Journaling: what it is and how to start

By the Bloome editors · Updated 4 September 2026

Journaling is writing to understand something about your day, not to record it. What it is, which forms exist, and how to start without stopping after a week.

What journaling is

Journaling is writing for yourself, so you understand something better. That's all it is. Nobody reads along, there's no set form and no minimum word count. People often say "keeping a diary" instead. That sounds like you're just writing down what happened. With journaling, the writing is a tool: while you write, you notice what you actually think about something.

From the outside it looks ordinary. Someone sits for five minutes with a notebook or an app, answers a question and gets on with the day. The difference from just thinking is that you write it down. That matters more than you'd expect. A thought in your head can go round and round forever. A thought on paper is done. In a month you can read it back and see if you still feel the same.

Reading back is where most people finally see the point. That's also the hard part: it takes a few months before there's anything to reread. For the first few weeks it mostly feels like a chore. Only after that does it start to mean something.

How it differs from a diary

In everyday life there's no difference and people use the words interchangeably. Search for "online diary" or "journaling" and you mostly end up in the same places. Still, there's a difference worth knowing. It's in the question you answer. A diary answers "what happened". A journal answers "what did I think of it and what do I do with it". The first is a record, the second is a conversation with yourself.

You notice that difference in practice. You can keep a diary for years without ever reading anything back. The value is in keeping it. With a journal, reading back is the whole point. That's when you see patterns you miss on the day itself. For example, that you get stuck in the same week every month, or that your mood has more to do with your sleep than your work.

There's one more difference. A diary starts on a blank page, a journal more often with a question. That seems small, yet it matters a lot. Most people who stop, stop at that blank page. In the end, what you call it hardly matters. What counts is writing down something you'll get something out of later.

The five forms you'll come across

Almost everything you read about journaling fits one of these five forms. You can mix them, and most people use two.

Free writing. You set a timer for ten minutes and keep writing until it goes off. You don't steer and you don't read back. It's for emptying your head, it doesn't have to be good. It works well on a day when too much is going on at once. It works badly when you've no idea where to start, because then you're still staring at nothing.

Writing to a prompt. You answer a set question, for example "what did you do today that nobody else saw". This is the easiest form to start with, because you don't have to choose what to write about. Just want to get going? There are thirty journal prompts ready, one for every day of the month.

Gratitude journal. Three things a day that went well, however small. This form has a bad name because it fits on a fridge magnet. Yet it's the one people page back through most, months later. In the moment it might not make you feel better. But later you read that in a week you remember as awful, there was still something good every day.

Bullet journal. A system of short lines and symbols where you keep tasks, appointments and notes together. Really, it's more a way of planning than journaling. In practice it often gets stuck on the layout: people spend longer drawing the grid than filling it in. If you only want the planning part, a weekly planner is less work.

Reflection journal. You write weekly or monthly, with fixed questions: what went well, what cost energy, what will I do differently. This form takes the least effort and gives the most back. It's also the one you skip fastest, because nothing reminds you of it every day.

How to start if you've never written

Start smaller than you think you need to. One question and five minutes is enough, not half an hour or three pages. In the first week, all that matters is whether you open it. That's easier when it takes almost no effort.

Then pick one place. A notebook on your bedside table or one app, and not both "to see which feels better". With two places you have to choose every day, and that choice is exactly where you get stuck. The same goes for the moment. Pick one and link it to something you already do, like your first coffee or putting your phone on charge.

What you write on day one matters less than where and when you write it. Want to start digitally straight away? Digital journaling: how to start explains what's different from paper and what to fill in that first day. Would you rather set a fixed moment first? Then see how to build a morning routine you'll actually keep. Journaling is a good first step for that, because it takes five minutes and you don't need anything.

How long a session takes

Five to ten minutes, and longer isn't better. Half an hour feels good the first time. That's exactly why you skip it the next day: without noticing, you've set the bar at half an hour. On a busy day you won't manage that, so you do nothing. Set a timer if you need to and stop when it goes off, even mid-sentence. It feels odd, and it works: you start more easily the next day when something is still unfinished.

How often? Five minutes every day beats an hour once a week. If you do it daily, you don't have to decide whether today counts. That deciding is the hardest part.

What journaling isn't for

Journaling is not therapy and doesn't replace it. It helps you sort out what's in your head. It's not suitable for working through something you can't get out of on your own. Does writing leave you gloomier instead of calmer? Or do you go round the same dark thoughts every time? Then talk to someone about it, instead of writing even harder.

It isn't a way to be more productive either, however often it's sold as one. No morning routine doubles your output, and a journal won't make you more disciplined. What it does do is show you what's already happening. That's less exciting, and a lot more useful.

And it doesn't have to be pretty. Those photos of pages full of hand lettering and washi tape are a hobby of their own. They have nothing to do with journaling. They also put off exactly the people who'd get the most out of it, because they make it seem like you need a skill. You don't. Messy sentences in a cheap notebook count just as much.

What to do when you get stuck

There are two ways to get stuck, and each needs something different. The first: you sit there and can't think of anything. That's the blank page, and a question fixes it. Take a prompt, even if it doesn't fit your day. You don't have to answer it honestly to get through it.

The second is that you stop opening it, and that one is harder. It rarely happens on day two. It's almost always somewhere in the second week, when the novelty has worn off and you can't see a result yet. Why you give up on a habit around day 15 explains what happens then and why being stricter backfires.

In practice it helps to make the habit smaller, instead of being stricter with yourself. One line counts too. Also keep track of whether you wrote, for example with a habit tracker. Then you see a missed day coming, and not only afterwards. It only goes wrong at two missed days in a row.

Digital or on paper

Paper has two real advantages. It's in sight, so you come across it without opening anything. And it doesn't distract you: a notebook can't send you notifications. The downside is that you can't search a notebook. If you want to know what you wrote last September, you have to flick through.

Digital is the other way round. Searching and paging back are easy, and you always have it with you. A good setup also keeps your mood and your habits. That way you see patterns you'd never spot by hand. The downside is distraction: writing in an app on a phone full of notifications often goes wrong.

There's no right answer, so here's a practical rule. Do you often forget? Then choose paper and leave it in sight. Do you drop off after a few weeks? Then choose digital. That way you have something to look back on when your motivation runs out. At that point, looking back is the only thing that still works.

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