Step by step
How to start journaling this week.
Starting a journal is mostly about getting through the first seven days. Each step below is small on purpose, because the aim of the first week is a habit, not good writing. All you need is a notebook or a journaling app and a few minutes a day.
Step 1
Pick one time of day.
Tie the entry to something you already do every day, like the last coffee or getting into bed, so that one thing reminds you of the other. Writing at the same point every day is what lets it turn into a habit, so you no longer have to decide each time.
Step 2
Keep the first entry to one paragraph.
A first entry only has to exist; it does not have to be good. Five or six plain sentences are enough. A short entry you finish beats a long one you keep putting off.
Step 3
Start with what happened.
Write the day in order: when you woke, what you did, who you saw. Facts are easy to write when you do not know what to say, because they are already there, waiting to be listed.
Step 4
Add one line on how it felt.
After the facts, write one sentence about how the day went for you, such as "the meetings wore me out" or "dinner was the good part". That line is where journaling starts to become reflection, which means thinking about the day, not only recording it.
Step 5
Use a prompt when you are stuck.
On a night when nothing comes, answer one question instead of writing freely. A prompt is a ready-made question, such as "What took more time than I expected today?", and it removes the decision of what to write.
Step 6
Let missed days go.
If you skip a day, simply start again the next. Do not write two days at once to catch up, because catching up turns the journal into a chore. A gap in the journal is not a failure.
Step 7
Read it back after a week.
On the seventh day, read every entry from the week in one sitting. Look for what repeats, such as the same late night or the same skipped plan. That pattern is the first thing journaling shows you.
Two of these steps come from research on how habits form. Lally and colleagues (2010) asked 96 volunteers to pick one new daily habit of eating, drinking or exercise, such as a bottle of water with lunch, and to do it in the same setting every day, then tracked how automatic it felt. It took a median of 66 days to feel automatic, and the range ran from 18 to 254 days.
The same setting every day is why step one ties the entry to something you already do. And in the same study, missing one day did not set people back in any way that mattered, which is why step six lets a missed day go. Expect the first week to feel like effort; it is the start of the habit, not a sign it will not form.
An example first entry
What a first journal entry can look like.
A first journal entry can be this short. The seven plain sentences below are an example written for this page, the way a first entry might look at the end of a workday. They say more than they seem to: when the parser in Think in Numbers, the part of the app that reads plain words and adds up the hours, read them, they accounted for 18h of the day. That includes 8h of work and 7h 30m of sleep.
“First entry. Woke at 7:30. Work from 9 to 5, mostly meetings. Picked up groceries on the way home. Cooked and ate by 7:30. Watched a show for an hour. Writing this at 10.”
The hours it became
- Work8h
- Sleep7h 30m
- Food & Meals1h
- Entertainment1h
- Household30m
- Unaccounted6h
18h of 24 hours accounted for. Unaccounted is the time the words never mentioned.
Real output from the part of Think in Numbers that reads your words and adds up the hours (version v21), run on with the app’s starter categories. Stored exactly as it came out, not edited.
The first week
What the first week of journaling shows.
The first week of journaling shows patterns you would not guess from a single day. The entry above leaves 6h unaccounted, which means time the words never mention. Most of it is the evening after the show, because the entry never says when bed was, and the stretch between waking and work. One day of gaps means little; a week of entries shows whether those gaps repeat.
Once the facts come easily, add more feeling and more thought. Ideas for that are on what to write in a journal, and more real entries are in the journal entry examples.
Paper or app
Starting on paper or in an app.
Paper is a fine way to start journaling, and it has no screen to distract you. The daily journal template gives each day one printable page, with room for the day in your words and a small table of hours.
Paper does not add itself up, though. The table of hours is yours to fill in and total, and the patterns from the first week only show if you do the sums.
If you would rather use an app, pick one that helps you act on your day, not only reflect on it: one that reads the hours from what you write, with no timer to start. Most journaling apps stop at how your day felt. That is worth writing down, but on its own it does not show where the day went or what to change tomorrow.
One app built for this is Think in Numbers, a smart journaling app with time tracking built in.
You write or say your day in your own words, as it happens or all at once. The app reads what you wrote and counts the hours that went to each part of it: work, sleep, time with people, your phone, and the time you never mentioned (shown as unaccounted). Then it shows those hours over days and weeks. It has daily prompts and a mood and energy check-in, on iPhone and Android.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.
Keep reading.
- Time journalingThe method: write or say your day in your own words, then see it as hours.
- What to write in a journalIdeas for what to write, and why the details are worth it.
- Journal entry examplesFour real entries, each shown with the hours it became.
- Daily journal templateOne page: the day in your words, then where the hours went.
- Where did my week go? calculatorEnter a typical day and see your week accounted and unaccounted.
Questions
Questions people ask.
How do I start journaling if I don't know what to write?
Start with what happened today, in order, in plain sentences. Facts are always there to write about. Once they are down, add one line about how the day felt.
How long should my first journal entry be?
A first journal entry can be one paragraph. The first entry on this page is seven short sentences, and it still covers most of a day.
What time of day should I journal?
Any time you can keep is fine. Evenings suit people who want to look back on the day. Mornings suit people who want to plan it. The same time every day matters more than which time.
Should I journal on paper or in an app?
Journal wherever you will keep doing it. Paper is quick to start and has no screen. An app is always in your pocket, and some add up what you wrote for you.
How long does it take for journaling to become a habit?
Usually longer than a week, so expect the first few weeks to take some effort. In a study of how habits form, 96 volunteers each repeated one new daily behavior in the same setting. It took a median of 66 days to feel automatic, from 18 to 254 depending on the person, and missing a single day made no real difference.
Try it on my day.
Write today down in your own words, and see where the hours went.
For iPhone and Android. Try it on your own day before you pay.