big difference in how you see yourself, your mental health, and your daily life. Here are some ways journaling prompts can help you boost your self-confidence:

• You practice seeing the good things in your life every day . Positive journal writing prompts helps you focus on what’s going well rather than what’s going wrong, so bad things don’t seem overwhelming.
• You’ll notice positive patterns that add up over time. If you write down three things every day that went well or made you happy by the end of a month, that will add up to a lot! And if you do that for another month, and then another… and so on, eventually there will be so many “good” days that even if something bad happens (like losing your job), it won’t feel insurmountable anymore because there are still so many other good days to make up for it.
• Writing down each positive thing helps you understand yourself better and helps develop your positive thinking. When we focus on a negative thought – sometimes we need extra outside encouragement (like writing prompts) to help us realize what we want.

Staying positive in your daily life

Keeping a positive every day will help you make the most of your day and focus on the good things in life. It’s also great for your mental health!

Start your day by writing down one or two gratitude prompts. This way, you can get into the habit of focusing on your positive thoughts. If something went wrong, write down one thing you could have done better. This will help you see the positive side of each situation and prepare you for future challenges.

If you feel overwhelmed by all the daily journal prompts on your to-do list or feel like nothing is going right, try weekly journaling instead. Sometimes it’s better to take a step back and reflect on your final thoughts before writing them down. Positive writing prompts are just a guide, and practicing gratitude doesn’t mean you have to write every day; the most important thing is working on your positive thinking every day. This will help your mental health and stay positive even when it seems too much is going wrong!

Be Honest With Yourself

Unless you plan to show your journal to others, you’re writing only for yourself.

It’s easy to forget that when you write in a diary. It’s like the world disappears, and it’s just you and the words on the page. And that’s a great feeling! But even if no one reads what we write in our diary, we need some kind of accountability for our thoughts and feelings – we need to know that someone has seen them and will remember them forever.

That’s why journal writing is such an important part of self-care: it allows us to reflect on our lives and grow from them without worrying about how other people might judge or disapprove of our experiences. In this way, we can be completely honest with ourselves without fear of being judged by others – and this honesty can help us become stronger and more confident about who we’re as a person.

Accept That You Aren’t Perfect

Writing a journal is like looking at yourself in the mirror

You can either see the good parts or focus on the bad. Some days we look in the mirror and see only our flaws, but other days we see how much we’ve grown over time. Maybe we’ve more to improve on than others, but that’s okay – we’re all imperfect. And there’s no point in pretending that we’re not.

So let’s be honest: you’re not perfect, but that doesn’t mean you’re less valuable or loved! The more you accept this truth about yourself, the better you’ll feel about your life and future.

To come to terms with who you’re today (and who you’ll be tomorrow), try writing down how you truly see yourself. This exercise will help you focus on who you truly are and what you need to work on – not just what makes everyone else happy!

Be Grateful for What You Have Today

It’s easy to feel like you don’t have enough of something – money, friends, or time. But the truth is, we’re all lucky to be alive and healthy, surrounded by people who care about us, and have a job that allows us to make a meaningful contribution to society.

If you find it hard to keep your head up, try keeping a bullet journal in which you write down each day the things that make you happy and your goals to maintain them. Keep it short and simple, so you save time, then read through it when you’re having a bad day – you’ll be amazed at how much better things look when you put them in perspective!

Related Post

39 Gratitude Journal Prompts to Help You Appreciate Life

59 Things to Write About in Your Daily Journal

There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.

Have you ever struggled to come up with ideas for what to write in your journal?

As a writer, aside from enjoying the many benefits of journaling for my mental well-being , I find that keeping a daily journal is a great way to organize my thoughts, think of great ideas, and learn to live in the present moment.

Unfortunately, it's not easy to think of great topics that you can write about. That's why we have created this list of 59 journaling ideas.

In theory, each of these prompts will help spark your creativity and will give you hours of content that you can add to your daily journal .

Let's get to it…

Table of Contents

1. Inspirational Quotes

Everyone has something that inspires them to do their best in life. Quotes that inspire you do not have to come from a famous individual. They can simply be something that motivates you to do your best.

Write about the quote and the deeper meaning that it holds in your life. If you still are at a loss as to where to begin, try out these inspirational quotes .

2. Reflect on a Quote

Quotes are great journal prompts , so if you do not necessarily want to write “inspirational” quotes in your daily journal, you can write about nearly any quote at all.

It may not pertain to your life at all, but you can still reflect on the meaning that originated behind the phrase. These quotes can add wisdom to your life or simply be a funny saying that you enjoy.

3. Answer a Question

If you do not feel like collecting quotes, then answering questions can work as well. ( Here's 100 journaling questions and prompts. )

Questions often arise in life that you do not really think about much, but you can write them down on a piece of paper and place them in a container for a rainy day.

When you run out of ideas, randomly select one of the questions to write about. Or if you're really stuck, you can use some of 371 deep questions that we detail in this post .

4. Self Care

If you are at a loss for what to write in a daily journal, then try to start naming some of the goals that you have for your life. To help you maintain this path, you can write about some self care ideas you want to try.

Writing about self care can sometimes have partial effect of making you feel better. For example, if you are going to have a manicure this coming weekend, and you decide to write about how that makes you feel, the thought of the upcoming event can actually serve to make you feel a bit happier.

Start journaling with these self-care journal ideas and templates to help you take care of yourself better.

5. Life Milestones

Some goals that you want to achieve could be small—like going to get groceries before Friday—while others could be actual milestones in your life.

If you have a big goal that you want to focus on , like graduating from medical school, getting married, having your first child, or buying your first home, try writing about it in detail.

6. Specific Events

These events are not typically something that happened to you. Rather, they are world events that should never be forgotten.

Journal prompts that fit into this category could be things like the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11, the state of current politics, or even the most interesting news item that happened each day.

Throughout history, there are a lot of events that you could write about — the key is to write down these events in your journal.

7. Captured Moments

If you have already reached major milestones in your life, you can write journal ideas about those events. It could be a detailed recollection of your wedding day, the feeling you had when your child was born, your experience at a rally that you attended, or another unforgettable event.

You can also write about specific events in the lives of others. If you get stuck, you can plan fun activities with your kids ( here are 88 ideas ) or do something new when you're bored ( and here are 151 ideas for that .)

8. Describe Challenges

We all face challenges in our lives on a daily basis. If you encountered a struggle today that was difficult for you, your daily journal is the perfect place to write it down.

Describe the struggle that you had to face in detail. What happened? How did you feel? Were you able to meet and overcome the challenge that crossed your path?

Here's a “challenge” idea: Start a 30-Day Journaling Challenge!

9. Define Solutions to Challenges

Not all challenges are easy to overcome, so if you find yourself in a situation that you do not know how to overcome, write about possible solutions in your daily journal.

Think about the specific actions that you can take to find the solution. Contemplate the situation to find more than one option. You can also write about ways that the situation could have been prevented in the first place.

10. Write Down Prayers

If you don't know what to write in a journal, then you can start by reaching out to your spiritual side for ideas. Many of us pray on a daily basis, so instead of simply saying them out loud, write down your thoughts as well.

This can be a way to increase your spiritual activity. It will help you strengthen your resolve. These prayers can focus on any aspect of your spiritual life, from gratitude to praise and worship. To get started, here are 49 positive prayers you can recite each morning .

11. Express Gratitude

Sometimes we forget to show our gratitude for the good things in our lives. Each night, take the time to write about a few things that occurred during the day that you are grateful for.

If you start writing down your gratitude, you will most likely begin showing how grateful you are, which can be an inspirational form of personal development.

Gratitude is such a strong thing to write about you may want to consider having a journal specifically for expressing gratitude . It may sound odd, but writing about how you appreciate others, even if you never show anyone, actually makes you feel a lot better about yourself.

If you prefer to go digital, watch the video below to learn about the 9 best gratitude apps to check out today. These apps can help with a gratitude journaling practice or as a simple tool to remember this important habit.

12. Meditate before Journaling

When you are having a hard time deciding what to write in a journal, you most likely have a mind that is full of other things going on in your life.

If your focus is on a meeting that you are having tomorrow, then how can you think of a fresh topic to write about?

Meditating can clear your mind and get rid of all of the mental clutter that is holding you back.

13. Describe a Memory

Our memories are not perfect, so if you want to remember something specific, it could be advantageous to write it down in your journal.

Using this journal prompt does not need to create long entries, but it can be a list of things that you look back on years from now with fondness.

14. Overcoming Fears

Your greatest fears are often in the back of your mind. Figuring out how to overcome these fears is only going to help you in life, but when you think of these fears as your own, the process is rather difficult.

Imagine that a friend has an irrational fear of something like spiders or riding high rides at an amusement park. How would you help them to overcome these fears? What would you say to them? If you are unsure where to begin, here are some of the top fears.

15. Recall your Dreams

We all dream at night—the problem is remembering what we dream about. If you write down your dreams as soon as you wake up, then you will be able to take a deeper look into them to see if there is a deeper meaning.

Be sure to record the date of the dream so that if you look at it years from now, you can remember when you were having it.

16. Write a Time Capsule Entry

Make your daily journal entry about something that is happening in the news. It could be the Olympics, the swearing in of a new president, or a medical breakthrough for cancer patients.

Write down your thoughts about the event. Describe how the country reacted during that period of time, and include news clippings that will be of interest in the future. Wait for 20 years to read the entry again—you will be amazed at the details that you included.

17. Track the Food You Eat

When you are attempting to lose weight, nothing is more helpful than a food journal. It helps you monitor the food you eat.

You can also use this journal prompt to describe the location that you are eating at, the presentation of the food, and how well you enjoyed it. To get started, we recommend checking out this food journal on Amazon .

18. Keep a Travel Journal

I enjoy traveling, so one thing that I find comforting to write about is my experiences in different locations around the world. Using this journal prompt is perfect because it helps me remember the precious details of my trips that could easily be forgotten.

You can write about the food you ate, the excursions that you experienced, and even some of the people that you met. If you have not had the chance to travel much, write about places that you would like to visit. When you are finally able to go, you can compare your experience with what you wrote.

19. Write as a Family

If you cannot think of a new topic to write about in your journal, try writing an entry as a family so that you can expand on the thoughts of each other. Each member of your family can write in the journal.

You can write about a fun day that you all spent together, or create a journal prompt. Sharing a journal will allow you to understand each other's thoughts and thinking patterns.

20. Write about Dislikes

Not all writing is enjoyable, so if you are struggling to find a topic, start thinking about ideas that you do not particularly want to write about.

If you cannot think of something better, then you still have a topic. It may not be ideal, but it will give you a place to start

21. Thoughtless Morning Entries

When you first wake up, your mind is not bogged down with the thoughts of the day, so this is the best time to just let your creativity flow.

Try to write at least three pages of content without thinking much about what you are writing. You can even use the “morning pages” concept recommended by Julia Cameron .

22. Use Monthly Themes

If you cannot come up with a specific idea, think about themes that are present during each month of the year. In January, you can write about new beginnings.

In February, love is always in the air and you can write about your relationship goals . If you are having problems thinking of themes, then check out this list to help you get started.

23. Write a Letter

This is a great way to talk to someone that you do not get to see that often. You can write to someone who has passed away, someone who lives far away from you, or even someone who lives in your home.

Maybe you have something to say to an individual, but you do not want to say it out loud. Writing a letter to them will help you organize your thoughts and sort your feelings before you actually speak to them.

24. Write to an Imaginary Friend

In life, you sometimes need to tell others about your problems. Not everyone is comfortable expressing themselves, so writing a letter that is not meant for anyone to read is a way to come to terms with your feelings. It allows you to talk to someone and organize your thoughts without being judged.

25. Write about the Lessons of a Book

Most of the literature that you read has an obvious plot as well as a deeper lesson that is hidden in the pages. Any time you complete a new book, write about the lessons in it. You can even include some of your favorite quotes.

And if you don't know “what” to read, we have compiled a massive collection of 250+ non-fiction books that you can check out, organized by topic .

26. Do a Writing Sprint

Set your timer for five minutes and write until the time expires. It does not matter what you are writing about, simply make sure that your pencil is always moving.

This is a great way to get your thoughts down on paper—and if your time is limited, it only requires five minutes. Check out this list of morning journal prompts to get you started.

27. Write One Sentence Each Day

Writing a lot can be discouraging for some, so if that sounds like you, try to start by writing one sentence a day in your daily journal.

It will not take a lot of effort or time, but if the topic is something that interests you, you may even write more without realizing it.

28. Write Down Affirmations

If you are unsure of what to write in your journal, write down an affirmation that you believe in, and continue writing it until you fill up a specific number of pages.

Try to fill up three pages. If you think of something else to write about before then, you can fill the rest of the space with that topic. To get started, here are 1,132 positive affirmations .

Want to create a daily routine filled with quiet, self-reflection? If so, check out Effortless Journaling — How to Start a Journal, Make It a Habit, and Find Endless Writing Topics .With this book, you can make the journaling habit a part of your daily routine.

29. Create Lists

One of my favorite things to do when I am drawing a blank for new journaling ideas is to create a list of things that I enjoy.

This could be a list of movies, your favorite television shows, things that you need to pack for your vacation, or even a grocery list that you need to get in order to make some of your favorite foods. Check out this blog post what online tool you can use to do this.

30. Create a Mind Map

If you have been brainstorming for a big project that you are taking on, then drawing out a mind map (a popular brainstorming technique) could help you get your ideas flowing. It will help you to see the bigger picture more clearly instead of focusing on a small part of the task at hand.

31. Create Thought Clusters

Start with one idea in the center of your page and expand from that single thought. Write down anything that comes to mind. It may seem disorganized, but it will tell a story when the thought process is complete.

While it may seem like you are adding extra steps to your journaling, it actually helps you decide what to write about.

32. Design a Character Sketch

I don't mean to draw a portrait of yourself, though you can if you like. I simply mean creating a portrait in writing.

Bring yourself or another individual to life by describing their personality, their emotional state, and their style in a way that expresses character. You can even describe an imaginary individual if you prefer.

33. Be Creative

If you cannot figure out what to write in a daily journal, then you can simply make a creative entry of another type. Perhaps you like to draw. You can stencil a picture that you want to create, and you can even color it in if you wish.

If you do not have artistic talents, doodling is perfectly fine. This is your journal, so use whatever creative means you wish.

This type of journaling idea is what bullet journals   are all about. I love to look at these journals, but I don't have the artistic skill to make them look like some of these bullet journal artists.

Seriously, some day bullet journaling this will be an art form, like collage, macramé, or watercolor. To see what I mean, here are 132 bullet journal layouts and ideas .

34. Record Your Small Wins

If you’re working toward any type of ultimate goal, take out your journal whenever you have a small win or meet a process goal that brings you one step closer to your final goal. Doing this will help you be able to watch your progress and encourage you to stay on track.

Watch teh video below to find out why taking stock of your little victories is the key to long-term goal achievement.

35. Write Down Your Brilliant Ideas

As soon as a great idea pops into your head, write it down in your journal. It is easy to forget your ideas unless you quickly write them down, which can lead to a missed opportunity of creating something great.

The Brilliant Ideas Launchpad is a very helpful tool to use when you’re journaling about your ideas. Or, if you’re writing in a blank journal, use some kind of small sign next to your ideas so you can go back and easily locate them–such as drawing a small lightbulb.

The Brilliant Ideas Launch Pad: Generate & Capture Your Best Ideas

36. Take Notes on Things You Learn

Write down any key points that you find to be interesting or enlightening when you’re watching a TED talk or even just talking to a stranger.

Anything that you hear throughout the day that resonates with you is worth writing down to either leave yourself a reminder to come back to this idea later so you can research it further or to remember things that you learn that you can use in your personal development .

37. Create a “Wish List” of Books to Read

We all have a list of books that we would ideally love to read if time allowed for it. However, most people end up having to pick and choose which books they can fit into their busy schedule, which involves prioritizing the books that interest you.

Keep a living list in your journal of the things you want to read and switch the order of the books around as needed.

Recommended Books: 20 Best Personal Development and Self-Help Books

38. “Wreck” Your Journal

Wreck This Journal offers a unique way for users to express themselves. Instead of making you feel like everything needs to be nice and neat, this journal asks readers to fill the pages with messy mistakes.

Using creatively illustrated cues, the creator of this journal encourages users to perform “destructive” acts–such as poking holes in the pages, putting pictures in only to deface them, using coffee as paint, etc to have a truly creative journaling experience.

This unique method of journal-making helps users find new ways to get away from the fear of having blank pages and be able to completely engage in being creative.

39. Let it Go

Using a journal that is specifically made to help you let things go will allow you to move on with your life without carrying any toxic baggage from your past. 

In fact, according to the American Psychological Association , stress is the basic cause of most human illnesses and diseases. However, writing things down is an effective way to reduce your overall stress.

When you're forced to record your emotions, you can process them at a deeper level than if you just allow them to stay inside your mind. Writing down things down that you want to let go of is also a form of release if you’re feeling angry or overwhelmed.

40. Write Poetry

This Tuzech Handmade Leather Journal is perfect if you find it therapeutic to write poetry. It has thick, blank pages, so you can write any type of poetry that you enjoy or feel like you can use to express yourself.

Having a daily poetry journal will keep you writing every day or whenever you have the opportunity to do so.

41. Things You’re Looking Forward to Doing

Whether you have a big trip coming up or you are simply looking forward to some small weekend plans with your family, write down a few things every day that you’re looking forward to doing.

Knowing that you have something exciting coming up can help push you through the bumps in the road that come along during the week.

42. Write About Past Mistakes

Don’t do this with the purpose of reminding yourself about the things that have gone wrong in the past; write about the lessons that came out of your mistakes.

Reflecting on the lessons you have been able to take away from difficult times throughout your life can help reassure you next time you make a mistake that there is probably a lesson that can be learned.

43. Record Your Secrets

Your journal is a great place to keep all of your secrets that you don’t want other people to know. This Cagie Journal comes with a metal lock that requires a three digit combination to open, so you will be the only one who has access to what’s inside.

This is even a great place to write down secrets that other people tell you but they ask you to not share with anyone else. Sometimes that can be a hard request to make, so if you can write it down in your journal, you will be less likely to be tempted to spill the beans.

44. Write About People Who Inspire You

You probably come across new people every day, whether that is on television, at work, or just in public. Write about anyone that you admire or find to be an inspiration, and reflect on the ways in which they inspired you.

45. Write From Various Perspectives

Take a topic that is relevant to your life at the time and write about it from a variety of perspectives. If there is a hot topic on the news that people are very divided on, write at least a paragraph that could come from each side of the argument.

Doing this will help you see things from a perspective that you may not otherwise consider, which will ultimately help you build empathy. Considering things from other people’s points of view can be very eye-opening.

46. Make a Bucket List

You’re always going to think of things that you want to add to your bucket list . Keep this document going in your journal by adding things to it on a consistent basis. And–doing what you can to actually follow through with them!

47. Do a Life Inventory

Do an assessment of the balance in your life in all of the significant areas. Consider things like your health, your work/life balance, your family, your mental wellbeing, and anything else that may be important to you.

Check in with yourself to see if there are any adjustments that you need to make in any of these categories.

