journaling for entrepreneurs

  • Journaling

    How to Start Journaling and Keep Up the Habit

    “The best time to begin keeping a journal is whenever you decide to.”
    ― Hannah Hinchman, A Life In Hand: Creating the Illuminated Journal

    Have you ever thought about keeping a journal? Maybe you have but thought you didn’t want to keep a book of all your thoughts and feelings for the day. Trust me, I get it.

    That’s actually called a diary—and while a diary is a type of journal, not all journals are diaries! You can keep a journal to document your progress on anything without even touching your emotions.

    Though I would recommend touching them just a little bit while you journal. It’s something everyone should do for a little self-discovery and possibly a bit of self-therapy as well.

    Journaling may seem as easy as just picking up a pen and writing, but that also makes it easy to quit. Really, you need to

    • understand why you want to start journaling,
    • know how to motivate yourself to keep journaling, and
    • decide what kind of journal you want to create.

    This post will guide you through the process! It’s lengthy, but you’ll be more prepared to start your journal after reading through it.

    Table of Contents

    Reasons Why Everyone Should Have a Journal

    Before we tackle the entrepreneur-specific stuff, let’s look at some different reasons everyone should journal regularly. Business owners are normal people with normal people problems too, right?

    Journaling helps with mental and physical health

    A major benefit of writing in a journal every day is that it can help both your mental and physical health. Journaling helps you figure out what is causing your stress, lets you see why your anxiety is plummeting and can help with your depression.

    For physical health, journaling can help you lose weight or manage your weight, find out why you have certain ailments, and narrow down the reasons you aren’t drinking enough water each day. You can be a healthier person overall just by having a journal.

    You can feel safe while releasing your emotions

    It’s hard to talk to someone about what you are thinking or feeling because you are embarrassed or feel like you will be judged for it. A journal is a good way to express all those feelings and not worry about something reading it or looking at you differently.

    Sometimes you need to get certain things out of your mind, and keeping a private journal is the perfect way to do that without any extra anxiety.

    You can find out new things about yourself

    Keeping a journal can also help you gain more clarity into who you are and what you want out of life. Make it a challenge to just start writing on a page, without thinking too hard beforehand. Just start with one word and keep going.

    You will be amazed by how much you learn about yourself. You may start venting about something you didn’t know bothered you so much. It’s possible that it’s the opposite and you are more positive and optimistic about a person or situation than you thought you would be.

    In some cases, you talk more about what you want to accomplish, and this journal helps you to come up with actionable things you can do to achieve those dreams.

    It becomes a comfort when dealing with stress

    Stress is a powerful thing, much more powerful than people give it credit for. Stress can affect nearly every part of your life, including your mental and physical wellbeing.

    And as entrepreneurs, having to deal with every aspect of our business alone—or even with a partner—can be super stressful!

    It’s important that you try to reduce your stress in any way you can, such as journaling. Writing in your journal helps you identify what is leading to your stress, which helps you determine what you can do to stop it.

    “My journal has become a paper mirror, a topographic map to my mind. It is where I go to sort out confusion and decipher the invisible.”

    ― Dawna Markova, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

    Motivate Yourself to Journal Daily

    Knowing why you should journal is just the beginning. You then need to motivate yourself to keep up with it.

    It’s generally recommended that you write in your journal every day, but at least doing it on a regular basis is better than nothing. Take a look at these easy ways to motivate yourself to keep writing in the journal.

    Have a good reason to keep a journal

    First of all, you need to know exactly why you are journaling in the first place. You really need to think about the benefits of journaling and decide what your personal reason is for writing in the journal.

    This is often a personal decision, such as wanting to figure out why your anxiety or depression has increased or wanting to express your feelings in a way where you feel safe and not judged. Decide what your individual reason is, and it will motivate you to keep writing.

    Choose the right type of journal

    The journal you write in also makes a difference in motivating you to use it. If it’s a large journal that doesn’t fit in your purse, you probably won’t use it often. For example, the mood for writing may strike during your lunch break when you’re in the lunchroom, and it helps to have the journal available at that time.

    Your journal should be something you can access at any time, such as putting it in your laptop bag, briefcase, handbag, or even the glove box of your vehicle.

    Decide on a method you want to use

    There may also be a certain type or method of journaling that becomes more motivational to you than other methods. It’s possible you are not someone to write long sentences and paragraphs, you really enjoy keeping track of everything with bullet journaling.

    On the other hand, when discovering different forms of journaling, you may want to simply keep a regular daily journal or a food journal if you are trying to lose weight. Find the type of journal you want to keep, and you will find the motivation to continue doing it each day.