48. Create a Dialogue

Is there a conversation that you really want to have with someone but for some reason, you can’t? Maybe it’s a family member who has passed away or a fictional character on television.

There are no limits to this, you can create a dialogue with anyone you want to on any topic that you want. It’s fun to imagine how you think or wish these types of conversations would go.

49. Play the Devil’s Advocate

If you’re facing an important decision, play the devil’s advocate for yourself. Even if you think you are certain on what your decision is going to be, think about what someone else would say who completely disagrees with you. Doing so may help you improve the quality of your ultimate decisions.

50. Add Some Entertainment or Humor to Your Journaling

The Zen as F*ck journal includes positive affirmations and cathartic activities that don’t hold you back from writing down how you really feel.

The novelty of this journal will make you laugh while also making you think with a deep sense of introspective. This is a great place to just lay it all out there.

51. Create a Family History Journal

This Family Heritage Journal is perfect for this purpose. If you make a family history journal, it can be passed down from generation to generation, creating something special and meaningful for everyone in your family.

Ask your family members about their personal memories of your parents, grandparents, and so on. This will help you make a collaborative journal through multiple generations and see how things in the family change with time.

52. Keep a Political Journal

This would be a journal where you record your thoughts regarding any current political issues, the people who are running for office, and recent decisions that have been made by your local or national government.

This can help you preserve your opinions and assist you in working through some tough issues without having to immerse yourself in news reports. Consider the things that you would do differently if you were the one in charge.

53. Make a Bullet Journal

Keeping a bullet journal can help you be more productive and organized in your life. This dotted grid notebook is a great journal option if you want to start this practice.

Not only does bullet journaling help you track your everyday actions, it also allows you to stay on top of your long-term goals. It mixes a to-do list with a diary and a planner, which is perfect for people who like to track their habits and consolidate all of their lists into one place.

54. Create a Budgeting Journal

If you’re trying to stay on top of your finances, creating a budgeting journal is a good way to do so. It will allow you to compare your spending over time and help you recognize when any adjustments need to be made to your lifestyle.

This Clever Fox Budget Journal will help you take control of your finances, stay organized, manage your cash flow, and help you reach any financial goals that you may have.

55. Answer One Question a Day for 5 Years

The Q&A a Day: 5 Year Journal prompts you to answer one question a day for an entire year. When the year is over, go back to the beginning of the journal and start all over with the same questions.

In the end, you’re left with a 5-year self study that allows you to see how far you have come during that time.

56. Write Down the Things You Want to Learn

Have you recently taken an interest in a foreign language?

Or, is there something that you hear people talking about all the time and you have no idea what they’re talking about–such as a popular television show or something that has to do with your profession that you never actually learned about?

Record the things that you want to spend time learning so you can return to this list when you have some free time in the future to devote to learning.

57. What Can You Do to Improve Your Community Today?

Journal about a random act of kindness that you can do today or something bigger like volunteering for an organization that means a lot to you. Think about ways that you can give back to your community to make it a better place to live.

58. Incorporate Some Stress-Relieving Adult Coloring

This adult coloring book + leather notebook has 160 pages of designs in the top margins to offer coloring inspiration and stress relief.

Studies have found that drawing in a rhythmic repetition is a proven method for stress reduction and relaxation. With this journal, you get both: 20 unique designs to color in and endless pages of space for you to write whatever you want.

59.  Break Down Your Future Goals and Into Actionable Items

While this might seem like a “to do” list, using your journal as a central location to record your long-term goals and then breaking those down into more immediate actionable steps can help you stay organized and increase your chances of reaching your final goal.

Final Thoughts on What to Write in Your Journal

How did you like the journaling prompts on our list?

Having journaling ideas that you can use to write in your daily journal is important. Everyone gets writer's block from time to time, so having a list of ideas can help you to jump start your creativity.

These 59 ideas offer a great starting place for your daily journal. Try them out and let us know what you think. If you're a parent encouraging your teen to journal, here's our big list of journal writing prompts for teens .

If you're looking for more, check out our article on idea generation techniques and this list of things to fill a notebook with .

If you'd like to learn more about this great habit, then check out this book that will show you how to start a journal, make it a habit, and find endless writing topics .

If you have other journaling ideas that you want to share with others, please list them in the comments—and don't be afraid to share this article on your social media feeds.

Finally, if you don’t know the “right” way to journal, then check out this seven-step process for building a journaling habit that sticks .

10 thoughts on “59 Things to Write About in Your Daily Journal”

Thank you for the effort. It is indeed a nice list. For someone that aspires to be a writer, the list seems to follow a pattern of stretching a list beyond its use. The 33 habits could have been 9 maximum.Think about the reader and the fact that you are wasting your and their time, then be brief and get to the point.

I think Anonymous didn’t get the point of the article.

Understating that this isn’t a novel or a set of instructions, I found your post/list exactly what I was looking for. Some fresh ideas for my daily journaling. Thanks so much!

Thanks Kelly. I appreciate that. I thought the same thing, but didn’t want to be the one to say it 🙂 everyone is entitled to their own opinions after all, and as the writer I wouldn’t want to seem to be shutting that down. Glad you liked it! 🙂

I found the same thing true.i love the ideas.when I am tired of the usual things,I like to write and this will give me some added ideas.

Same goes here, great list especially when I am preparing on the road of writing in my 30s. Thanks.

Thanks for this Scott.

I have started writing daily journals but it has been more of a daily report. I felt it was awkward hence I did the search that brought me among others, this article. And even as I found other angles for creative ideas, it has looked more like so much more work. I see you talking about 3 pages here and there. I just want to put something down and go to sleep. I am not walking towards becoming a writer. I am an entrepreneur (I run a design agency in Nigeria) and I just need the journal to help me become a better person, model and then affect my team and organization, as thought me by Steven Covey’s The 8th Habit.

Which of the points should I stay with?

I need a journal that helps me to be a better person, be more accountable and self-aware. Some conscious Emotional Intelligence work. You get me?

This list is just for ideas for the people who struggle for what to write in their journals. There are no “hard limits” on writing. Consistency is more important that that. It could be 3 sentences a day or 3 pages.

If you are looking for single idea to journal about, that will have a large impact on your personality and abilities, I would say a simple gratitude journal. Every day write down 3 things you are grateful for. This really helps clear the mind, closes open loops that may give you stress and increases happiness. With this you will have more energy and ability to devote to your “work” time. … and it works with as little as 3 sentences. (though I tend to aim for a paragraph for each line item)

Great suggestions! The imaginary friend suggestion was just what I needed. I’ve been contemplating writing in my journal for months, thank you!! 🙂

Hi, The time capsule idea is REALLY creative and I love it. And I can’t decide which journal to choose! There are too many good ideas!

I think this is a nice list but I think I will use only a few in my journal. There are some you could have combined together. But I appreciate your thoughts. Thank you very much.

Comments are closed.

55 Positive Thinking Prompts to Inspire Your Journal Writing

Posted on Published: October 20, 2021  - Last updated: August 31, 2022

Home » Journaling » 55 Positive Thinking Prompts to Inspire Your Journal Writing

Positive prompts for journaling are a hugely beneficial and effective technique for increasing happiness and positive thinking. If you’re looking for inspiration for your journal practice, try these positive thought prompts for a boost to your optimism.

What You'll Find On This Page...

Positive Thinking Prompts Are a Great Way to Boost Positivity and Balance

If you journal already then these positive prompts for increased optimism and wellbeing are perfect to add to your practice. And if you’re new to it, positive thinking prompts are a perfect introduction to journaling , focusing on the concept of thankfulness, and helping you to appreciate the good in your life.

Note: As somebody who appreciates the power and influence of positivity when it comes to our moods, I choose to surround myself with as many positive prompts as I can. I’m including a few other ideas at the bottom of this post , because when you’re enveloped by little reminders of positivity, they’re the hardest thing to resist.

What is Positive Thinking?

We simply need to make the decision to seek out and focus on the positives in our lives.

Positive thinking is the inclination towards optimism rather than pessimism. It’s not about believing everything will always be wonderful, but understanding that there is good and bad in all aspects of life, and that it’s within our control to notice the good more than the bad.

We simply need to make the decision to seek out and focus on the positive things in our lives. Demonstrating a positive attitude will naturally follow, and organically become our default mindset.

What Are Positive Prompts For Journaling?

If you’re keen to give this process a whirl but you’re unsure of what to write, that’s where a journaling prompt can be really useful.

Using journal prompts for positivity can be a really powerful way to alter your outlook for the better.

They give you cues to get your creative juices flowing, and the ones I’ve included below are specifically designed to be focused on increased optimism and feelings of wellbeing.

What are the Benefits of Positive Thinking?

Positive thinking provides hope.

Positive thinking holds incredible value because it can influence not only your mental health, but your physical health too. In fact, according to positive psychology, there are many benefits of positive thinking, including:

• Better psychological and physical wellbeing
• Stress relief
• Increased immunity
• Increased resilience
• Greater resistance to illnesses
• Increased pain tolerance
• Increased lifespan

Not only that, a positive attitude can even reduce the risk of terminal:

• Cardiovascular disease
• Respiratory conditions

Essentially, positive thinking provides hope, and hope is powerful.

How to Make the Most of Journal Prompts For Positive Journaling

Journaling doesn’t have to be time-consuming or complicated – you don’t need special tools or equipment – a pen and pad is sufficient. (Although I love using gorgeous stationery and my favourite journaling pens myself, and using the experience as a form of self-care !)

For the best way to get started, I recommend pouring yourself a cup of your favourite hot drink and setting yourself up somewhere comfortable. You may like to play some calming music and light a favourite scented candle, or cosy up under a fluffy blanket.

Create an environment that evokes feelings of bliss and cultivates a desire to make journaling an established routine!

Wherever and however you choose to journal, the process should be made into a positive experience; a welcoming ritual that you’ll want to return to on a regular basis, ideally with daily journaling.

Create an environment that evokes feelings of bliss and cultivates a desire to make journaling an established routine and healthy habit! The best thing about journaling is its positive effect when practiced often.

The following positive thinking prompts are designed to encourage you to shake off bad habits in terms of negative thinking, and instead engage in a new perspective by shining a positive light on your life.

Here are a list of positive journal prompts to help get you started on your journey to a more positive mindset:

55 Prompts to Promote Optimism, Health, and Positive Thinking

• My favourite flowers are… Perhaps make a promise to yourself to treat yourself to these every week, month, or however often is reasonable. Even better, if realistic – grow them yourself!
• My favourite proverbs / mottos are… Check out these morning affirmations for inspiration!
• How could you introduce more fun to your life? Think about what you consider to be ‘fun’, and then make a plan to try to incorporate into your life weekly.
• The wisest piece of advice I’ve ever received is…
• My favourite hobby is… Write down how it makes you feel.
• My favourite three books are… Write down what you most loved about them, and then research similar books that you might enjoy.
• Referring to your initial list in the previous prompt, write down the names of your loved ones who you think may also appreciate the books that have resonated with you. Keep this as a thoughtful birthday or Christmas list.
• My favourite colour to wear is… because…
• Write a bucket list of places you’d like to visit in your home country.
• …And abroad.

Think about the last time you felt truly cherished.

• My favourite place in the world is… because…
• Write down three books you will read in the next six months.
• Write a list of your five favourite things about your home, and why they mean so much to you.

Here are some more positive journal writing prompts for increased self-worth:

Positive Journal Prompts For Self-Esteem

• My greatest accomplishments are… 
• List 3-5 things you would change to make the world a better place.
• Write down just one way you could turn one of these dreams into a goal.
• When did you last compliment somebody and how did it make you feel?
• The best compliment I’ve ever received is… Write about how it made you feel.
• Write a reverse bucket list of things that do not serve you that you’re going to stop doing.
• Think about the last time you felt truly cherished. Write about what happened and how it made you feel. Now make a plan for creating a similar experience for somebody you care about.
• Write about your last random act of kindness. How did it make you feel?
• Write down three random acts of kindness you could easily commit to, and plan them into your next week or two.
• The most special gift I’ve ever received is…
• My favourite positive quote is…
• Write down three promises to yourself to improve your personal wellbeing.

Try these prompts to promote optimism and health for positive thinking:

Positive Journaling Prompts For Improved Wellbeing

• The best ways I can increase positivity in my life are… Consider what things in your life contribute to your mental wellbeing and positivity and how you can incorporate more of them into your life.
• My favourite thing to do when I’m feeling stressed or anxious is…
• My favourite exercise is… Make a plan for when you can next do this.
• My favourite person to confide in is… because they always make me feel…

• What would you like to have more of in your life? How can you work more of it into your routine?
• Make a list of all the things that make you feel balanced, worthy, and positive that you can refer to when you’re having a crisis of confidence.
• My favourite forms of  self-care  are…
• The person who makes me feel safest is… Write about a time they demonstrated their care and made you feel secure.
• My favourite feel-good movies are… because…
• Write down three simple pleasures that you can work into your week, every week.
• The thing that never fails to put me in a good mood is… because…

Try these positive self-talk journal prompts to forge a better relationship with your body:

Body Positivity Journal Prompts

When was a time you were really proud of your body?

• How do you feel about your body? Write it down. Then objectively look at what you’ve written. Would you say that to a friend? If you wouldn’t, make yourself rewrite something kinder.
• Think about the event/s that have shaped your relationship with your body. Imagine those events and their subsequent influence happening to a friend. Now write a letter to yourself at that time, as a friend, giving advice about what happened, and how it can be reframed more positively.
• Write a list of at least five positive things about how your body serves you.
• When was a time you were really proud of your body? Write about it.
• Write a letter to your body, with the objective being to call a truce or reinforce your positive relationship with it if you already have one.
• Write a list of at least five physical attributes you like about your body.
• Write a list of your favourite things to do with your body.
• Imagine being completely at peace with your body. Now visualise a trip to the beach or a swimming pool, with your favourite people. In the present tense, write about the experience: describe what you wear, the sensations of the breeze, the sun, and the water on your skin, and how you feel inside.

When was the last time you really belly laughed?

• Think about the children in your life who you love, they might be your own, or nieces, nephews, etc. Write down the lessons you’d like to teach them about body positivity.

Use these prompts to help you find positive topics to write about in your journal:

Positive Writing Prompts

• Try some free word association – on separate pieces of paper write down: glorious, content, values, joy, exhilaration, fulfilled. Now, without thinking too much about it, write down the first things that spring to mind for each of these words.
• When was the last time you really belly laughed? Who were with you? Write about what happened.
• Using the results from the previous prompt, look to see if you can find any overlap or recurring themes between the pages. Analyse the similarities to look for ideas of things that bring you happiness, but that perhaps are not a priority in your life. Write out a plan for doing more of these things.

Who is the most positive person you know?

• The person who has the biggest positive influence in my life is… Write down how they’ve inspired you, and the impact it’s had on your life.
• My favourite flavours are… Write down a happy memory associated with each one.
• What is a difficult lesson you’ve learned that has positively impacted your life? How do you feel about it now? How has it changed your perspective?
• Who is the most positive person you know? Describe their personality and how they make you feel, and then try to apply to some of their positivity to your own life by imagining how they would reframe your circumstances.
• Who do you most respect? List their best attributes and which ones you share, then write about how you could emulate their other qualities you admire.
• Who never fails to make you smile? Write about a happy memory you share.

Introducing Gratitude to Your Journaling Practice

Another powerful element to increasing positivity is via gratitude.

Practicing gratitude changes the way you view and experience the world.

In fact, some of the prompts here are, essentially, facilitating the feeling of appreciation for the good in our lives, and actively pursuing that gratitude can be life-changing for your mindset.

Practicing gratitude changes the way you view and experience the world, helping you to reframe in a positive way.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out this post which includes 212 ideas for writing a gratitude list .

Using cues to gently train your mind to become inclined towards positivity, looking on the bright side of life, and finding the silver lining in all situations, is profoundly valuable to your overall wellbeing.

Other Types of Positive Prompts to Increase Mindfulness

The work I’ve done on myself since shaking debilitating postnatal anxiety has been life-changing.

Having a CMPA baby with colic featured as a rather impressive blip for my own mental health .

Those early months were a truly difficult situation which really took me outside of my comfort zone. I was tested to my limits – but since we’ve come out the other side, I’m determined to remain upbeat with a positive outlook.

The work I’ve done on myself since shaking (for the most part) the debilitating postnatal anxiety I suffered has been life-changing.

My default disposition is now optimistic – but I still like to surround myself with positive influences to help keep my focus, such as this (previously gifted) Think Positive necklace. It’s a small thing that has a big impact on my mood and helps me trust in my future self continuing to remain positive!

With my children getting older and my life evolving, I want to make it the best and most fulfilled it can be! And not being complacent about my mental health is critical – we’re all fallible and sometimes a little nudge to stay away from spirals of negative thoughts can be very welcome.

Personally, I find having a reminder that’s with me all the time very beneficial.

Incidentally, introducing the concept of positive journaling to family members can be very worthwhile too. It’s something I’ve started to do with Pixie – and I cannot overstate the wonderful influence it’s having on her.

As the exercises foster a more content temperament, I’m watching her flourish.

This form of positive mindfulness has transformed my mental health for the better.

Positive Prompts Help to Refocus Your Mindset Towards Positivity

Which is why I’m in love with these pieces of jewellery featuring positive affirmations (previously gifted). I wear them every day and they remind me to be thankful in daily life.

Practicing positive mindfulness on a daily basis is the single most beneficial thing I’ve done for myself in terms of my personal wellbeing; it’s transformed my mental health for the better.

So why not introduce some of these positive prompts into your life, whether through the medium of journaling or otherwise, and watch good things – nay, amazing things – come to you?

Privacy Overview

130 Creative and Useful Things to Do With a Notebook

• Pinterest 58

Table of Contents

Let’s talk about what to do with empty notebooks

If you’re looking for things to do with a notebook , keep reading.

This blog post talks about all the creative and productive things to write in a notebook. Your notebook can be so much more than just a place to jot down notes and to-do lists.

It’s a place for you to write down your thoughts, ideas, and inspiration.

It’s a place where you can organize your life, set goals, and track your progress. It’s a place for reflection and self-discovery.

In this post, I’ll share some of the most creative and exciting notebook uses to help you get the most out of this versatile tool.

I’ll show you how a notebook can be a powerful tool for achieving your goals and living your best life, from keeping a gratitude journal to creating a vision board.

Without further ado, let me show you the best ways to use a new notebook .

This post may contain affiliate links. That means that if you click on a link and purchase something I recommend, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

1. Organization is one of the many creative ways to fill a notebook that’s empty

A notebook allows you to structure your thoughts and ideas. This makes it easier to find and reference information later.

It allows you to keep important information, such as appointments, to-do lists, and notes, organized.

Using a notebook to plan and organize your tasks and projects helps you become more productive, stay organized, and accomplish more in less time.

Here’s a very affordable lined and ruled journal to help you get started.

• Financial management. If you keep track of your income and expenses, create a budget, and monitor your spending, you’ll find that you’re better able to manage your money and reach your financial goals. Here’s a budget planner that will help you with EVERYTHING . Besides, it’s also a bestseller.
• Organization and planning . Use an empty notebook to plan your day, week, or month. Keep track of your progress by writing down your to-do lists, appointments, and deadlines. A notebook can help you stay focused and productive by allowing you to plan and organize your tasks, projects, and goals.
• Productivity and goal-setting. A notebook can help you stay focused and productive by planning and organizing your tasks, projects, and goals. Set and track personal and professional goals in your notebook, as well as plan the steps that you need to take to achieve them. Here’s the best life and goal planner to help you achieve whatever you set your mind to .
• Time tracking. Track how much time you spend on different tasks. This will help you identify time-wasters and optimize your schedule.
• Meeting minutes. Take detailed notes during meetings, including actions, assignments, and deadlines. This will help you stay on top of follow-up tasks.
• Recipe journal and cooking. Using a notebook to record your favorite recipes and experiment with new ingredients helps you improve your cooking skills and enjoy experimenting with new flavors. Take notes on the ingredients and the cooking process, and keep track of the results. You can make your own family recipe cookbook with the help of this recipe book .
• Gardening journal. Plan, track, and document your gardening projects. Track the progress of your plants and make notes on what worked and what didn’t.
• Herbalism. Use a notebook to keep track of your herbalism studies and experiments, recipes, and the effects of various herbs. Believe it or not, this is actually one of my favorite notebook ideas, because who doesn’t love herbs?
• A list of daily tasks. Create a daily task list. Prioritize your tasks to help you stay focused and productive throughout the day. Here’s an affordable to-do daily planner that will boost your productivity for sure.
• Personal life project management. Use your new notebook to plan, organize, and track the progress of personal projects. Include timelines, milestones, and activities. This will help you stay organized and on track.
• A bullet journal. This system relies on bullet points and symbols to capture information quickly and easily. This makes it a highly efficient and customizable tool for tracking daily, weekly, and monthly activities. People who use the bullet journaling method can create their own layouts and customize the system to their specific needs. Here’s a bullet journal kit that’s suitable for beginners as well .
• Mapping your thoughts. Create visual representations or diagrams to organize information and ideas. This can help you understand complex subjects, brainstorm new ideas, and plan projects.
• Taking notes. A small notebook is an excellent tool for just taking notes, whether in class, at a meeting, or while reading a book. It allows you to stay organized, quickly and easily record information, and refer to it later.
• Networking. Keep a notebook of your professional contacts to help you build and maintain a strong professional network. Here’s a stunning address book that you can use as well.

• Travel journal. Record your travels and memories, and create a scrapbook of your trip. Plan your next vacation or trip in your notebook by researching destinations and creating an itinerary.
• Fitness journal. Create a workout plan to track your progress and keep yourself motivated to reach your fitness goals.
• Travel plans. You can use those empty pages to jot down your travel plans, including your itinerary, packing list, and any reservations or tickets you’ve booked.
• Grocery list. Keep shopping lists handy in your notebook so you can easily jot down items you need to buy when you’re out and about. Write out your grocery list for the week, organized by category (produce, dairy, etc.) to make shopping more efficient.
• Habit tracker. Use a habit tracker to help you form new habits or break old ones, whether it’s drinking more water, practicing gratitude, or reading for 20 minutes each day. Here are 180 habit tracker ideas to help you organize your life .
• Genius ideas. Use your notebook as a good way to brainstorm new ideas, whether it’s for creative ideas, business ideas, or personal goals.
• Blog posts. Brainstorm a list of blog posts to write in the future.
• Business planner. If you have a side hustle or business, use your notebook to track your progress, record your expenses and income, and brainstorm new ideas.
• Meal planning. Use your notebook to plan your meals for the week, including meal prep schedules.
• Home organization. Keep a log of your home organization projects, including decluttering efforts, storage solutions, and room-by-room checklists.
• Time audit. Conduct a time audit by tracking how you spend your time throughout the day. Analyze the data to identify areas for optimization and productivity improvement.
• Work-related project brainstorming. Use your notebook to brainstorm and plan various projects in your work life. You can outline goals, tasks, deadlines, and milestones.
• Digital detox diary. Create a section in your notebook dedicated to tracking and reflecting on your digital detox experiences . Record the duration and details of your breaks from technology, as well as the benefits, challenges, and insights gained during those periods.

2. Ideas for a blank notebook that are related to personal growth

By using a notebook for journaling, personal growth, and self-reflection, you gain a deeper understanding of yourself. You’re also able to make positive improvements in your life.

• Personal growth goals. Set and track goals for personal growth , as well as reflect on progress and lessons learned. Keep track of your progress and reflect on what you’ve learned.
• Simple journaling. You can use a notebook as a simple journal in which you can record your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. This can be an excellent tool for self-reflection and personal growth. You can track your progress and reflect on your experiences over time.
• Track important things. A notebook can help you remember things by allowing you to write down important information and keep track of things you need to remember.
• Self-reflection. Reflect on your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. This can help you gain a better understanding of yourself and make positive changes in your life. Here’s a 365-day self-reflection journal to help you on your journey .
• A dream journal. Use a notebook to record your dreams, symbols, and patterns, as well as to investigate the potential meanings and messages they contain.
• Self-care journal. Track your self-care practices, set self-care goals, and reflect on the impact of various self-care activities on your mental and physical well-being. Here’s a self-care journal that encourages general well-being while helping you cultivate a healthy lifestyle .
• Mind-body journal. Keep a notebook to record your mind-body practices like yoga, tai chi, or qigong.
• Mindfulness training. Keep track of your mindfulness practices, such as meditation, breathing exercises, and gratitude journaling. Reflect on how they affect your overall well-being.
• Coloring book for mindfulness. Make a coloring book in your notebook with mandalas, patterns, or other designs that you can color in to help you relax and focus.
• Make a vision board. Create a visual representation of your goals, dreams, and aspirations. Cut and paste pictures and words from magazines into the notebook.
• Gratitude journal. Use your notebook to write down things you are grateful for ; this will help you focus on the good in your life. Designate a special place in your notebook to write down things you’re grateful for each day or to reflect on your accomplishments and wins. Here’s my favorite gratitude journal that requires only ONE minute of your day . It’s the best way to start practicing daily gratitude.
• Daily routines. You can use any type of notebook to record your daily routines and track your progress toward your goals.
• Junk journal. Use the blank pages of your notebook to write down your thoughts, ideas, dreams, or anything else that comes to mind.
• Happiness journal. Create a happiness journal in your notebook where you write down things that make you happy or grateful each day. Write down the good things that happen to you throughout the day, no matter how small.
• Morning pages . Write down your first thoughts in the morning in your notebook as a way to clear your mind and start the day fresh.

• Interactions. Use your notebook to record your interactions with lots of people throughout the day, such as coworkers, family members, or friends.
• Vision journal. Use your notebook as a vision journal to write down your goals, aspirations, and dreams for the future.
• Love notes. It can be a great idea to use your dedicated journal as a place to write love notes to your significant other, family members, or friends.
• Mental health. Put your notebook to good use and use it to track your mental health, record your emotions, or write down any triggers or coping mechanisms.
• Nightly reflection. At the end of the day, use your notebook to reflect on your day and write down any significant events or accomplishments. You can also end your day in a wonderful way by writing down something positive that happened that day or something you’re looking forward to in the future.
• Failure diary. Use your notebook to reflect on and learn from your failures. Document the lessons you’ve learned, the resilience you’ve built, and the growth that has resulted from these experiences.
• Values exploration. Explore your core values by listing them and reflecting on how they influence your decisions, actions, and overall sense of fulfillment. Consider aligning your daily life with your values to promote personal growth.
• Strengths inventory. Assess your strengths and talents by creating a comprehensive inventory. Reflect on how you can further develop and leverage these strengths to improve your personal and professional life.
• Inspirational stories. Compile a collection of inspiring stories from books, articles, or personal experiences that have had a significant impact on your personal growth. Reflect on the lessons and insights gained from these stories.
• Adventure log. Document your adventures and explorations, whether big or small. Record the places you visit, the new experiences you try, and the lessons you learn along the way.
• Relationship reflections. Reflect on your relationships with others, including family, friends, or colleagues. Explore ways to improve communication , build stronger connections, and foster personal growth through meaningful interactions.
• Nature connection. Use your notebook to deepen your connection with nature. Write about your outdoor experiences, your observations of the natural world, and the lessons you learn from immersing yourself in nature.
• Personal manifesto. Write a personal manifesto that outlines your core beliefs, values, and aspirations. Draft and refine your manifesto, reflecting on the principles that guide your personal growth journey.
• Strengths challenges.  Identify specific challenges or activities that align with your strengths and  encourage personal growth . Document these challenges in your notebook, track your progress as you step outside your comfort zone, and leverage your strengths to overcome obstacles.
• Curiosity log. Foster a sense of curiosity and lifelong learning by maintaining a curiosity log in your notebook. Write down questions, ideas, and topics that pique your interest. Use this space to explore and delve deeper into subjects that intrigue you.

Daily self-care checklists for free!

Sign up for my newsletter and get three pages of printable daily self-care checklists!

You’ll also get informational and fun emails from me every now and then.

You can unsubscribe anytime. For more details, review our Privacy Policy.

Opt in to receive news and updates.

You have successfully joined our subscriber list.

3. Empty notebook ideas that are connected to learning

• Knowledge management. Use your notebook to organize and categorize information so that you can quickly find and access what you need. If you’re looking for things to do with a notebook, this is the most useful one, for sure.
• Language studies. A notebook can be an excellent tool for practicing writing and learning a new language. You can use it to take notes, do exercises, and make flashcards. Using a notebook to practice writing and study a new language allows you to learn a foreign language more effectively.
• Brainstorming. To generate ideas for a project, paper, or presentation, keep a notebook handy. Do a brain dump, write down any ideas that come to mind, and use them to create a plan of action.
• Ongoing learning. Plan and track your ongoing learning, whether it’s taking courses, reading books, or participating in webinars. This will help you stay up-to-date on the latest information in your field.
• Book notes. Take notes, write book reviews, and discuss the books you’re reading with a book club. Here’s a book club journal that helps you keep track of everything .
• Help support your studies. Take study notes, make flashcards, and organize study materials for exams or projects in your notebook.
• Keep track of useful books. For example, if you’re reading self-help books, use your notebook to take notes on the key points, insights, and exercises from the book.
• New words. Use your notebook to write down new words you come across in your reading, conversations, or media, along with their definitions, to expand your vocabulary.
• Research log. Create a dedicated space to document your research process. Record your research questions, sources, key findings, and insights as you explore various topics of interest.
• Study group notes. If you’re part of a study group or learning community, use your notebook to take collaborative notes, share study resources, and discuss key concepts and ideas.

• Reflection prompts. Designate a section of your notebook for reflection prompts related to your learning journey. Write down thought-provoking questions that encourage deep self-reflection and critical thinking.
• Skill-building tracker. Track your progress and development in specific skills or areas of expertise. Set goals, record practice sessions, and document milestones as you work on honing your abilities.
• Podcast or lecture notes. Use your notebook to take detailed notes while listening to educational podcasts or attending lectures. Summarize key points, capture insights, and jot down your thoughts and questions.
• Case study analysis. If you’re studying a field that involves case studies, create a section for analyzing and dissecting case studies. Write down the background, key issues, proposed solutions, and your own reflections on each case.
• Learning challenges. Set up learning challenges for yourself and document your progress. Whether it’s memorizing a poem, solving a difficult puzzle, or learning a new coding language, track your efforts and celebrate your achievements.
• Learning resources compilation. Create a compilation of learning resources that have been valuable to you. Write down book recommendations, online courses, articles, or YouTube channels that have enriched your learning journey.
• Concept mapping. Use your notebook for creating concept maps or mind maps to visualize connections between different ideas, theories, or subjects. This visual representation can help deepen your understanding and facilitate knowledge retention.
• Field trip journal. If you’re engaging in experiential learning or field trips, use your notebook as a journal to document your observations, insights, and reflections from each trip.
• Vocabulary expansion. Dedicate a section to expanding your vocabulary in a foreign language. Write down new words you encounter along with their definitions, examples of usage, and any related notes or associations.
• Collaborative learning projects. Use your notebook to collaborate on learning projects with peers or classmates. Brainstorm ideas, assign tasks, and document progress as you work together on group assignments or projects.

4. Notebook activities that are creative and fun

A notebook can be a great tool for sparking creativity. You can use it to brainstorm ideas, sketch and draw, or write down inspiration.

This improves your creativity. It also allows you to come up with new and innovative ideas.

• Prompts for creative writing. Write down creative writing prompts. Then use them to inspire your writing.
• Interviews. Conduct interviews with friends, family, or people you admire using a notebook.
• Track a movie or a television series. Keep track of the movies and TV shows you’ve seen, the ones you want to see, and your ratings or simple movie reviews.
• Q&A book. Create a Q&A book in a notebook by asking and answering questions about yourself or others.
• Storyboarding. Create storyboards for film, animation, or video projects in a notebook.
• Make a comic strip. Create your own comic strip characters and storylines.
• The time capsule. Create a time capsule of your current life in a notebook by writing down your thoughts, feelings, and memories and sealing them for a set period of time.
• Daily drawings. Every day, draw something new, whether it’s a portrait, a landscape, an object, or something else.
• Game design. Create your own board games, card games, or sketches for video games in a notebook.
• Photo album. Create a photo album by sticking the photos in or drawing them. Don’t forget to write captions or notes. Here’s an affordable photo journal that has lots of space .
• Tarot journal. Use a notebook to record your tarot card readings, including the meanings of the cards and their placement, as well as your thoughts on the insights you received.
• Word games. Play word games like crossword puzzles, word searches, and word jumbles.
• The game of Mad Libs. Play Mad Libs with friends, family, or by yourself in your notebook.
• Drawing and sketching. Make sketches, drawings, or illustrations. A notebook is a great place to practice your skills and create your art, whether you’re an artist or just enjoy doodling.
• A treasure hunt. Make a scavenger hunt list in a notebook, and then go out and find the items on the list.
• Instructions for DIY crafts. Use a notebook to jot down instructions for any DIY projects you want to try.
• Personal branding. Create a personal branding plan to help you build a strong professional reputation and stand out in your field. I personally use this deluxe Legend planner for this because I like its layout.

• Creative writing journal. Write short stories, poetry, or a novel. It can be a great way to express yourself creatively and improve your writing skills.
• Practice your handwriting. Practice handwriting, brush lettering, calligraphy, or hand lettering in your notebook. When you do some lettering practice, you might notice an improvement in your handwriting. Here’s a calligraphy workbook that’s the best invention since sliced bread .
• Puzzle book. Create your own puzzles, such as Sudoku, crosswords, word searches, and so on.
• Songwriting. Use a notebook to jot down song lyrics or melodies.
• Bucket list. Create a bucket list in your notebook, listing all the things you want to do or accomplish in your lifetime.
• Get your creative juices flowing. Use your notebook to brainstorm and jot down ideas for creative projects, such as writing, drawing, crafting, or even learning a new skill.
• Favorite songs and quotes. Write down your favorite quotes and songs in your notebook as a way to inspire and uplift yourself.
• Good news. Write down good news or positive experiences in your notebook to look back on when you need a pick-me-up. This is also among my favorite things to do with a notebook.
• Revisit old pages. Use the used pages of your notebook to create art or doodles, using the blank spaces to let your creativity flow.
• Have fun. Write in your notebook in a fun way, such as by creating a bullet journal or using colorful pens and stickers to add some flair.
• Collage corner. Designate a section of your notebook as your collage corner. Cut out images, words, and phrases from magazines or printouts and create collages that reflect your mood, aspirations, or current interests.
• Doodle challenges. Challenge yourself with doodle prompts or drawing challenges. Create a series of doodles based on specific themes or prompts, allowing your imagination to run wild and exploring different drawing techniques.
• Recipe swap. Dedicate a section to a recipe swap, where you can write down your favorite recipes and exchange them with friends or family members. Personalize the recipes with handwritten notes, tips, and variations.
• Story starters. Write down story starters or writing prompts to ignite your imagination and creativity. Use these prompts to create short stories, poems, or even a serialized novel in your notebook.
• Memory lane. Create a section dedicated to capturing and preserving memories. Write down memorable moments, special events, or adventures, and decorate the pages with mementos such as tickets, photographs, or small keepsakes.
• Character development. Use your notebook for character-development exercises. Create profiles, backstories, and traits for fictional characters, giving them life and depth as you explore their personalities and motivations.
• Music exploration. Create a dedicated section to explore different genres of music. Write down your thoughts and reflections on songs, albums, or artists you discover, and create personalized playlists with accompanying notes.
• Language mash-up. If you’re learning multiple languages or interested in language experimentation, create a language mash-up section. Combine words, phrases, and expressions from different languages to create unique sentences or short stories.

Goal-related ideas to write in a notebook

This is the last category in this list of 130 ways to use a blank notebook.

Whether you’re aiming for personal growth, career advancement, or overall well-being, this list of ideas for notebook uses will help you organize your thoughts, stay motivated, and make progress towards your aspirations.

• Long-term vision. Write down your long-term vision or life goals. Describe where you want to be in the future and what you hope to achieve.
• SMART goals. Create a section to outline your smart goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timebound). Write down goals that are clear, actionable, and well-defined.
• Action plan. Develop a detailed action plan for each goal. Break down your goals into smaller, manageable tasks, and write down the steps you need to take to achieve them.
• Progress tracker. Create a progress tracker in your notebook. Record your progress regularly and update it as you make strides toward your goals.
• Goal reflection. Dedicate a section to reflecting on your goals. Write about the progress you’ve made, challenges encountered, and lessons learned along the way.
• Inspirational quotes. Write down motivational quotes that inspire and uplift you. Include quotes that resonate with your goals and aspirations.
• Goal rewards. Create a list of rewards that you will give yourself upon reaching specific milestones or achieving your goals. Write down the rewards to keep yourself motivated.
• Goal visualization. Use your notebook to visualize the successful attainment of your goals. Write vivid descriptions of how it will feel and look when you achieve what you set out to accomplish.
• Goal gratitude. Practice gratitude for the progress you’ve made toward your goals. Write down the things you’re grateful for in relation to your goals and the opportunities that have come your way. This is among my favorite ideas for empty notebooks.
• Obstacle overcoming. Identify potential obstacles or challenges that might hinder your progress. Develop strategies to overcome them and write them down in your notebook.
• Skill development. Write down the skills you need to acquire or improve upon to achieve your goals. Track your skill development progress and document the resources you use.
• Accountability buddy. Find an accountability buddy or create an accountability system in your notebook. Write down your commitments and check in regularly to stay on track.
• Goal reflection questions. Create a list of reflective questions related to your goals. Use these prompts to dive deeper into your motivations, progress, and future actions.
• Goal inspiration. Collect stories, articles, or success stories related to your goals. Write summaries or key takeaways from these sources to keep yourself inspired and motivated.
• Lessons learned. Reflect on the lessons you’ve learned throughout your goal-setting journey. Write down insights, personal growth, and any adjustments you’ve made along the way.
• Goal adaptation. Allow for flexibility in your goals. Write about how you adapt and adjust your goals as circumstances change or as you gain new insights.
• Celebrations. Create a space to celebrate your achievements, both big and small. Write about your accomplishments, milestones reached, and the joy and satisfaction you feel.

FAQ: Why is it beneficial to use a blank journal?

Now that we’ve talked about what to do with a new notebook, let’s take a look at the many advantages and possibilities that a notebook can provide .