    Make it more creative

    Perhaps what will motivate you is making journaling more interesting. You could be someone ho enjoys colors and pictures more than plain text, so if you have fun colorful pens and various art supplies, you are much more willing to keep up with your daily journaling than using a plain black or blue pen.

    “Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of who you are.”

    ― Carolyn V. Hamilton, Art Improv 101: How to Create a Personal Art Journal

    Different Types and Methods of Journaling to Try

    There are so many different ways to journal. You can choose to pick just one or put together a combination of your favorites. Don’t feel like there’s one single right or wrong way to keep a journal.

    Here are just some of the many methods of journaling you can use that are good for beginners.

    General Journal

    The first method of journaling is the most traditional form, which is where you simply write down your thoughts as often as needed. You might write in the journal a for couple days a week when you have the time or a reason to do so, or you may journal once a day at the end of the day, similar to keeping a diary.

    This method is the most flexible since it’s really up to you how you want to do it. With a general method of journaling, the frequency, what to include, and type of journal organization you use is entirely up to you.

    Dream Journal

    There are journals about a specific topic, such as your dreams. If you are someone with confusing, elaborate, or vivid dreams, this is the perfect journal to keep.

    You can have a dream section in a bullet journal, or dedicate one small journal to nothing but recording your dreams. It helps to write them down immediately upon waking, as you will forget them rather quickly.

    Gratitude Journal

    A gratitude journal is one where you aren’t just talking about all your thoughts or what you do day to day, but actually only talks about the good things. It’s meant to help you practice mindfulness and live a happier life through gratitude.

    To keep a gratitude journal, you look at the positive parts of your day—no matter how big or small—and put write them down in your journal. By doing this, you are able to focus more on the things in your life and dwell less on the bad things. Over time, you can start to heal and live a more optimistic life.

    Bullet Journal

    This is a newer form of journaling, but one that’s getting popular very fast. Bullet journaling provides a way to keep track of everything in your daily life, including finances, goals and bucket lists, family life, work, mental and physical health, and tons more.

    With bullet journaling, you are using primarily symbols and short words or phrases to discuss different things instead of full pages of writing like with a general or standard form of journaling. It also has an index and page numbers since there are so many different sections in the journal.

    Guided Journal

    Do you want to start a journal but you’re worried that you can’t come up with anything to write about? A guided journal may be just your thing!

    Instead of a blank book, this type of journal is filled with prompts for you to write about. They’re usually themed in some way, like for gratitude, gaining confidence, or drawing. Guided journals are perfect for beginners since they give you something to think about rather than leaving you to come up with ideas on your own.


    Start Journaling

    Now that you understand why you should start journaling, how to motivate yourself to write in your journal, and a few different types of journals you can try, it’s time to get to work on actually starting your journal.

    First, decide what type of journal you want to keep, pick what you want to use as a journal and then get started on your first entry or personalizing it to your liking. Remember that personalizing your journal can be a fun hobby, as well, and is often a part of the journaling process.

    If you’re not sure where to start with writing, think about picking up a guided journal with writing prompts. Pick a topic you want to explore and find a corresponding journal.

    After that, then it’s as simple as picking up a pen or pencil and starting to write.

    “Journaling is a great way to pay attention to ‘how it all came to be.’ In looking back, you gain insight into (and appreciation for) your challenges, lessons, and perseverance.”

    ― Melissa Steginus, Self Care at Work: How to Reduce Stress, Boost Productivity, and Do More of What Matters

  • Journaling

    Business Journaling to Boost Your Success as an Entrepreneur

    “Write your dreams in journal, notebook, card or on a cork. When you pen down your dreams, an a inner strength and divine power is activated for your to work towards the fulfillment of your dreams.”
    ― Lailah Gifty Akita

    Do you journal as a part of your daily routine?

    Have you ever considered starting a journal specifically for your business?

    Business journaling, basically what I call journaling as a part of the process of building your own business, is something I think every online entrepreneur should do.Whether you’ve been at it for awhile or you’re just starting your business, keeping a journal will help you learn a lot about yourself, your business, and most importantly: your customers!

    Your journal doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but you should be able to have everything in one place. Maybe you want to keep a notebook or maybe you prefer an app or something else online.

    I don’t recommend using your blog as your business journal, though you totally could publish stuff from your main journal. You want to be able to be 100% honest about your feelings, open with your ideas, and feel free to be yourself. A private journal is much better for this.

    Of course, you need some ideas for what to write in your new business journal, so let’s take a look at some of the different ways I use my own journal!