Once you start using a notebook, several things can happen in your daily life:

Portability

Notebooks are portable. This allows you to take it with you wherever you go. This makes it easy to jot down ideas, take notes, or keep track of tasks and appointments while on the go.

Self-reflection

Keeping a daily journal or notebook can help you gain insight and improve your problem-solving skills by allowing you to step back and reflect on your thoughts and actions.

Stess-relief

You can also use writing by hand to relieve stress because the act of writing has a calming effect on your mind and body .

Keeping a notebook can also serve as a creative outlet, sparking new ideas and inspiration. Writing in a notebook allows for free-form brainstorming and idea generation.

Because the physical act of writing engages multiple areas of the brain , writing things down by hand can help you better understand and retain information.

Unlike digital notes, which can be lost due to technical failures, notebooks can last for a long time .

Customization

You can add personal touches and make it look exactly how you want it to.

Better memory

Research has shown that writing by hand can improve memory retention . The physical act of writing engages different parts of the brain that are responsible for memory.

You can also revisit old notebooks to see how you’ve grown and evolved over time or to spark inspiration for new ideas.

Flexibility

If you have a bunch of empty notebooks, you can use them for a variety of tasks, including taking notes, journaling, sketching, and more.

Share your notebook with a lot of people or keep it private—the best thing about a notebook is that it’s entirely up to you how you use it and who you share it with.

And if you have any empty journals lying around and you’re looking for cute things to do with an empty journal, why not start your own journal and see where it takes you?

Well, these are my favorite things to do with a notebook

What to write in a notebook when bored? Do you know any other creative things to do in a journal? I would love to hear your thoughts!

I’m a personal growth and self-care expert, as well as an avid motorcycle enthusiast and coffee and sweets lover. Through Lauraconteuse, I provide insightful and practical advice on topics such as self-care, self-love, personal growth, and productivity, drawing from my very own extensive experience and knowledge in the field. My blog has helped countless people achieve their goals and live more fulfilling lives, and my goal is to continue to inspire and empower others.

You might also like these related posts

6 thoughts on “130 Creative and Useful Things to Do With a Notebook”

Such a great, informative article for those who have an empty journal and don’t know what to do with it! Thanks for sharing ☺️

Just found your website and love this article! I love the personal growth and creative ideas. Starting a consistent journaling practice is one of my goals this year! I look forward to reading more articles!

I take notes daily. I try to do it on the go using note apps on the phone, laptop or using a physical notebook. This helps me keep track of many tasks I perform daily or some other projects am working. I ‘d like to implement some of the creative ideas on note taking that you have suggested that will make it more interesting and enjoyable at the same time.

I love all these ideas! Have lots of notebooks here so this helps a lot.

I have never thought of using a notebook this way. Thanks for sharing so much ideas.

Interesting article. Can’t wait to use these awesome suggestions to fill up many notebooks I have lying around the house.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You are here: Home » Blog » Journaling

7 Things to Write in Your Journal (For Positivity and Growth)

Reviewed and fact-checked

We are committed to the highest standards of accuracy and reliability in our content. Every statement made on our website is meticulously fact-checked and supported by authoritative studies.

Read more about our processes here .

Updated on January 29, 2023

Journaling comes with lots of therapeutic benefits, plus it can simply be a lot of fun. So you decided that you want to get started with your journal. The next question is: What do you write in your journal?

Even though there aren’t any rules in journaling, you don’t want to mess it up either. You don’t want to fill an entire journal with thousands of words, only to later find out that you’d rather have written about something else. If you don’t know what to write in your journal, I’ll show you some of the things that have helped most people get started.

By writing these things in your journal, I guarantee that you’ll never regret any of your hard work. Here are 7 ideas to write in your journal that are fun, meaningful, and make use of the many benefits of journaling.

Why it’s hard to think of what to write in your journal

What to do if you don’t know what to write in your journal, 1. journal about things that you’re grateful for in your life, 2. write down all the things that have kept you down today, 3. rate your happiness on a scale from 1 to 100, 4. write down your goals, 5. journal about a random memory of your youth, 6. write a letter to your future self, 7. start by answering a journal prompt, one final tip: resist the urge to edit, wrapping up.

As I said in the intro, there are no rules when it comes to journaling.

But I totally understand why it might feel difficult to actually write down that first word. After all, there’s no going back once the ink hits the paper.

However, here are two statements that might help you get started:

• Good is better than perfect.
• Done is better than perfect.

I use this advice in other aspects of my life as well (it helps me deal with perfectionism ), but it’s super applicable to journaling as well.

You can’t reap all the benefits of journaling without allowing your pen to touch the paper. And in the end, a couple of sentences that look like gibberish won’t completely ruin your journal.

One of my favorite types of books to read is to read someone else’s published journal. I’ve read a couple of great journals, like:

• Theft By Finding by David Sedaris.
• The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx (from rock band Mötley Crüe).
• The Diary Of A Young Girl by Anne Frank.

By reading these journals, I’ve gotten some great ideas about what to write in my own journal.

But what stuck with me most was a passage from David Sedaris’ diary (Theft By Finding).

It might look like my average diary entry amounts to no more than seven sentences, but in fact I spend an inordinate amount of time writing about my day – around forty-five minutes, usually. If nothing big happened, I’ll reflect on a newspaper article or a report I heard on the radio. I’m not big on weather writing but have no policy against it. Thus when life gets really dull, I’ll just look out the window and describe the color of the sky. That will lead to something else, most often: a bird being mean to another bird or the noise a plane makes. Theft By Finding by David Sedaris

I’ve used this advice many times since I first started journaling in 2013. If I don’t know what to write about, I’ll look around and write about something that piques my interest.

While this may not directly produce the most insightful journal entry, it does help get my brain moving. Oftentimes, it’s much easier to write down something worthwhile when you already started with something insignificant.

💡 By the way : Do you find it hard to be happy and in control of your life? It may not be your fault. To help you feel better, we’ve condensed the information of 100’s of articles into a 10-step mental health cheat sheet to help you be more in control. 👇

Don’t Miss Out On Happiness

Find happiness with this 10-step mental health cheat sheet.

7 journaling ideas to get started

If you’re ready to start writing, here are 7 journaling ideas that will help you get started. You obviously don’t have to pick all of them. Instead, try one of these whenever you feel like you don’t know what to write in your journal.

I know, I know. Everybody in the world – and their granny – is talking about gratitude. Practicing gratitude is supposed to be this life hack that instantaneously puts a smile on your face. Or at least, that’s what all these articles about gratitude will have you believe.

Here are some things you should know about gratitude:

• It isn’t a life hack, and it certainly won’t fix all your problems.
• It does however increase your odds of finding peace in your current state of mind .
• The most powerful aspect of practicing gratitude is that it’s something you can control entirely.

Practicing gratitude has been linked to a direct increase in happiness of 10%, as found by studies. We’ve covered those in this article about the powerful relationship between gratitude and happiness .

10% may not seem like much, and I somewhat agree, as a 10% increase won’t fix all the problems in your life. However, the main benefit here is that you can “be grateful” whenever you set your mind to it.

And a journal just so happens to be the perfect place to express gratitude.

How can you do so? It’s super simple, actually. Just ask yourself what you are thankful for , and write it down. By spending just 5 minutes a day doing this simple exercise, you’ll be experiencing the full benefits of practicing gratitude.

It’s not as if you’ll directly notice your increased mood. Practicing gratitude won’t stop your car from breaking down, and neither will it stop you from experiencing stress at work. But by focusing on what you’re grateful for, you can focus on positivity rather than negativity .

If you need more examples of gratitude, here you go !

If you’re having a shitty day, journaling about what’s keeping you down is the perfect remedy. Since I started journaling in 2013, I’ve written dozens of pages filled with rants, curses, irritating thoughts, and crushed dreams.

While it may sound counterintuitive, writing about all the negative things you’re dealing with can actually lift your spirits.

Have you ever experienced stressful moments where you can’t get a grip on your mind? No matter what you do, you keep worrying about dozens of problems at once.

By actually writing these down in your journal, you’ll notice that your brain starts to relax. By giving these negative thoughts a place to go wild, you’ll stop them from turning your mind into a chaotic mess.

One of our readers said it more elegantly:

I found that writing about my emotional state and describing issues in detail forces me to confront them and take the time to deconstruct them. This usually allows me to understand the issue, and that calms the chaos in my head. You can think of this as clearing the RAM in your system. Sanjay (one of our readers)

Not only will this journaling tip help you sleep at night, but it will also give you some interesting journal entries to look back at in a few years.

I experienced this firsthand when I re-read some of my older journal entries to find them filled with rants. And I mean, pages upon pages of annoying rants.

It helps me realize that I’m just human, and makes me appreciate how much I’ve grown over the years .

Something I do – and have done every single day since 2013 – is answer this question:

On a scale from 1 to 100, how would you rate your happiness?

If you don’t know what to write in a journal, I highly recommend you try this method. It will help you think about how your day actually went. Are you feeling happy today, and if so, why exactly? This will help you turn your thoughts into words.

There’s another big benefit to this method. By rating your happiness every day, you’ll become much more self-aware of how your mental health is impacted by the things that happen to you.

If you’re a nerd like me, it will also allow you to find trends and correlations in your data. Are you happier on weekends? Are you more frustrated when you have to work late?

If you want to read more about tracking happiness, here’s a better description of the method .

We’ve also written an entire article about how to journal for self-awareness here .

I know a lot of people use their journals to keep track of their goals . No matter how big or small they are, a journal can help you stay accountable to yourself.

So if you like to write your journal in the morning, you might want to try to list a couple of goals that you want to reach that day. For example, your goals can be:

• Go for a run.
• Finish 10 pages of a report at work.
• Make the bed.
• Do groceries for the week.

If you’re like me and prefer to journal before going to bed, you can list your goals for the next day.

Setting smaller goals is a good way to make sure that you’re working towards something and not just coasting through your days on autopilot. 

You can set goals in whatever area of life you like and they can be short-term or long-term . But remember, good goals are always specific and measurable. 

A goal without a plan is a daydream. Rick Conlow

By using your journal to track your goals, you’ll also be more inclined to be successful in the things you want to accomplish. We’ve published an article specifically about journaling for success here!

Whenever I don’t know what to write in my journal, I do something that I call “filling in the blanks” .

This means that I try to write about a personal memory from years ago, way before I started to keep a journal. For example, I’ve written about the following memories in my journal:

• When my mom first showed me the 9/11 attacks on the Dutch national news, back when I was 8 years old, and how weird I thought it all was.
• How I was too shy to talk to a girl in school, even though I had a crush on her and she actually sent me a Valentine’s card (it took a while before I forgave myself for that one).
• Or when my dad took me with him to his job as a civil engineer, for a large bridge construction project.

These are all memories that I hold dear to my heart. By writing them down in my journal, I’m filling in the blank pages of my life. By doing so, I get to “immortalize” my memories, while also practicing gratitude for all the good things I have in my life.

If you want to know more about this journaling idea, here’s an article I wrote about how I remember my memories in a journal .

Here’s another creative way to write in your journal when you don’t know what to write about.

This one is called future self journaling , and it means writing a letter to your future self. This can be either extremely funny or confrontational.

For example, I wrote myself a journal entry that I had to read on October 11, 2015.

Dear Hugo, today is the day that you’ll (hopefully) have finished the Eindhoven marathon. If so, then that’s AWESOME. If you managed to finish within 4 hours, BRAVO. But even if you didn’t finish it at all, just remember why you signed up in the first place: to challenge yourself, both physically and mentally. Just know that you really challenged yourself and did your best, so you should be great either way! Letter to my future self

This one was extremely funny to re-read. It was my first ever marathon, and I had made the rookie mistake to have extremely high expectations . I finished in 4 hours and 22 minutes, but I finished nonetheless! This letter to my future self helped me appreciate what I accomplished and made me proud of myself .

How can you use this in your own journal?

• Write yourself a letter about something funny you want to remember, ask yourself about  things that are currently bothering you , or remind your future self about why you are currently doing some things that another person might not understand.
• Explain to your future self why you are writing this in the first place.
• Don’t forget to date your letter, journal entry, or email, and create a reminder in your calendar for when you need to open this message or journal again.

So if you don’t know what to write in your journal, why not try this simple idea?

The last journaling idea on this list is perhaps the easiest of all. If you don’t know what to write in a journal, use a simple journal prompt and go from there.

A journal prompt is a simple statement designed to inspire you or offer you an idea of what to write about. Following a journal prompt might help you release some of your creativity, even if you’re not big on writing.

Here are some examples of journal prompts:

• Talk about your best happiness factor for today.
• Talk about something that made you laugh today.
• Explain how today could have possibly been a better day.
• Talk about something that bothered you today.
• Explain how today could have gone much worse.
• Talk about something that you’re proud of doing today.

My advice is to start your journal entry by simply copying one of these prompts at the top of the page. Start answering the prompt, and you’ll probably find it easier to continue writing, even if it diverges from the initial prompt that got you started.

There are ultimately many more journal ideas that will help you when you don’t know what to write about. I tried to give you the most creative and meaningful methods to help you become more self-aware.

One final tip that I want to give you is to resist the urge to edit whatever you wrote down.

Journaling is about writing freely. So, don’t worry about grammatically incorrect phrases, run-on sentences, or incorrect spelling.

This is not a graded essay. You won’t receive likes or comments the way you do in your diary-like status on Facebook. This is for your eyes only, so don’t be too conscious about what you’re writing and how you’re writing it.

As long as you understand what you wrote and you can reread your journal whenever you need to, then that’s good enough!

💡 By the way : If you want to start feeling better and more productive, I’ve condensed the information of 100’s of our articles into a 10-step mental health cheat sheet here. 👇

This Cheat Sheet Will Help You Be Happier and More Productive

Thrive under stress and crush your goals with these 10 unique tips for your mental health.

I hope these journal ideas will help you when you don’t know what to write next time you open your diary. By using one of these tips, you’ll turn your thoughts into meaningful journal entries that will help you become more self-aware and happy.

Do you want to share one of your favorite journal ideas? Was there anything I missed? Or do you disagree with something I said? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

Founder of Tracking Happiness, with over 100 interviews and a focus on practical advice, our content extends beyond happiness tracking. Hailing from the Netherlands, I’m a skateboarding enthusiast, marathon runner, and a dedicated data junkie, tracking my happiness for over a decade.

4 thoughts on “7 Things to Write in Your Journal (For Positivity and Growth)”

I love the idea of writing down the bad things that happened. There’s something about putting a crappy day in writing that not only gets it out of my system, but helps me put things in better perspective. Honestly, I think it’s just as helpful, if not more helpful, than gratitude journaling.

Yes! It’s like cleaning your windshields every now and then. You have to wipe the sh%t and specks of dust off every once in a while, in order to get a clear view again. The same goes for writing down bad stuff in a journal. Once you’ve written them down, you can put this negativity to rest. 🙂

I’m glad you found this article helpful!

Thank you for this helpful article! I’ve been journaling for about a decade now, but I’ve felt like my more recent journal entries have consisted mostly of “negative” feelings. So this was very helpful to read!

Thanks, I’m happy this article has helped you, Kristi!

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Learning to Be Free

Dedicated to Self-Discovery & Growth

• 30 July 2019
• Self-Improvement

Empty Notebook?: 30 Ideas to Fill Up Your Blank Journals and Notebooks

I, Briana, come to you, my readers with a confession: I’m a filthy empty journal hoarder. I see a pretty journal or notebook and I buy it without question. What I’m exactly going to use it for…Who knows? If you’re like me and you have a bunch of empty notebooks or journals stashed around your house, you could use some ideas on how to fill them up. So dear readers, I present to you 30 things you can fill a notebook with.

*This post may contain affiliate and/or referral links. It doesn’t cost you anything extra to use the provided links to purchase any of the below products or services. Please check out my disclosure policy. *

1. Love Notes

When say, love notes, I don’t mean the ones from your partner (though you could definitely do that!). For me, love notes are anything that someone has written to you (or you can print it out) that says something about you that makes you feel good. I have “love notes” from friends, family, coworkers, and random people that I’ve never actually met in person.

2. Favorite Quotes

Who wouldn’t love to write down their favorite quotes? These quotes can be from anything and everything…books, tv shows, your mom, your great uncle Ben. If it’s memorable and you love it…fill your notebook with it.

3. Book Reviews

If you’re an avid reader, you may want to keep reviews on the books that you’ve read. You could write things down like the genre of the book, similar authors, how the book made you feel, or any number of things. I actually have a specific journal for this that was given to me by a friend. If you’d like one of your own, you can purchase it here .

4. Write Down Your Dreams

I have pretty vivid dreams and most of the time I rarely write them down other than texting my partner about how weird they usually are. Many people believe that dreams are windows into your soul, your wants, and your fears. If you’d like to be more in tune with yourself and do some self-discovery , why not write down some of your dreams?

Are you a Buzzfeed fanatic and love your listical content? Try making some of your own! Here a couple of ideas: a list of your favorite songs, a list of your favorite flowers, or a list of your favorite food.

6. Sketchbook

If you’re even more creatively inclined, use one of those blank journals as a sketchbook. Try going to a park and sketching what you see or combine some of the ideas on this list and sketch out your thoughts instead of writing them.

7. Gratitude Journal

I love this notebook idea. I’m all about gratitude journaling and I’ve been doing it consistently for almost a year. Since I’ve been gratitude journaling, I’ve been realizing all of the small (and big) things that I’m happy to have in my life like my cat, space for a home office, and an abundance of empty journals.

8. Life Lessons

Along with my gratitude journaling, I also journal about what I have learned every day. These can range from the profound to silly facts that I didn’t know before. Each day can teach us something. I try to spread my learnings forward on my Instagram and on my monthly Gratitude and Lessons post.

8. Travel Plans or Ideas

If you’re an avid traveler or you aspire to be one, write down your travel plans or ideas in one of your notebooks. This isn’t something that I’ve done for a while, but sometimes I do write down some of the places that I’d like to visit.

9. Scrapbook

This is a cute thing to do with a notebook if you like to collect things. As I mentioned in the first idea on this list, I like to collect love notes and put them into my journal. In this same journal, (my heartsong journal), I also put in other things like ticket stubs, pictures, and even an old bracelet .

10. Creative Writing

Channel your inner writer and try a bit of creative writing. A lot of my creative writing (when I have the time for it), comes from dreams that I’ve had or prompts that I’ve found online.

11. Mental Health Tracker

Tracking your mental health can be incredibly helpful in finding the things that work for you. For example, you could track taking your medication, coping skills, and supportive people.

12. Bullet Journal

Bullet journaling is the newest trend in the journaling world. I haven’t personally tried this but many of my friends who have absolutely rave about it. To learn more about bullet journaling, you can grab the official Bullet Journal Method book. It will teach you absolutely everything you need to know to get started.

14. Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a visual way of organizing your thoughts. Think of it as a hierarchical list but more visual. I’ve only mind mapped a few times, mostly during graduate school, but it can be a helpful framework if you’re more visually included.

15. Old Fashioned Diary

This is how I first started with my blank journals all the way back in middle school. I would write down the things that happened during the day and how I felt about them. There was A LOT of boy drama. If you’ve never tried an old fashioned diary style of journaling, definitely try it! It can be fun to look back and see what was happening in your life.

16. Vision Journal

Vision boarding is pretty popular. I’m in the process of creating my own vision board. But, if you have a blank notebook, why not turn that into a vision journal? You could separate the journal into sections that represent areas of your life and get to vision boarding er–journaling. This is one of my favorite notebook ideas.

17. Habit Tracker

Tracking your habits can be super helpful if you’re trying to build out new habits and get rid of old ones such as drinking more water, stopping smoking, or exercising.

18. Affirmations

In addition to your vision boarding journal, you could add affirmations to each section of that vision journal.

19. Budget or Debt Tracker

Many people have changed their financial lives by using a good old paper and pen budget or debt tracker. If you’re trying to get your financial life right, try a budget or debt tracker for a few months and see how it goes (and let me know about it!).

20. Journaling Prompts

Journaling prompts are an awesome way of filling up an empty notebook. If you’re interested in journaling prompts about friendship , self-discovery , or some general journaling prompts , I’ve got a bunch for you!

21. Recipes

If you love cooking and making your own recipes, turn that blank notebook into your very own recipe book. This is would be a particularly cute idea to fill a notebook with if you give it as a gift to someone that you love.

22. Hobby Journal

A hobby journal would be a great idea for you if you’re someone who has a hobby that may require you to take a lot of notes. Some hobbies that come to mind with this are gardening, collecting, or birdwatching.

23. Mini Paintings

I’m not a painter, but my sister is. If you’re inspired to paint, but don’t have any canvas, try using a blank notebook instead. You could also try out these colorsheets – I’ve never tried them but they look amazing.

24. General Planner

If you don’t want to buy a new yearly planner, convert an old notebook into a planner. This could work well with the bullet journaling idea that I mentioned previously (idea #12).

25. Movie Reviews

Along with being a big fan of reading, I’m also a huge fan of movies. If you’re like me, take a shot at writing down your thoughts on movies that you’ve written. Maybe you’ll even come up with some fun theories! (If you have any Marvel theories definitely slide into my Instagram DMs).

26. Notetaking for Courses

Learning and writing things down go hand in hand for me. I have notebooks for all of the different courses, programs, and classes that I’m currently taking. Though, if courses are similar, I tend to group them into one notebook, like one notebook for all of my blogging courses.

27. Goal Setting

I’ve been tracking my goals in one of my many journals for all of 2019. I find it easier to do goal setting by the month and to focus on one goal at a time. When I complete the goal for the day, I check it off. At the end of the month, I write down what I’ve learned about myself and the goal (even if I didn’t complete it).

28. Meal Planning

Meal planning is definitely not my forte (maybe I should be journaling about it). However, for many people writing down meals and planning for them can be extremely helpful for budgeting, eating all the food that you currently have, and for your health.

Grab Your Free Journaling Prompts Printable

By signing up for my newsletter you’ll get access to my free resource library and even more content delivered to your inbox monthly!

Opt in to receive news and updates.

You have successfully joined my list! I’m so happy to have you! Click here to get your prompts and don’t forget to check your email for your resource library password! 

29. Spirituality Journal

If you’re wanting to delve deeper into your spirituality, try writing it out. If you’d like some prompts to help you in this area, check out this post for a bunch of journaling prompts for self-discovery , including spirituality.

30. Event Planning

One of the best ways to keep things organized is to write them done. If you’re planning a big event like a birthday party or wedding, try writing down all of the things that you need to remember in a dedicated journal.

So there you have it. 30 things to fill a notebook with. The possibilities are literally endless. You can mix and match multiple ideas into one notebook or if you’re an overachiever, have one notebook for every idea. Which idea is your favorite? Are you part of the empty notebook club? Let me know in the comments!

Briana Hollis is a licensed social worker and self-care coach. She earned her Master of Science in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University in 2014 and her Master of Education from Tiffin University in 2019. She has spent the last 5 years working in crisis intervention.  Her passion for serving others is the heart of this site. She started Learning To Be Free to assist others in bringing freedom to their lives.

Briana is also the author of The Self-Care Journal for Young Adults .

Ohhhh this is so me. I am the travel writer, planner and note taker. And just like you I can’t pass a nice notebook without it finding it’s way back home with me. And though I have plenty in the cupboard I am always happy to find the next pretty notebook which will be just right for x, y or Z. Great post, thank you for sharing.

I’ve been cleaning out my second bedroom and I’ve been finding so many. Still can’t pass up buying new ones though. We’ll have to start our own support group lol

What an incredibly thoughtful and well-rounded list of ideas!! Thank you so much for posting, this is so helpful!!

Thank you for reading!

These are great ideas! Lord knows I have plenty of empty or almost empty notebooks sitting around.

Thanks for reading!

I am seriously a notebook hoarder. I have dozens of them. I’m always on the lookout for special notebooks but then it’s usually months before I put anything in them because I want to make sure I use them for the perfect thing. No sense wasting a beautiful notebook on something that isn’t exactly right for it. I love these ideas! Definitely going to be using some of them 🙂 Great post!

HAHA very true! Thank you for reading!

I recently drafted a blog post on this, this just gave me some extra ideas. Thanks.

Glad I could help! 🙂

These are great tips! I buy journals all the time but alas they lay empty!

Omg the love notes one is such a good idea! Thank you so much!

Glad you enjoyed it!

I love all of these ideas! I find writing in a journal to be so therapuetic and I’m always looking for more ways to utilize all the journals I buy, (and, I buy A LOT, lol). Thanks for sharing 🙂

I love this idea! I think this is a great tool for self care and really essential to feeding your creativity. Thanks for sharing!

Glad you liked it! Thank you for reading!

Great post! It’s great to see another notebook hoarder. I have close to 20 plus unused notebooks. I do have 40 plus used ones those so I’m making progress. Great suggestions here. I will have to use some of these. A movie review notebook is a great idea too. I should really do that. Thanks!

This is a wonderful list of ideas! Thanks for sharing.

I love this list! I’m notorious for picking up notebooks all the time because I love the covers. But I hadn’t thought of half of these to use them up! Such great ideas – thank you for sharing!

Ha I do the same. I hoard notebooks and have like 50. Will I stop even when I don’t need them or give them away? Nope haha

I seem to accumulate journals from Networking Events so I rarely if ever, purchase one. #trafficjamweekend

I am like a magpie with journals, I love them! Some brilliant tips ❤

These are all great tips and I am definitely going to be sharing with others! #TrafficJamWeekend

I too am a sucker for a brand new notebook with blank pages just screaming for me to write on them. But then I don’t know what I should include. This post gives me some awesome ideas that I had not thought of. Thank you for sharing this on Traffic Jam Weekend, Briana! It is my fave feature for this week’s party going live on Thursday at 5:00 pm CST.

I confess – I’m an empty notebook hoarder. I am reforming in 2020. This list will be very helpful with my fresh start.

this is such a creative idea!

Amazing list. I feel like this can be utilized in so many ways. Thank you so much for sharing. Suddenly I feel inspired. Great blog!

I, too, am a journal hoarder! Wayyyy too many of the pages are blank and this lists gives me so many ideas to pick them back up. Thanks for the inspiration!

Brianna, this is quite the list. Lots of fabulous ideas. I love everything you write.

Comments are closed.

Do Not Sell My Personal Information - Disclosures - Disclaimers - Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy

40 Notebook Ideas: Things to Write in a Notebook

A blank book is never really blank. It’s filled with possibilities. If you’re like many people, chances are good that you are drawn to notebooks and journals. However, perhaps you’re not certain how you would use one.

Fortunately, there are countless ideas for using a notebook. Forty of them are listed here, but it is possible that you will find more.

When used regularly, a blank notebook can be a dependable tool for bringing more calm and order to your life. You may become more productive, and there is an excellent chance that you’ll experience more happiness along your journey.

Here are 40 things to write in a notebook.

1. time tracker.

Better time management may be the key to enhancing your productivity and happiness. However, it’s not easy to change your relationship with time until you understand how much of it you spend on certain projects and where you waste it.

This is one of those notebook ideas that could really change the way you live. Start writing down how much time it takes you to complete particular tasks. Simply glance at the clock when you start a project, then look again when it’s complete. Are you surprised by how much time it took? Are there ways that you could streamline the process so that it takes less time?

You might combine this idea with the use of a planner like the Clever Fox Planner. This makes it possible to get really specific about how much time you’re spending on different tasks and errands. You’ll gain a much more realistic sense of how much time it takes to complete certain things, leading to better time management and improved productivity.

2. Health Journal

Do you have a serious or chronic health condition that can affect your day-to-day life? If so, then this is one of the most important things to do with a notebook.

Not everyone has a chronic health condition, but for those who do, it can wreak havoc on their lives. Use a notebook to track symptoms, report how you are feeling and record what medications and treatments you’re using.

When you have a flare-up that interferes with your life, take a look back at your journal to see if you can find a possible trigger. Take copious notes when a medication or treatment helps you feel really great. That’s an experience you’ll want to look back on and repeat often.

3. Inspirational Quotes

Whenever you come across a quote that gives you hope or fills you with meaning and purpose, resolve to write it down. The next time you’re having a difficult day or are just struggling to get by, reach for your notebook. Chances are good that you will find the inspiration that you seek.

4. Five New Things

These things to write in a notebook are highly customizable. For instance, you don’t have to do five things. You could do three, 10, or any other number instead.

What’s important is that you record a certain number of new things each day. It could be things you learned, things you saw, things that made you smile, things you want to learn, or a combination of all of these things.

The magic of this process is that it makes you examine your day with far more detail than you ordinarily would. You’ll look at things that went right, and what went wrong, and perhaps even brainstorm some ways to ensure that you’ll do better tomorrow.

Essentially, this process puts you on a path toward continuous improvement and happiness.

5. Reading Diary

This is another one of those things to do with a paper notebook that has a great deal of range. You might keep a diary only of novels that you read or only of the self-help books that have been particularly meaningful to you. Alternatively, you could keep a journal of everything you read, including articles, memos, and letters.

Why might a reading diary be important? It enhances your engagement with the material you’re reading. You may analyze it more carefully when you know that you’re going to write about it later.

A reading diary also serves to improve your memory. Whenever you struggle to remember to which book a scene or character belonged, you’ll have the answer at your fingertips. You also can record favorite quotes or concepts that are particularly meaningful to you.

6. Food Diary

You are what you eat, and that’s why keeping a food diary is so necessary. The food you consume has a direct effect on how you feel and on your energy levels. Excess intake of fat, sugar and unnecessary calories may leave you feeling sluggish and depressed.

Eat a healthy meal, on the other hand, and notice the difference in your energy levels. Suddenly, your mind seems sharper and clearer. You feel like you could take on the world or at least clean out the garage.

Record everything you eat, every day, and devise a system of tracking how you feel each day. Something as simple as smiley faces and sad faces could work.

Soon, you’ll start to notice patterns emerging. This will help you avoid foods that aren’t helpful to you and focus on the ones that leave you feeling great. You also can track calories if you’re trying to lose weight.

7. Fitness Journal

If you work out and you’ve wondered what to use a notebook for, this could be your answer. Many people who exercise find that they have difficulty meeting goals or that no matter how much they work out, they never seem to make any progress.

The problem may be that they are not tracking their workouts adequately. Without tracking, it’s hard to manage goals or measure improvement.

For weight training, consider recording statistics such as:

• Workout day and time
• Exercises performed
• Weight used
• How many reps
• How many sets

Each week when the same exercises are repeated, you can go for heavier weights and more reps.

For a cardio journal, you would use similar statistics, but note the kind of workout you did and how long it lasted. Record your heart rate, distance covered, and calories burned. If you’re using equipment, keep notes regarding speed, incline, and resistance. This makes it easier to know what to strive for in your next workout.

8. Book of Lists

Here is another one of those notebook ideas that gives you plenty of latitudes. You can list absolutely anything you like. Your favorite movies, singers, authors, podcasts, and blogs could all make fascinating lists that may evolve over time. Other lists could include places you’d love to travel, books you’d like to read, or your career goals for the next five years. Be as creative as you like.

9. Gratitude Journal

Focusing on gratitude is a wonderful method for bringing more positivity and happiness into your life. Even on your darkest days, there are things for which you can be thankful.

Maybe you’re fighting with your spouse, but you can reflect on your good health. Perhaps your day at work was incredibly stressful. However, your gratitude journal can help you to focus on how grateful you are to have a roof over your head and food on the table.

Even on those ordinary days, it’s still helpful to consider everything you have to be grateful for. Family, friends, daffodils, Beethoven’s music, hummingbirds, a welcome rain shower, and almost anything else you can think of may be a source of gratitude.

10. Goals Notebook

Studies  have shown that writing down goals is one of the secrets to achieving them. It also may help to be as detailed as possible, and writing it out can really help you to get down to the smallest details to ensure that you have a plan for meeting your goal. Plus, writing down your goals may make it easier to track your progress toward each one.

When it comes to what to write in a notebook of your goals, it pays to be as specific as possible. Record the steps that you’ll have to take along your journey, and set parameters so that you can measure your progress. You’ll feel an amazing sense of accomplishment when you occasionally look back at the notebook to see how far you’ve come.

11. Blog Logbook

Many people have blogs today. Some write blogs just for the enjoyment of it while others do so in connection with their work. Regardless, it may be helpful to have a notebook in which you write about each blog that you post.

It’s also sensible to use your notebook to capture ideas for upcoming blogs. Brainstorm topics and write down possible references you can use to research the subject. You won’t have to worry about forgetting a great blog post idea when you have everything recorded in your notebook. You’ll also be much more organized when it comes time to actually write the post.

12. Recipe Book

The space on most recipe cards is quite limited, but recipes are wonderful things to write in a notebook. Each recipe can have a page or two devoted to it, and you’ll have plenty of space to make notes about helpful alterations to the recipe that you discover along the way.

With a notebook filled with your favorite recipes, you’ll never have to go hunting for a little three-by-five card again. If a family member is sharing a favorite recipe with you, ask them to make their own notations and suggestions. Your recipe notebook could become a family heirloom.

13. Doodle/Sketchbook

It turns out that doodling isn’t necessarily mindless or a waste of time. One  2009 study  suggests that the habit actually helps concentration.

Doodling in a sketchbook might also help you to be more creative  and find innovative solutions to problems. So rather than trying to train yourself not to doodle, make it a habit that you nurture instead.

14. Daily “To Do” Lists

This is another one of those things to do with a notebook that might be wise to use in conjunction with the Clever Fox Planner. If you’re already a list maker, then you know how satisfying it is to be able to cross items off the list as you accomplish them.

If you’re not a list maker, then it’s a good idea to give the process a try. A daily to-do list helps to keep you on track, ensuring that you don’t forget something important. Moreover, you’ll be less likely to miss deadlines, and you just might notice that you’re far more productive.

A to-do list can help to drive you toward your goals, especially when it’s specific and realistic. Soon, you’ll understand why people who make to-do lists are so addicted to the practice.

15. Unsent Letter Book

Do you ever have one of those days in which your emotions just get the better of you? On some of these days, you may be able to express yourself to someone else who may be contributing to your mood.

However, that kind of outlet isn’t always available. When you’re feeling overwhelmed by emotions, particularly negative ones, then you’ll know what to write in a notebook with your good writing pen . Pen a letter to the person who angered or disappointed you. Explain in detail what they did and how it made you feel.

The physical act of writing out your feelings, even if the letter never is sent, provides you with a necessary, healthy outlet so that you can let go of those negative emotions and get back to a more positive frame of mind.

16. Interior Design Planner

Whether you are redecorating a home or office, the prospect is both exciting and daunting. Where do you begin, and how do you corral all of the ideas swirling around in your head?

Use a notebook not only to jot down your ideas but also to organize fabric swatches and paint samples. When you find an inspiring picture in a magazine, add it to your notebook. This is an excellent method for mixing and matching all of your ideas, which leads to less stress, better organization, and a more cohesive design in whatever space you’re renovating.

17. Supplies Inventory

You don’t need specialized software to keep track of items you have on hand. In fact, if you’re a hobbyist, then getting the software to manage your supplies may be overkill.

Use a simple notebook instead. Write down which paints or embroidery flosses you have stashed away or maintain a working inventory of the screws, nuts, and bolts that are in your supply. Better yet, make a note concerning where each of these items is stored.

Hobbies are meant to be fun and relaxing, but when your supplies are jumbled and disorganized and you don’t have an inventory list to manage them, hobbies stop being fun and start being work. Use your notebook to track your inventory to enhance your enjoyment.

18. Project Tracker

Have you ever felt as if you were utterly lost in the midst of a major project? Maybe it’s because you weren’t tracking your progress.

You can design this notebook any way you, please. Give the project a name, and make a list of all the steps you need to accomplish. Designate at least one notebook page to each of these steps. On those pages, write down questions, resources, and information that will help you finish that particular step. Make your notes comprehensive so that if you have to drop your project for a while, you’ll know exactly where you left it.

You won’t believe how much more productive a project-tracking notebook will make you.

19. Menu Planner

Questions regarding what’s for dinner have plagued families for decades. Everyone is so busy. Is there really time to enjoy home-cooked meals?

A menu planner can be a lifesaver. That’s especially true when you’re trying to eat healthier or save money by not dining out as often. A little bit of planning each week can save you time and money as well as help you to lose weight.

Once a week, sit down with your notebook and plan the meals for the next seven days. Use this plan to make your grocery list, meaning you only have to make once-a-week shopping trips. You’ll never have to wonder what’s for dinner, lunch, or breakfast, again.

20. Books to Read List

When it comes to what to use a notebook for, this one is pretty flexible. In addition to books, you could add television shows and movies you’d like to see and websites you’d like to visit. This notebook will make it so much easier for you to decide what to read or watch next.

21. Garden Planner

Consider using a notebook with gridlines for this one. The grid lines make it easy to sketch a map of your flower beds so that you can record what’s planted. No more trying to remember which plant was put in a particular spot. At a glance, you can find information concerning how much water and sunlight the plant needs.

You can also make notes in your gardening planner regarding whether or not your plants are thriving and keep track of various fertilizers and other products you may be using.

22. Diary of Dreams

This diary can have a two-fold purpose. First, it can be fascinating to write down the dreams you have when you’re asleep. Try to do this immediately upon awakening, when your dream is still fresh in your mind. It’s interesting to see if your dreams have any recurring themes.

Second, use this diary as a place to record your waking dreams. In other words, write down the things you’d love to do with your life and brainstorm ways to get there. Let your thoughts roam with this one. You might be surprised at the results.

23. Lists of 100

This is an excellent exercise for whenever you have a problem or want to do some serious brainstorming. The topic could be almost anything: 100 Ways to Nurture Me, 100 Ways to Reduce Stress, or 100 Ways to Resolve Conflicts.

In the beginning, this sounds overwhelming. Is it even possible to come up with 100 ways to solve a certain problem? It may be hard to get started but stick with it. Eventually, your subconscious mind takes over, and you’ll be stunned by some of the things this exercise can reveal.

24. Meditation Journal

Many people are taking up meditation as a means to decrease stress, increase focus and enjoy greater peace of mind. Meaningful meditation takes regular practice, and keeping a journal of this process can be incredibly valuable.