    Table of Contents

    Ways to Keep a Business Journal as an Entrepreneur

    Make sure you take some time, preferably daily, to write down things like how you feel about your business, your progress with building your business, or even brainstorm ideas based on other things you’ve journaled.

    You’ve probably been doing this with your business a bit already. I noticed that just doing my day-to-day work, I’ve basically been journaling and I didn’t even realize it.

    I keep a lot of notes regarding business strategy, content and product ideas, and also any notes from webinars or other live presentations I attend all inside a series of pages in the Notion app.

    This is basically my digital business and idea journal and planner. While I do keep some physical notes and planners, most of my ideas I record into Notion first to flesh out later.

    Your business journal is basically all the notes you take for your business in one neat, organized place!

    So with that in mind, here are 9 ways to use a journal as an online business owner.

    Record new ideas

    A journal is a powerful place to record and keep track of new ideas for your business. You can sort through which ideas seem the best to go forward with, add in the results of experiments, and record which seem to be a hit with your audience or customers.

    Keep track of progress

    Having a journal is a good way to record what you’ve done each day or even the results of what you’ve done.

    If you had an awesome day for sales, write down why you think that happened.

    • Were you featured somewhere?
    • Did you start a new ad campaign?
    • Did you send out a certain email?

    By keeping track of what you’re doing, you can easily work on repeating your successes and learning from your failures.

    This includes the ones mentioned in my post on 6 struggles entrepreneur face. You could work through a lot of them by keeping a journal.

    Here’s a quick example:

    Feeling like you aren’t progressing? Start writing down everything your done or learned each day.

    If it’s not much, motivate yourself to try harder. If it’s a lot, realize that you are doing things, but make sure they’re things that move you forward rather than make you run around in circles.

    Your journal is a safe space where you can be honest with yourself. No one is there to judge you and you don’t have to pretend to be something you’re not. With that kind of freedom, you can discover the areas were you need the most help and seek out ways to deal with them.

    “Your Journal is like your best friend, You don’t have to pretend with it, you can be honest and write exactly how you feel”

    ― Bukola Ogunwale

    If you’re anything like me, you need to write stuff done or you will forget them fast than you can say “awesome business idea.” I make sure I have easy access to something to write my ideas down.

    In my case, this is usually the Notion app, but I also keep a pen and notepad close by incase my phone battery is low or something.

    Another way to use your journal for note-taking is as I mentioned before. Use it to take notes during live trainings or while you’re reading articles from other blogs. This way you won’t forget the important parts and you can always refer to them later.

    Create a business plan

    Do you know what you need to do to make your business a success? You can plan it all out in your journal.

    You might feel anxious about creating an official business plan at first, but starting one in your journal might seem like an easier way to get started. Then you can discover if you need to find the answers to questions like how you’ll attract customers to make sales or what operational costs to expect.

    If you need help with what exactly to put in your business plan, check out How to Write a Crazy Simple Business Plan in 8 Steps over at Crazy Cute Co. for a good starting point. There’s even a downloadable template that you can print out and stick in your journal!

    Track your money

    To run a successful business you need to know where money is coming in and where it’s going out. A journal is a good place to track this when you’re just getting started, though you may want to upgrade to accounting software or hiring accountant eventually.

    Set and track goals

    I’ve already mentioned in several articles why it’s so important to set the right kind of goals and to focus on building a systematic process to achieve them. A journal is the perfect place to keep a record of your goals and your progress.

    Create a wish list

    I like keeping a wish list for my business. It’s kind of like setting a goal, but it’s more like a list of products and services I’d like to try out for my business.

    I think having a wish list like this is a good way to consistently remind yourself of the important of reinvesting in your business. You’re also more open to spending the money once you’re ready for items on your wish list because you’ve been looking forward to them for awhile.

    Inspire yourself

    One last way to use a journal as on entrepreneur is as inspiration to keep working on your business. Motivation is sometimes hard to come by, but looking back through your journal can show you that you’ve come much too far to quit now.

    You may also want to take some time to write down affirmations or your favorite quotes to help you get through particularly tough days.

    “Journal writing gives us insights into who we are, who we were, and who we can become.”

    ― Sandra Marinella, The Story You Need to Tell: Writing to Heal from Trauma, Illness, or Loss

    There are some pretty standard ways to use a business journal, but you don’t have to do all these things, nor are they the only things you can do. It’s your journal, you can do what you want!

    The important thing is that you have a place to write, record, and track various information about your business and your progress with building your business. Make journaling a part of your goal-achieving process as well.