Examining each meditation experience helps you to see where your practice is working and where you may need to improve your focus. Over time, you’ll see just how far you’ve come and how much your experience of meditation has changed.

25. Mindfulness Diary

If you’re looking for greater calmness and clarity in your day, then mindfulness practice can be of tremendous help. You can track your journey toward better moment-by-moment awareness by using a mindfulness diary.

Writing in such a journal not only helps you express your feelings and clear your mind but also supports a more mindful lifestyle. You could write about three mindful moments that you experienced during the day or reflect on the events of the day and how mindfulness techniques enriched your experiences.

26. Events of the Day

It can be incredibly useful to keep track of what happens each day. Recording the minutiae of the day over time reveals interesting patterns. It also shows that life is often more momentous than is realized at the moment.

Feel free to include anything you like. What you ate, the people you spoke with, the projects you worked on, and more can all provide insight down the line. This notebook affords you an excellent snapshot of your everyday life.

27. Special Event Planner

Weddings, parties, and holidays frequently require a great deal of planning. You may have to coordinate with family and friends, not to mention service providers and vendors. Keeping track of it all and not forgetting any of the details can be a nightmare.

If you’re looking for things to write in a notebook or goal planner, try recording everything you can think of to plan that special event. Use lists, timelines, brainstorming, and more to keep yourself coordinated and sane.

28. Daily Scrapbook

This is a fun notebook idea because it combines writing with photographs and memorabilia. Scrapbooking has been popular for years, but you don’t have to be particularly creative or spend a fortune to enjoy it.

A simple lined notebook and some imagination are all you need. Write entries about anything you like. Birthday parties, trips, a museum visit or that plant that finally bloomed. Affix photos and ephemera, like ticket stubs, to the appropriate page. It makes a fun record of the moment.

29. Habit-Building Journal

Building a good habit requires time and persistence. You can track your progress in a notebook. It can be as simple as making a notation to indicate every time you “practice” your habit.

For instance, if you want to start drinking a gallon of water a day, you could start recording your water intake. For extra fun, write a few notes about how you feel now that you’re drinking more water. This will help to reinforce the memory of why you started the habit in the first place.

30. Bullet Journal

If you feel like you’re constantly disorganized and struggling to keep up, then bullet journaling may be the solution for you. Bullet journaling is a revolutionary technique that helps you plan your days, weeks, and months with ease. It’s really flexible, so you can always tailor it to meet your needs. In addition to helping you plan and get things done, you may find that you’re leading a fuller and more meaningful life because you’re living with intention.

31. Affirmations Log

Many people are plagued by negative thoughts, but an affirmations log can change that. You may use affirmations when you meditate or whenever you notice that you’re engaging in negative self-talk. Writing down your favorite affirmations may trigger some healthy reflection and serve as a useful prompt when you’re choosing an affirmation for the day.

32. Short Stories

Short story writing is a wonderful way to express yourself and let your creative energies flow. As your imagination takes flight, you’ll be surprised by how many ideas you have. Keep honing your skills as a writer, and then submit one of your stories for a contest or publication.

33. Bucket List Planner

The idea of a bucket list is a worthy one. Yours can contain all of your aspirations, both large and small. “Learn to crochet” can be next to “travel to Tibet” or “start a business.” Keep adding to your list as the years go by, and have a celebration every time you can cross one of those items off of your list.

34. Financial Goals Tracker

Financial goals are every bit as important to your overall success as your professional aspirations. However, if you aren’t planning for things like buying a house, starting a company or retiring before 50, you can’t realistically expect to achieve your goal.

Use a notebook to record your short- and long-term financial goals. Go into detail about how to reach that aim, and then track your progress along the journey.

35. Hobby Diary

Hobbies can be a gratifying way to spend free time. Sometimes, they turn into full-time jobs or side gigs while other times they simply remain a rewarding pastime. Keep a notebook with you while you enjoy your hobby. Making notes about the products you used and techniques you tried can be helpful down the line when you’re trying to remember what worked and what didn’t.

36. Travel Scrapbook

Anyone who loves to travel will appreciate this idea. Take a notebook with you on your travels whether it is a day trip or a three-week odyssey. Journal about all of your experiences, and don’t forget to include ticket stubs, pictures, and other items that add color and texture to your recollections.

37. A Happy List

It can be rewarding simply to reflect on the things that make you happy. It could be something small like a baby’s smile or a major event like a friend’s wedding. Perhaps the mere fact that the sun finally came out after days of rain is enough to put a smile on your face. Take a few moments to list all of the things that make you happy. It’s fascinating to see how this list evolves and grows over time.

38. Five Senses Journal

It’s easy to feel out of touch with the world around you, especially when you’re exceptionally busy. Keeping a journal of the five senses is a wonderful way for you to really notice more of the things that make life enjoyable. Every day, spend a few moments listing things that you saw, heard, tasted, smelled or felt. This will have a positive impact as you go through the day looking for something to appreciate.

39. Morning Pages

Start each day by writing three pages of whatever is on your mind. Your writing may be contradictory and make little sense, but it can also help to organize and clarify your thoughts. You may find that you are set up for a more productive and rewarding day just by tapping into your subconscious before the day really begins.

40. A Curiosity Journal

The world is a big place, and it’s impossible to know everything about it. Whenever you encounter a word, concept or situation that is unfamiliar, jot down some notes. Later, you can research to learn more about the subject. Leave space in each journal entry to record the answers you find.

Related Posts

How to Erase Highlighter

How to Set Up a Planner for College Students

How to Revive Markers

45+ Super Creative Empty Notebook Ideas to Fill Up Your Journal

Last Updated on December 1, 2023

Do you have a ton of half-filled or empty notebooks lying around? 🙋‍♀️I think we can all relate to buying a journal or notebook, being super into it for several pages, and then letting it sit unused. 

But why do that when there are SO many creative ways to fill up an empty notebook and make the most of it?! These empty notebook ideas have got you covered. From self care journaling, to fun lists, to keeping track of good memories, there’s so much you can do to make sure a notebook never goes empty again!

Table of Contents

The habit of hoarding empty notebooks is so real.

First of all, let me just say that hoarding empty and half-filled notebooks can be a real problem! I could probably bet money that you have at least one abandoned notebook sitting around in your house somewhere. And I can’t say you’re alone in that.

But you’re in luck, because there a ton of cute and creative empty notebook ideas out there just waiting to be explored! Say you bought a new notebook (and oh how exciting it always is!) and planned to dedicate it to something in particular, but you’ve fallen off the wagon.

Well, who’s stopping you from taking that empty notebook in a new direction?! There are no rules here. If you bought a journal with the intention of dedicating it to a manifestation journal but now you’ve grown bored with that idea and want to turn it into an art journal, go for it!

Or maybe you love making lists. Maybe you love scrapbooking. The sky is the limit, and this post features a tonnnn of empty notebook ideas for you to fill up all those extra pages.

What to do with empty notebooks?

45+ Things To Do With Empty Notebooks

Creative things to do in a journal.

Looking to get into the creative spirit?! Awesome! These empty notebook ideas will spark your creativity and get you inspired to explore the fun side of journaling for pure leisure and enjoyment!

1. Creative writing journal

Starting off these empty notebook ideas is keeping a creative writing journal! This is perfect for short stories or brainstorming for writing a book! If you enjoy fiction and have all sorts of ideas for interesting stories, you should definitely write them down.

2. Bullet journal

Bullet journaling is super creative! You can create so many different spreads for planners, lists, memories, and more. Bullet journaling is meant to be very visual, so it’s the perfect opportunity to whip out the markers, highlighters, and washi tape!

3. Vision boards

When you think of a vision board, you might think of a wall collage. But you can also turn a vision board into something to fill up empty notebook pages! You can put together a collage of smaller, polaroid size pictures that represent your dreams, goals, or happy things you love. I have a whole post on vision board ideas if you want inspiration!

4. Inspirational quotes

Inspirational quotes keep us motivated, positive, and uplifted! Keeping a collection of your favorite quotes to refer back to can be so good for your mindset. 

5. Collection journal

Do you enjoy collecting stamps, stickers, or polaroid photos? You can keep them all in one place to look back on in your journal!

6. Scrapbook

Similar to the collection journal idea, you can also turn an empty notebook into a scrapbook for keeping memories through photos. I have a “guinea pig family scrapbook” for photos of my pet guinea pigs throughout the years! So you can always dedicate a scrapbook to anything you want 😊

On Customsticker.com, you can custom cut die-cut stickers , holographic stickers, clear stickers, and other products for decorating empty notebooks and making scrapbooks look fantastic.

7. Art journal

Art journals are great to dedicate to fun doodles, sketches, or anything artsy and creative. I used to always practice hand lettering with brush pens in a journal!

8. Gardening journal

Into gardening or want to take it up as a fun hobby? Why not keep a journal about all the things you want to plant?! You can keep ideas, gardening method notes, or anything relating to gardening.

Empty Notebook Ideas for Self Care

Self care is a non-negotiable. Make sure you’re prioritizing time to nurture yourself with these empty notebook ideas for self care. Release your emotions, get to know your feelings, and track your mental health progress!

9. Mental Health Journal

Journaling for the purpose of checking in on your mental health is so important. Of all the empty notebook ideas, this is most crucial. I’m always proactive in managing my mental health and journaling is hands down the best coping strategy for myself and many others. 

If you wish you had guided mental health journal prompts conveniently bundled just for you, you’ve got to check out my printable mental health journal !

It’s jam-packed with 33 pages of writing prompts and mental activities for understanding your emotions, overcoming unhelpful behaviors, and reframing negative thoughts. Perfect for understanding things like anxiety and depression!

10. Brain dumping

Brain dumping is the practice of letting your thoughts flow right onto paper without any prompts. Brain dumping is probably the easiest way to incorporate self care into your journal because you just write what comes to mind!

11. Self care journal

A self care journal can be used to journal about your self care journey or plan out your self care activities. Check in on where you’re at mentally or plan for how you’ll get in one small self care activity each day! If you need self care activity ideas each day, check out my 30 Day Mental Wellness Challenge .

12. Spiritual journaling

Want to focus on spiritual growth? Journal about your spiritual thoughts, prayers, practices, or anything else that applies to your spirituality. 

13. Morning/evening check in

I’m a huge fan of quick 5-minute morning and evening self care check ins! These are perfect for when you don’t have a lot of time or energy to spare, but you still want to stay on top of your mental health.

You can grab my (free!) daily self care check in sheet below for this! It helps you reflect on how you feel each morning and night and how your day went.

Psst…make self care quick and easy by downloading my (free!) printable daily self care check in! Grab it to start adding a little self reflection into your morning + night routines.

You will receive your daily self care check in shortly.

14. Daily diary

For a longer daily check-in, try filling up one page each day about how things are going. Did you do anything fun? Have some thoughts on your mind? Worried about something coming up this week? Write it down in a daily diary entry!

15. Unsent letters

Unsent letters are useful for the tough feelings we may face in our interpersonal relationships. The idea is that you write out all your thoughts and feelings as if you’re addressing it to someone specific in your life, but you don’t actually send it to them.

This can help organize your thoughts for later if you plan to confront the person, or you can just keep these thoughts to yourself.

16. Gratitude Journal

Expressing gratitude may help you feel increased positivity and a general mood boost. I love using a gratitude journal to reflect on all the good in my life, and it has genuinely changed my mindset for the better!

Want gratitude journal prompts conveniently bundled just for you? My printable gratitude journal has everything you need to practice gratitude each day and develop life-changing positive habits!

Includes 12 pages to break down your gratitude practice each morning and evening, as well as weekly and monthly. Jam-packed with thought-provoking gratitude journal prompts and activities to keep you focused and on track!

17. Meditation journal

A slightly different approach to these empty notebook ideas is a meditation journal. If you meditate, you can record how each meditation goes. Did your mind wander a lot? What techniques helped you stay present and grounded? Reflecting on your ability to feel calm and at ease during meditation is great to keep track of!

18. Manifestation journal

I keep a manifestation journal myself and I love it! This is where you can practice manifesting something you’d like to achieve by envisioning it down to the specifics. This really helps me believe in myself and my goals. I have a guide on how to manifest something through writing !

19. Journaling prompts

Don’t even get me started on journal prompts because this blog is ALL about them! I’m a little biased, but this is easily my favorite of the empty notebook ideas. Here are some journaling prompts to get you started:

• 70 Easy and Fun Journal Prompts for Beginners

52 Journal Prompts for Self Love to Empower Yourself

40 Trauma Healing Journal Prompts

60 Journal Prompts for Self Care When You’re Struggling

20. Affirmations

Writing positive affirmations that resonate with you is another way to improve your mindset by swapping negative self talk for positive self talk.

I have a deck of 40 printable affirmation cards made for journaling! You can paste them into a journal for a powerful visual reminder or even use them as journal prompts to reflect on how they make you feel.

Empty Notebook Ideas When You’re Bored

Hey, maybe you’re just bored and wanna do something you’ve never done before in your journal! You’re in luck, because these empty notebook ideas are the best boredom busters.

21. Record your dreams

Recording your dreams dream-journal-style is a great empty notebook idea! Noticing patterns in recurring dreams might even give you a clue to something you’re dealing with that’s going overlooked.

22. Books to read

I’m always seeing books I want to read but I forget to keep a note of them! This is why it’s not a bad idea to keep a list of books you want to read so you’ll always head into Barnes and Noble prepared. 

23. Memory journal

Keeping track of good memories is so important! It seems like we always forget the little details after too much time has passed, so it really pays off to record memories you make while they’re fresh in your mind.

24. Life lessons

Have an amazing epiphany where you realized something important? Write it down! This is another great way to track your self growth too.

25. Travel ideas and itineraries

I never know where I’m going to travel next because there are just simply so many places I want to go! This is why it’s good to write down all the places you want to travel, along with the specific restaurants and activities in each place. 

26. Restaurants/activities/things to do in your city

I moved to central Illinois in 2020 and while I think that I’ve covered all the ground in the last 2 years of living here, I kinda haven’t! There are still so many cool local restaurants and coffee shops I’ve yet to check out, but I always seem to stick to the same 3 places. Keeping a list of where I want to try would really help me explore more!

27. Bucket lists

You’re never too old to have a bucket list. Whether it’s a summer bucket list , or just a general bucket list of all the things you want to do before you die, it’s great to have things to look forward to!

28. Recipes to try

I know some people are more adventurous than others in the kitchen, but I LOVE finding new recipes! Any time you’re craving something, write it down and find a recipe for how to make it!

29. Hobbies to try

We ALL need hobbies. If your life is all work and no play, you’ll feel burnt out in no time. It’s never too late to pick up a new hobby, so go check out my list of 100 fun and interesting hobby ideas in your 20s !

30. Funny phrases/inside jokes

Ever since middle school, I’ve always kept various notes of funny inside jokes between my friends and I! This is a fabulous way to keep memories and cheer yourself up. 

31. Food journal

If you have a particular health goal in mind, keeping a food journal is a good way to stay on track and assess your eating habits. 

32. Nature journal

Next time you go on a nature walk or explore a new area, take note of what’s around and write it down! I love paying attention to different birds, cute little animals, flowers, and plants. 

33. Astrology journal

If you’re into astrology, you can take notes of zodiac sign traits, zodiac sign compatibility, horoscopes, birth charts, or anything that interests you!

34. Gift ideas

This idea is simply GENIUS. Don’t you hate it when Christmas rolls around and you have no idea what to get your friends and family?! If you keep tabs all year long about the things they like, it makes holidays a thousand times easier.

Empty Notebook Ideas for Organization and Productivity

Time to get your life in check! If you could use a little more organization in your work or personal life, these empty notebook ideas for organization and productivity have you covered. Stay on top of good habits and plan out the best goals!

35. Goal setting

Writing down goals is important, but don’t stop there. You want to make sure you’re writing down both your goals and the habits necessary to achieve those goals. This is probably the most beneficial of these empty notebook ideas!

To do goal setting right, you need a game plan. I have a printable goal planner that will help you map out your goals AND habits in detail so you can achieve anything you set your mind to for work, school, or your personal life!

Use lists for anything under the sun! Books to read, movies to watch, your grocery list…just all the lists!

37. Habit tracking

Habit tracking is the perfect way to keep yourself accountable. My printable goal planner offers habit tracking pages for staying on track toward any goal. I’ve found that habit tracking makes it much less likely for me to fall off the wagon!

38. Budget tracking

Take charge of your finances by taking a deep look at your spending habits. There’s likely room for improvement somewhere in there, and seeing your budget laid out in front of you can really help!

This video shows you 10 different ideas for financial trackers you can create in a bullet journal!

39. Small business/side hustle journal

Have a small business or side hustle? Want to start one up? You can jot down business ideas or keep track of business stats.

40. Social media journal

Many businesses use social media in their marketing strategy, so keeping track of social media post ideas and stats is smart!

41. Event planning

Have a birthday, wedding, or big event coming up? Planning out everything you need for it on paper is useful!

42. Fitness journal

Write down fitness goals, workout ideas, or your workout schedule.

43. Study notes

If you’re a student, you probably already have dedicated notebooks for note-taking, but study notes can apply to things outside of school too. When I’m reading a nonfiction book or short course, I like to take notes on what I’m learning.

44. Master to-do list

You might already keep a daily to-do list, but having a master to-do list of all the things you need to get around to in the next couple months is so helpful. My master to-do list consists of health appointments I need to make, fun projects I want to take on, and clothes I need to buy for certain occasions. 

45. Project journal

If you’re working on a project, whether it be for work or your personal life, you can map out the individual steps and supplies you may need.

46. DIY Projects

Keeping a list of the DIY projects you want to do and the supplies needed for them is also a big help! 

How to Use an Empty Notebook Effectively

There’s a couple different routes you can go when deciding on the empty notebook ideas you want to use.

You can either go the artsy route or the productive route . Or a mix of the two!

Using an empty notebook for cute artsy things might look like:

• Creative writing
• Bullet journaling
• Scrapbooking
• Vision boards
• Dream journaling

And using an empty notebook for productive things might look like:

• Improving your self care
• Exploring your mental health
• Work or business planning
• Habit tracking
• Budget tracking

To name a few! Those are some areas to consider when thinking about what you want to achieve with an empty notebook. Do you just want to use your journal in a leisurely, artistic way? Or do you want to improve yourself in some way?

Final Thoughts on Empty Notebook Ideas

Were you feeling stumped on how to fill up those extra notebooks you have lying around? Hopefully not anymore! These empty notebook ideas are here to fuel your creativity and inspiration. There are endless possibilities for sprinkling a little more excitement into your journals.

It’s pretty common to run into the dilemma of “what do I write about?!” when sitting in front of a journal. But now you have a tonnnn of creative ideas for filling up those empty notebooks! So get to it and tell me what you decide to write in your notebook the next time creativity strikes!

Let me know in the comments:

What do you write in your notebook when you’re bored?

More empty notebook ideas:.

35 Easy and Fun Journal Prompts for Beginners

LIKE THESE EMPTY NOTEBOOK IDEAS? PIN THEM FOR LATER!

Founder & Content Strategist

Hey there! I'm Alexa, and I'm a self-care enthusiast and mental health advocate. At Ambitiously Alexa, I'm here to support women like you who are on a mission to achieve allll the things they're passionate about and make time for self care. I make this balance possible through journal prompts, positive affirmations, and self care ideas you'll love! Here's more about me, including my B.A in Psychology...

Similar Posts

101 Self Reflection Questions You Need to Be Asking Yourself

This post contains affiliate links and I may receive a small commission (at no extra cost to you) if you sign up or purchase products or services mentioned. Read the…

70 Journal Prompts for All Your Relationships

47 Heartfelt Valentine’s Day Journal Prompts

Last Updated on February 6, 2024 With so many Valentine’s Day journal prompts out there for kids (via Google search, anyway!), I’m filling that gap once again with these Valentine’s…

Gifts for Female Business Owners: 38 Ideas She’ll Love

60 Funny Positive Affirmations to Make You Laugh

Last Updated on January 29, 2023 We could all use a little more laughter in our lives. With our day-to-day routines being so focused and serious all the time, it’s…

31 December Affirmations to Lift Your Holiday Spirits

Leave a reply cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

One Comment

Hello Alexa! My father left a little black book of his travels it is fading because it’s pencil. I have horrible penmanship, so I’d like to transcribe his words or another program & my ? Is how would the cut word doc & glue it to new journal. I’ve ordered small leather refillable Journals refill with Blank pages. Do you have any ideas? Thank you so very much & kindest regards

Copy short link

• Skip to right header navigation
• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content
• Skip to primary sidebar

Life Coaching

• Privacy Policy & Disclaimer
• Affiliate Disclosure
• Intentional Living
• Mindfulness
• Goal Setting
• Time Management
• Bullet Journal
• Decluttering
• Autumn / Fall
• Boost Your Happiness
• Get Organised
• Feel Accomplished

31 Lists to Write to Feel Calm, Organised & Accomplished

November 15

Do you love lists as much as I do?

Lists have a wonderful way of bringing a sense of order to our lives – of making life seem that little bit easier, and more under control.

When we regularly write things down we begin to feel calmer, more in control and more accomplished. And one of the quickest and easiest ways to write things down is as a list.

The joy of lists

Lists are both:

• a great way of getting things out of our head; and
• a great reference tool – something to refer back to later to help us find ideas and information, and to help us make decisions.

We can use lists for practical things such as important dates and tasks that need to get done, as well as for fun ideas, goals and plans.

Not only is making a list is a great way to bring order to the swirling mass of thoughts in our heads, having a list to refer to later makes everything easier and more efficient – from packing for our next trip away, to shopping for gifts.

Lists help us:

• Organise and prioritise our tasks
• Save time (we can easily refer back to the information we need)
• Capture happy memories
• Dream about and plan for the future (having something to look forward to is a great happiness booster)

And of course one of the very best things about lists is the double feeling of accomplishment that comes from, firstly writing a list, and then marking things off when the items on the list are completed!

Where to keep your lists

It doesn’t really matter where you keep your lists, as long as you know where they are so you can refer to them when you need to.

You can keep them in your bullet journal, planner, notebook, or favourite list-keeping app on your phone or computer. Or in the case of wish lists, on a piece of paper or printable that you can give to someone.

I’m a big fan of writing by hand so I keep most of my lists in my bullet journal. However, I do also keep many of my work-related lists on my computer using both  Trello and Airtable.

I also use the app AnyList  for our household grocery list and general shopping list. I love how AnyList makes it easy to create shareable lists. So, when my husband is at the store shopping for groceries, and I realise I forgot to add milk, I can add it and it updates on his list in real-time.

Take a look at these 31 ideas for lists to make your life easier, more efficient and more fun!

Friends & family lists, 1. gift ideas.

Keeping a running list of gift ideas throughout the year will make shopping for the holidays, birthdays and anniversaries so much easier.

2. Cards to send

Keep track of who to send cards to each year, and when they are sent.

3. Celebration menu ideas

List your traditional holiday or celebration favourites, as well as anything new you’d like to try.

4. Holiday activity ideas

Which movies would you like to watch? Or cookies would you like to bake?

5. Date-night ideas

Keep a list of ideas for nights out, restaurants or cafes to try, places to visit, meals to cook, movies to see etc.

Down-time Lists

6. books to read.

Make a note of recommendations you get and next time you’re at the airport or bookstore staring blankly at the shelves, you’ll know what to pick!

7. Movies/series to watch

Keep track of movies and tv series that appeal to you and you can stop the endless scrolling through the channels or Netflix in search of something to watch.

8. Podcasts to listen to

Write down the names of podcasts that sound interesting so you have something new to listen to when your current favourite finishes.

9. Places to visit

Be a tourist in your home town. What attractions would you like to visit, or activities would you like to try?

10. Rainy Day / Bad Weather Activities

For those days when you feel stuck indoors, keep a list of activities you can do, or places you can go to escape the weather.

11. New hobbies to try

List new hobbies you’d like to try someday. They could be something creative, something sporty, or something musical for example.

Household Lists

12. groceries to buy.

Keep a list of what you are out of, or what you need to buy when you are next at the grocery store.

13. Go-to meals

Make meal planning easier by keeping a list of go-to recipes that you know your family will eat and are easy to prepare.

14. New recipes to try

For when you’re in the mood to try cooking something different.

15. Favourite wine/ beer

When you enjoy a glass of great new wine or beer, add it to a list so next time you want to buy it you’ll remember what it is.

Keep a list of regular chores that need to be completed, as well as one-off household projects that need to get done.

17. Important phone numbers

Create a list of important numbers for the housesitter, babysitter, or petsitter to access easily.

Feel-good Lists

18. gratitude list.

Writing a list of things you are grateful for is a sure-fire way to boost your happiness .

19. Gift Wish list

Keep a wish list for those times when people ask you what you’d like for your birthday, Christmas, or other special occasions.

As Christmas approaches, the tradition in our family is to each create a wish-list of “something I want, something I need, something to wear and something to read.”  

This helps everyone out with their holiday shopping, especially Santa!

I’ve bundled my Christmas Wish List with 3 other helpful Christmas lists (a Christmas Card List, a Christmas To-Do List, and a Christmas Gift Ideas List) over at my store on Etsy .

20. Bucket list

Create an ultimate bucket list of things you want to do, or create one by season or year.

Not only will a bucket list give you something to look forward to, but it will also give you a way to look back, relive good memories and reflect on what you’ve done. All of which are great happiness boosters!

21. Favourite songs

Write a list, or create a playlist in Spotify or another music app.

22. Favourite movies

When you have a list of favourite movies, you’ll always find something to watch.

23. Favourite jokes

Is it just me who can never remember good jokes? Write down the ones that make you laugh so you can remember them later.

24. Self-care activities

Keep a list of your favourite self-care activities , as well as new activities to try. 

Travel & Vacation Lists

25. packing list.

Create a master list of “always pack”, as well as supplemental lists for different types of trips.

You could have a separate supplemental packing list for beach vacations, one for city-breaks, one for ski trips etc.

26. Countries, cities or towns to visit

Keep track of all the places in the world that you’d like to visit.

27. Activities to do

Outdoor activities you’d like to try such as rock climbing, or galleries, museums or other attractions you’d like to visit.

Productivity Lists

28. to-do list.

Create a master list to capture everything, as well as separate monthly, weekly and daily to-dos.

39. Ta-da list

I love this idea which I heard on episode 134 of the Happier with Gretchin Rubin podcast . A ta-da list, where you write down what you have done (ta-da!) will help you to feel positive and energised by your achievements. 

30. Goals 

You can create lists of both short-term and long-term goals. When you write down your goals you’ll be much more likely to achieve them.

Keep a list of habits you are currently tracking, or new habits you would like to develop.

So there you have it. 31 examples of lists you can create to help you feel calmer, more organized and more accomplished.

Use lists to capture those things you want to remember, take note of happy moments from today and make fun plans for the future.

Want to feel calmer, more organized and more accomplished?

Write a to-do list each day and schedule your tasks and to-dos to a specific time.

You’ll start your day with a clear view and a positive mindset of what can be accomplished in the time you have available to you.

Pin for later:

6 Simple Tips to Get Your Good Habits Back on Track

Holistic Time Management: What It Is & How to Do It

How to Make Time Blocking Work For You

How a Little Pause Can Have a Big Impact

What Does Being Productive Really Mean?

Move from Dreaming to Doing & Fulfil Your Goals

Simple Ways to Deal with Distractions

10 Habits of Highly Organised People

25 Quotes to Inspire you to Focus, Take Action & Get Things Done

How to Make More Time {for the Important Things}

Bullet Journal FAQs for Beginners

Why Being Organised is a Form of Self-Care

Reader Interactions

December 21 at 3:00 pm

Great post as I love to make lists. Lol. Some of these I hadn’t thought of.

December 27 at 8:52 am

Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed it 🙂

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed .

Love & Marriage: D.C.

This week on D.C. , Joi, Clifton and Carmen scout a location for Clifton's beard launch, and Joi makes a revelation.

Ready to love: fort worth.

Don't miss the dramatic season finale of Ready to Love: Fort Worth !

The never ever mets.

New Series Alert! The Never Ever Mets Premieres Friday, April 19, at 8/7c!

Friday April 19 8/7 c

Shift Your Life

3 Steps to Emotional Freedom

OWN Your Health

March Is Endometriosis Awareness Month. Visit OWN Your Health to learn more about this chronic reproductive condition.

Essence black women in hollywood awards.

The 17th Annual ESSENCE Black Women in Hollywood Awards: Watch Now

5 Agonizing Financial Decisions Almost Everyone Faces

Inspiration.

10 History-Making Oscar Speeches from Black Actresses

Oprah's book club.

All About Oprah's 104th Book Club Pick: The Many Lives of Mama Love

Oprah's super soul.

Inside the Extraordinary Success Story of Jamie Kern Lima: New on Oprah's Super Soul Podcast

Own newsletters.

Sign up to receive free OWN newsletters today!

On gratitude.

Are you ready to OWN Your Health in 2024?

On potential.

10 Questions That Could Change Your Life

5 Tiny Spaces That Give Us Serious Decorating Inspiration

On happiness.

Fashion and Beauty

The Most Flattering Neckline for Your Body Type

The Hair Tales

A Time When Oprah Thought She Wasn't Pretty Enough

On self-care.

The 3 Types Of Negative Comments That Chloe Bailey Hates

On confidence.

20/20 on OWN

Til Death Do Us Part

Husbands and Murderers

Designing Women

Deadline: Crime with Tamron Hall

Witness to Murder

If I Can't Have You

Taunting Evil

Love It or List It

Daily Squeeze

A Family Affair

Lakeside Bungalow

Deadly Business

Gone in the Night

A Deadly Anniversary

Ready to Love

Fort Worth Reunion: Part 1

Family Ties

2's Company, 3's a Throuple

Reburying the Hatchet

Books, Beards and Breakthroughs

Femme Fatales

Love, Interrupted

The Courage to Survive

Select your country

• Pacific Time
• Central Time
• Eastern Time
• Mountain Time

OWN Spotlight

See Oprah in conversation with incredible thought leaders.

Watch your favorite OWN dramas.

Time of essence.

Stay up-to-date on the latest OWN docuseries.

Recommended.

A safe space for Black women to explore their health and take proactive approaches to their wellness.

Love & Marriage: Huntsville

Three high-powered African-American couples mix business with pleasure when they come together to revitalize the thriving city of Huntsville, Alabama.

OWN Podcasts

Listen and subscribe to your favorite podcasts from OWN.

Newsletters

Stay in the know! Sign up for any of OWN's free e-mail newsletters today.

WATCH OWN APP

Download the Watch OWN app and access OWN anytime, anywhere. Watch full episodes and live stream OWN whenever and wherever you want. The Watch OWN app is free and available to you as part of your OWN subscription through a participating TV provider.

NEWSLETTERS

SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTERS TODAY AND ENJOY THE BENEFITS.

• Stay up to date with the latest trends that matter to you most.
• Have top-notch advice and tips delivered directly to you.
• Be in the know on current and upcoming trends.

OPRAH IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF HARPO, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2024 HARPO PRODUCTIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. OWN: OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK

The Science Behind Writing Things Down (+ How To Use It To Your Benefit)

What are your biggest goals right now?

Are they just swimming in your head without a place to land?

Tell those goals it’s time to relocate to a place outside of your head. It will be best for everyone involved.

Where are they going to go?

On whatever piece of paper, you can find!

Putting Pen to Paper

In all seriousness, it’s totally fine (awesome even) to be dreaming and scheming, with different ideas running through your mind. But at a certain point, you have to take action.

One of the first action steps you can take is to put pen to paper and write down what it is you want to dream into reality.

Just ask your friendly local Neuropsychologist – it works.

Writing it Down: Ask a Scientist

Scientific studies have been able to back up these theories.

Researchers have discovered a neurological process called “ encoding ”.

This biological process is the journey where the stimuli we perceive in the world travel to our brain’s hippocampus – aka the memory and learning center. 

In the hippocampus, this information is analyzed and the hardworking employees of the hippocampus decide what gets stored in your long-term memory, and what gets discarded.

What does this have to do with writing?

Remember being in school and your teachers would emphasize the importance of writing down your notes? Or that when studying for a big exam the process of writing flashcards is just as important, if not more, than actually using them?

It’s because of encoding. 

When you write something down, you have a much greater chance of remembering it, and when it comes to goals – bringing them to life.

There are so many cognitive processes taking place when you think of a goal, write it down, and then look at it again. All of these processes are working together to help cement that goal, encourage you to take action steps towards it, and ultimately achieve it.

Out of Your Brain, and Into Storage

The other piece to writing down your goals is called “external storage”. Aka keeping your goals somewhere outside of just your head. Whether this is a vision board, a journal, or post its above your desk, these visual reminders help to remind you of what you’re working towards and keep you on track. 

These visual reminders can have a powerful effect on our motivation.

It’s Thursday. It’s been a long week, and you’re ready for a little break. You want to throw in the towel, maybe take the day off tomorrow. Then you see it.

The visual reminder of the goal that keeps you going. The biggest things that you’re working towards.

You take a deep breath and face the rest of the day with a renewed spirit. 

That’s the power of writing down your goals.

Overthinking Takes Energy

Have you noticed that when you’re constantly ruminating over something, you tend to feel tired? 

Even the seemingly positive things in your life can take up energy if you’re constantly thinking about them and trying to grasp them.

Believe me, they’re not going anywhere. You can help give your brain a break and take actionable steps towards reaching these goals by simply writing them down.

You understand a bit of the neuroscience behind writing down goals, you know the importance of preserving mental energy and how to use it wisely, but can these strategies be applied to things other than goals?

You betcha!

Now Try it with Affirmations

Goals aren’t just about things that you want to achieve professionally. 

They can also be personal goals or even ways that you want to feel in life.

Affirmations or mantras or phrases that you repeat to yourself to help bring about a certain outcome.

These are some common, yet powerful affirmations:

• I am energetic throughout my day.
• I create meaningful connections everywhere I go.
• I stay creatively inspired.
• I am in service to my community.

Just like your goals, affirmations are that much more powerful when you write them down. 

It’s like you’re telling the Universe (or whatever you want to call it) – this is what I want, I’m taking surefooted steps towards it, and it’s going to happen. 

Now that you understand the importance of writing down your goals and affirmations, let’s give you a few practical tips to walk away with.

• Have a set space: Have a specific journal, poster board, or zone where you write down what you want to achieve. Giving them a specific home creates structure and meaning around this practice.
• Make it dynamic: Go beyond just writing down what you want. Draw pictures to go with it. Say how you want to feel once you achieve this goal. 
• Get specific: If it’s a financial goal or something tangible, get specific and write down numbers. Create a timeline and use actual dates for when you want to achieve certain parts of the goal.
• Be assertive: We’re often timid when it comes to saying what we want, even if it’s just to our notebook. Be assertive and clear about what you want – this pays off!

Now grab your journal and get to it!

• The Generation Effect: Activating Broad Neural Circuits During Memory Encoding
• Encoding of goal-relevant stimuli is strengthened by emotional arousal in memory    

Mike Abramowitz is a dynamic speaker, bestselling author, and transformational coach. If you are looking to turn your insecurities into your superpowers, he can show you the way!

Mike Abramowitz is a Speaker, Author and Transformational Coach turning your greatest insecurities into your superpowers.

• Press & Media

• Inspiration
• Streetstyle
• Mindfulness
• Accessories

0" class="mb-2 mt-4 px-3 text-xs font-semibold text-gray-900">Categories

No results found

No components found for this search term. Please try again.

7 Things to Write down Every Morning to Have a Great Day ...

By Heather • 10 Comments • Share

Start your day off by considering these things to write down, perhaps right after you get up. Taking a few minutes to write certain things down can have a dramatic impact on your mood, productivity, and even your mental focus. Instead of immediately heading for the coffee pot, get out a pen and paper and jot a few of these important things to write down daily. It will eventually stimulate your brain to work more efficiently in the morning, improve your focus, and enhance your day by getting more done. Don’t worry, this process will take you less than 10 minutes, and it will reduce an incredible amount of stress as a result, believe it or not.

Snapshot Survey

Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

Please subscribe for your personalized newsletter:

Your Schedule

Though you might already be well aware of what your schedule is, it should be one of the first things to write down, or actually, the first of them all. For starters, it jump starts your brain and prepares you for the day. You don’t have to take it minute by minute, but a general outline of your day ahead can help you feel more in control and ready to accomplish everything, and also see if you have any holes in your schedule for downtime. This downtime is often dwindled away when we aren’t aware of it, when it could be used to do enjoyable things such as rest, hobbies, and even just chatting with a friend. Write down your schedule, and you’ll immediately have a visual image of how your day will go, and how you’ll get it all done.

What You Want to Accomplish

Next, after you write down what you’re going to be doing that day, write down one or two things that you really want to accomplish. Maybe it’s finish a project, or it could even be to manage your money better. Or, maybe it’s to eat healthier that day. Whatever it is, write it down. It will help you see how you’ll need to work certain actions into your schedule to make it happen. It also gives you a goal, which helps increase your focus and motivation. Try to tackle this earlier in the day, instead of later when distractions come up.

What You’re Grateful for

Next, to really lower your stress, and enhance the quality of your life, write down something you’re grateful for. Maybe it’s a new job, or maybe it’s as simple as having hot water that morning to shower with. Maybe it’s a chance at work for growth, or maybe it’s that you took time to make yourself a healthy lunch. Whatever it is, write it down.

Next, it’s time for a few reminders - picking up your laundry at the dry cleaners, restocking your frozen veggie supply at the market after work, or perhaps calling that friend you’ve been meaning to contact all week. Write down anything that comes to mind, and feel free to add it to your list if you think of it later. Then, when 4 or 5 p.m. rolls around, you can take a peek at this list and see if there’s something you forgot to do.

Inspirational Messages

This item is a fun one, but one I think everyone should do. Pull out a book full of quotes, or perhaps a spiritual or religious book, or just something inspirational that comes to your mind. Write it down. It can be as serious or funny as you want, but it has to inspire you on some level. It can be about health, religion, spirituality, family, gratitude, dreams, whatever. Just write down something that will motivate you and inspire you for the rest of the day.

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

A Good Deed

Now it’s time to stop thinking about you for a minute and think about someone else! Think of one nice thing you can do for someone today. Maybe it’s hold the door open for more people, maybe it’s buy your friend coffee, maybe it’s send a card to your aunt or mom, or maybe it’s to smile at more people. Whatever the case, write it down. Doing nice things for people during the day makes you a better and happier person, and can overall make a huge impact on your sense of well being, and other people’s lives as well.

Any Bills Due

I know, I know, this is the yucky thing to write down, but you must do this to keep yourself sane. If you have a bill due, write it down, even if you’ve already scheduled it to be drafted out of your account through automatic payments. To make this easier, you’ll need to already have a budget outlined. Writing down what bills come out of your account can help you be more mindful of your money, more responsible with your money, and can also help prevent overdrafts. Over time, it can help you manage your finances better, and make better choices with money. You’ll also see this as less of a pain later on and money will quit seeming evil, and seem like a normal part of life.

You might not think these things are necessary to write down, but I challenge you to take 10 minutes and just do this for one week every day. I think you’ll see why I love it so much, and why it can help anyone get more done, be happier throughout the day, and reduce stress. Be sure to keep your list with you all day so you can refer back to it whenever possible. I like to use a small blank notebook, or a planner with dated pages. Do you write down certain things each morning? What are they?

Feedback Junction

Where Thoughts and Opinions Converge

This is a really good idea and covers a good spectrum. I'll start doing this tomorrow.

Great idea! Am going to try

Looove these ideas!!

Absolutely love this! Perfection!

I used to do this but stopped and lost focus. Going to start up again.

I already do some of these n they really help..

Thank you! It's really very impotent.

Related Topics

Popular Now

More From Forbes

Neuroscience explains why you need to write down your goals if you actually want to achieve them.

• people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals
• Share to Facebook
• Share to Twitter
• Share to Linkedin

Shutterstock

I’m sure you’ve heard that if you want to achieve a goal, you need to write it down. I know it sounds a bit cliché, but it actually does work.

One of my studies, called "The Gender Gap and Goal-Setting," found that both men and women need to do a much better job of writing down their goals (although men did perform a bit better than women on this issue). Study participants were asked to rate the question “My goal is so vividly described in written form (including pictures, photos, drawings, etc.) that I could literally show it to other people and they would know exactly what I’m trying to achieve.” Sadly, fewer than 20% of people said that their goals were ‘Always’ written down this vividly.

Vividly describing your goals in written form is strongly associated with goal success, and people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don’t. That’s a pretty big difference in goal achievement just from writing your goals on a piece of paper.

So why does writing your goals help? It’s an important thing to know; after all, it might seem like a lot of extra work to write something down when you can just as easily store it in your brain, right?

Writing things down happens on two levels: external storage and encoding. External storage is easy to explain: you’re storing the information contained in your goal in a location (e.g. a piece of paper) that is very easy to access and review at any time. You could post that paper in your office, on your refrigerator, etc. It doesn’t take a neuroscientist to know you will remember something much better if you’re staring at a visual cue (aka reminder) every single day.

But there’s another deeper phenomenon happening: encoding. Encoding is the biological process by which the things we perceive travel to our brain’s hippocampus where they’re analyzed. From there, decisions are made about what gets stored in our long-term memory and, in turn, what gets discarded. Writing improves that encoding process. In other words, when you write it down it has a much greater chance of being remembered.

Neuropsychologists have identified the “generation effect” which basically says individuals demonstrate better memory for material they’ve generated themselves than for material they’ve merely read. It’s a nice edge to have and, when you write down your goal, you get to access the “generation effect” twice: first, when you generate the goal (create a picture in your mind), and second, when you write it down because you’re essentially reprocessing or regenerating that image. You have to rethink your mental picture, put it on the paper, place objects, scale them, think about their spatial relations, draw facial expressions, etc. There’s a lot of cognitive processing taking place right there. In essence, you get a double whammy that really sears the goal into your brain.

Study after study shows you will remember things better when you write them down. Typically, subjects for these types of studies are students taking notes in class. However, one group of researchers looked at people conducting hiring interviews. When the interviewers took notes about their interviews with each of the candidates, they were able to recall about 23% more nuggets of information from the interviews than people who didn’t take notes. Parenthetically, if you’re being interviewed for a job, and you want the interviewer to remember you, you better hope he or she is taking notes.

It’s not just general recall that improves when you write things down. Writing it down will also improve your recall of the really important information. You know how when you’re in a classroom setting there’s some stuff the teacher says that’s really important (i.e. it’ll be on the test) and then there’s the not so important (i.e. it won’t be on the test)? Well, one study found that when people weren’t taking notes in class, they remembered just as many unimportant facts as they did important facts (there’s a recipe for a “C”). But when people were taking notes, they remembered many more important facts and many fewer unimportant facts (and that, my friends, is the secret of “A” students). Writing things down doesn’t just help you remember, it makes your mind more efficient by helping you focus on the truly important stuff. And your goals absolutely should qualify as truly important stuff.

Mark Murphy is the CEO of Leadership IQ and the author of Hiring For Attitude .

• Editorial Standards
• Reprints & Permissions

10 Small Things That Can Reduce Anxiety and Enhance Your Mood

A nxiety is a natural part of our lives. We have all felt anxious at some point, be it before a big exam, on the first day of school, during a job interview, or simply on a roller coaster. But as anxiety becomes a constant and overwhelming feature in your life, this may be an indicator of an anxiety disorder. 

Anxiety is a common and treatable disorder. It’s the most common psychiatric condition in the United States, affecting 18 percent of the population each year.

According to the National Alliance for Mental Health , anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting more than 40 million adults. If you feel that your feelings of worry and nervousness have taken over your life, here are ten small everyday habits that can reduce your anxiety and improve your overall mood.

Here are some of the small things you can do to reduce anxiety and enhance your mood:

Are you feeling stressed out? Anxiety can feel overwhelming, but there are some easy techniques to make it go away. One of the easiest ways is by breathing.

You breathe daily but may not have noticed that breathing changes moods and emotions. Shallow breaths can cause feelings of anxiety or panic, while long, deep breaths can help lower stress levels in the body.

When you breathe deeply, it sends a message to your brain to calm down and relax. The brain then sends this message to your body. Those things that happen when you are stressed, such as increased heart rate, fast breathing, and high blood pressure, all decrease as you breathe deeply to relax.

Deep abdominal breathing encourages full oxygen exchange — the beneficial trade of incoming oxygen for outgoing carbon dioxide. Not surprisingly, it can slow the heartbeat and lower or stabilize blood pressure.

2. Meditate

Meditation can be a powerful tool to relax the body and bring you into the present moment. The practice of meditation is a great way to enhance your mood and reduce anxiety, especially if you do it daily.

Some people try to relieve their anxiety by smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol — this doesn’t help reduce anxiety in the long run, though it can make you feel better for a short time. Other people turn to prescription drugs, which may be helpful for some people but come with serious side effects like addiction and withdrawal symptoms.

Meditation offers another option for healthily relieving anxiety. 

Below are some of the benefits of meditation:

• Improves your concentration
• Increases relaxation
• Improves your mood
• Helps reduce pain

You don’t need any special equipment or a quiet place to meditate. Here’s how to get started:

To begin, find a quiet place to sit comfortably without distractions. Close your eyes and focus on breathing in and out slowly. Imagine yourself in a peaceful location, such as at the beach or in a field of flowers. Focus on that image for about 20 minutes before opening your eyes and returning to reality.

After a few weeks, you may find that meditation helps you feel less anxious, more calm, and better able to cope with whatever life throws your way.

3. Write Down Your Worries

Writing down your worries can reduce anxiety and enhance your mood.

Anxiety and worry are something we all experience at some time or another. It is a natural emotion that I’m sure we would not want to be without. Worry is just the brain’s way of raising our awareness of potential problems so they don’t sneak up on us. But when worry becomes excessive or feels out of control, it can cause stress and anxiety. Often, people find that once they start worrying about one thing, it is easy for their mind to slip into a pattern of worrying about other things, too.

So, how do you break this cycle? One method therapists use with clients is the “worry time” technique. This involves setting aside a specific time to write down your daily worries. When worries pop into your mind during the day, enter them in your diary for your worry time slot. When your worry time arrives, take out your diary and get ready for some problem-solving.

No matter what type of journaling you do, it helps to get things out in the open. Many people find it easier to express their feelings when writing on a page rather than saying them aloud. It can also help to examine your thoughts and feelings to work through them.

Plenty of online journals can help you get started in the digital age. There’s 750 Words (a site where you write 750 words every day), Penzu (a website where you can create private or public journals), and Day One (an app where you can log anything from photos to audio).

4. Stop Worrying About Things You Can’t Control

When you’re anxious, you feel like you have to control everything around you. You worry that something terrible may happen; it will if you don’t worry enough. This is because anxiety is a primitive fear response that prepares us to fight or flee when we’re in danger.

Sadly, this fear response is not always accurate and can be triggered by things that aren’t actually dangerous. When activated, it produces a cascade of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that affect your mind and body.

Worrying about the past or the future can make you feel helpless because you can do nothing to change those things. Not only that, but many things we worry about never happen.

The good news is there are things you can do to control your worrying and reduce your anxiety so you can enjoy your life more.

5. Exercise Regularly

Regular exercise is an excellent way to boost your mood and get in shape.

Exercise can help treat depression or make it less likely. It boosts feel-good chemicals called endorphins. It also enables you to sleep better, which is important because people with depression often have trouble sleeping. It also gives you a break from your day, which might be stressful. And it gets you around other people who can support you and give you a mental boost.

Exercise can cause short-term anxiety that goes away when you’re done working out. However, studies have shown that regular exercise can help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and prevent them from coming back. Exercise might also help keep anxiety from coming back once it’s gone.

Exercise affects the body in many ways. It uses glucose, frees fatty acids into the blood, increases heart rate, changes breathing patterns, and causes muscles to contract. This may be why it can improve mood for some people.

It’s not clear why exercise helps depression and anxiety. However, research shows that physical movement affects many parts of the brain simultaneously, including areas involved in mood control and thinking (cognition).

6. Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep is important not only for your physical health and appearance but also for your mental health. Getting enough sleep can reduce anxiety and enhance your mood.

In addition to improving mood and reducing anxiety, a full night’s sleep will also increase your ability to think clearly and creatively. Getting enough sleep can also help improve memory and learning. 

Although the amount of sleep needed varies from person to person, most people need between seven and nine hours of sleep each night to function properly the next day. When you don’t get enough sleep, it shows up in many ways — from feeling irritable or cranky to experiencing difficulty concentrating or remembering things.

One of the most dangerous aspects of not getting enough sleep is that it can lead to depression. Insomnia is one of the most common symptoms associated with depression and other mood disorders like bipolar disorder.

7. Listen to Music

Listening to music is a great way to relax, but did you know it can also help you manage anxiety and boost your mood when you’re feeling low?

Research shows that listening to music can reduce anxiety, blood pressure, and pain and improve sleep quality, mood, mental alertness, and memory. Music benefits our health because it helps the body produce natural painkillers and protect the immune system. For example, music releases dopamine, a brain chemical triggered by rewards such as food, sex, and social interaction.

Listening to music may be just as powerful as a drug. One study found that listening to relaxing music reduced anxiety in patients before surgery more than medication could.

The key is to find the right music for your situation and goals. Some people enjoy classical or instrumental music relaxing, while others enjoy heavy metal or punk rock. Music with a fast tempo can make you feel more alert and concentrate better. But if you’re trying to sleep or relax after work, choose slower tunes instead.

8. Connect With Others

Social relationships can have a significant impact on your mental health. It’s not just the number of friends you have but the kind of people you hang out with. It’s the quality of your close relationships that matters.

Strong social relationships are associated with better health. Social support — having someone to turn to in times of need or crisis to talk about your problems, ask for help, or just vent — is a major factor in psychological well-being and overall health.

Social support has been linked to lower levels of anxiety and depression, better sleep, greater longevity, higher self-esteem, and faster recovery from trauma or illness. Social support also increases our sense of belonging and purpose, which are critical factors in happiness.

9. Eat a Healthy Diet

Eating a balanced diet is crucial for everyone, but it’s especially important for those with anxiety. Eating a balanced diet will help you get the nutrients your body needs to function at its best — including your brain.

Processed foods and high-sugar foods weaken your immune system and make you more susceptible to stress and anxiety.

Some research suggests certain types of food might help relieve anxiety symptoms. One study found that berries might reduce anxiety, while another found that yogurt may improve both anxiety symptoms and mood.

Some people say they find comfort in eating chocolate. This may be because chocolate contains tryptophan, an amino acid that helps form serotonin in the body. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter and hormone that regulates mood, sleep, appetite, and other bodily functions.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that eating chocolate will help you feel better. Eating too much sugar can actually make you feel worse over time because sugar can cause a spike in blood sugar levels followed by a crash later on.

The bottom line is to avoid processed foods or foods with lots of added sugar (like candy or soda) if you’re feeling anxious or stressed out. 

10. Cut Back on Alcohol and Caffeine

One of the best things you can do to help your mood and anxiety is to cut back on alcohol and caffeine. Alcohol and caffeine are stimulants that can cause you to feel anxious, especially if you drink a lot of them.

Alcohol is a depressant, but it can cause anxiety at first. If you’ve ever felt jittery or agitated after drinking too much coffee or soda, you know what this feels like. Caffeine also increases heart rate and blood pressure, making you feel more stressed or anxious.

Another good rule of thumb for decreasing anxiety is to stick with water as your primary beverage instead of soda or juice. Water helps flush out toxins in your body that can make you feel more anxious than usual.

If you are going to drink alcohol, limit yourself to one or two drinks per day for men or one normal-sized glass for women. It’s better to avoid alcohol altogether if possible.

If you’re feeling anxious, try eating some healthy foods instead of relying on alcohol or caffeine to get through the day. Eating healthy foods will give you more energy while also helping reduce any feelings of anxiety or depression that might be keeping you awake at night.

Small changes in our daily habits don’t seem like they’d make much difference, but collectively, they can add up to big differences over time. Just pay attention to how you’re feeling and look for small ways that you can make tweaks to your daily life.

An employment lawyer explains the 3 things you should do the moment you're put on a PIP

• Craig Levey is an employment law attorney of over 12 years.
• He says that PIPs are often used by companies to "paper the file"  once they've already decided to fire the employee. 
• If put on a PIP, you should read it carefully, consider if it's reasonable, and decide how to respond.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Craig Levey, an employment law attorney and partner at Bennett & Belfort, P.C., a law firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

In my experience as an employment law attorney of 12 years, performance-improvement plans, or PIPs, result in termination in most cases. While there are circumstances where an employee survives the PIP and keeps working there, those situations are rare.

Many companies use PIPs to paper the file; they document the areas in which this employee is deficient, and then once the PIP is over — or sometimes even sooner — they terminate the employee and say, "As we outlined in the PIP, things weren't going well in certain areas. We don't feel like you've improved, so we're going to part ways with you."

PIPs are a tool for companies to prevent litigation, too, because then they can argue that they didn't terminate the employee because of discrimination, retaliation, or sexual harassment but rather because of performance.

When an employee receives a PIP , there are three steps that I suggest that they follow.

1. Read the PIP very carefully

Many people are so shocked that they receive a PIP that they don't actually take the time to take a deep breath, sit down, and read it.

You want to fully understand the language that's in the PIP and what the expectations are. If you need clarification because there's not enough information, you should go back and ask your company your questions and see if they offer support, such as one-on-one meetings with your supervisor.

2. Decide if the PIP is reasonable

Once you've read the PIP, ask yourself, is this PIP designed for me to fail, or is it reasonable?

A good PIP should be very clear about the areas where the employee is supposedly deficient. In a reasonable timeframe, it should spell out how that employee will get better and offer support such as regular meetings with their supervisor.

A bad PIP is very short and doesn't articulate the areas in which the employee needs to get better, so the employee is left confused and doesn't know what is being asked of them. There either isn't a timeframe given, or the timeframe is unreasonable, and no support is offered to help the employee improve.

Related stories

After receiving a bad PIP, the employee walks away confused or feeling unreasonable. Typically, when an employee receives a bad PIP, it means the company doesn't want them to improve. It's just a tool to pave the way for the termination.

3. Decide whether to respond

If, after reading your PIP, you feel it's actually pretty reasonable and you can satisfy the requirements in the time allotted, you don't need to respond. Just move on and focus on working on what's needed and satisfying the requirements laid out.

But sometimes, there are unfair PIPs with requirements that even the best employee in the world could never satisfy. If the PIP is unrealistic or unreasonable, then you need to respond.

If you decide to respond, email your supervisor or HR and spell out why it is unreasonable. Perhaps the timeframe is not long enough, or the expectations are unattainable, or the company isn't offering any support.

By spelling out the ways the PIP is unreasonable, it can protect your interests a bit in the event that you are later terminated.

Is the PIP retaliatory?

You should also think about whether the PIP is retaliatory. A lot of companies will issue a PIP in retaliation for the employee complaining about something illegal going on in the workplace or taking leave for disabilities or pregnancy, which is protected under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) .

Leave is there for a reason. If you have a disability, if you have mental health issues, or if you're pregnant, then you need to use your leave options because that's precisely what they're there for.

Unfortunately, I see all the time that companies perceive employees who take leave to be a burden. Companies don't like when they have somebody out of work and they have to satisfy those duties, either by hiring somebody to fill in or asking somebody else to take on those duties.

This happens far too often across the US. When you look at other countries around the world — how they value leave and how much time off they give people — there's more emphasis on quality of life rather than the American way, which is focused on the "grind." American companies put so much more emphasis on the bottom line and making money and less on employee well-being.

If you believe your PIP is due to your company retaliating against you, then you can respond in writing; articulate what you believe the PIP is in retaliation for, and spell out the illegal conduct. Keep a copy of that email so that in the event that you do get terminated in the future, you're preserving the record for purposes of litigation.

When I'm speaking with clients, I look at the full picture because, in many cases, I see a situation where an employee was a strong performer for many years and received good performance evaluations, but then they complained about something illegal or took protected medical leave and all of a sudden they received the PIP.

To me, that doesn't add up. You don't just suddenly become a bad performer when you have a documented history of strong performance reviews.

It's better for companies to work with employees rather than use PIPs

My philosophy is that it's better for supervisors to sit down, talk to the employee, and sort of nip issues in the bud as soon as they recognize potential areas of deficiencies and deal with them right away rather than letting things fester.

Most companies have already decided to terminate the employee by the time they get to a PIP. If I were running a business, I wouldn't issue a PIP. I would just sit down with the employee once or twice and genuinely explain how I wanted them to get better. You can still have a paper trail by sending a follow-up email outlining what was discussed and areas for improvement.

The mindset around PIPs should change. Companies should want their employees to improve, and they should deal with problems early on rather than just issuing PIPs at the end of the employment and then terminating.

If companies are issuing PIPs , they should be implemented or issued only once the supervisors have already spoken to the employees about these issues. PIPs should be genuine, clear, and articulate what they want the employee to improve upon. They should give employees the opportunity to improve. I don't think companies should use PIPs for the sake of trying to protect themselves from potential future issues.

If you've been put on a PIP or put someone on a PIP and would like to share your story, email Jane Zhang at [email protected] .

Watch: Jill Kramer, CMO of Accenture, says disability inclusion should be baked into creative briefs

• Main content