How to Start Journaling When You’re Busy

You can begin with an ordinary notebook and a pen. If you already have an unfinished journal somewhere, you can open it at the next blank page. There is no need to buy anything before you start.

A journal with questions can be useful if you like having somewhere to begin. A blank notebook gives you room to write sideways, draw in a corner or let one thought take up a whole page. A small memory book suits the days when you only want to record a moment.

Choose whatever feels inviting to you. You don’t have to decide how you’ll use every page before you’ve written on the first one.

I like having different journals available. What I want to put down can vary, and I’m quite happy for the book I reach for to vary too.

For me, that opening is bedtime. My journal lives on the bedside table because that is where I tend to want it.

You might prefer a few minutes with your coffee, a quiet lunch break or a little time at the weekend. If your working days are unpredictable, it may be more useful to keep a notebook nearby than to promise yourself a particular hour.

Try placing it wherever you’re most likely to want to write, with a pen alongside it. Let it be available. Whether you open it is still up to you.

If you have two minutes, you can write for two minutes. If you feel like carrying on, you can. There is no minimum number of pages to complete before you’re allowed to close the book.

You don’t need to describe your whole day. Start with the thought that is taking up the most room, even if it seems small or unfinished.

Perhaps you’re still thinking about a conversation. Perhaps there is something you need to remember tomorrow. Perhaps you simply want to write that you’ve had enough for one day.

These are a few starting points to borrow when the blank page feels a little too blank:

Choose whichever question feels useful. You can answer in a handful of words and ignore all the others.

An entry could be as simple as this:

“Still thinking about that conversation. I can decide what to say tomorrow. For tonight, I’ve written it down.”

That is an example, rather than a page from my own journal. Yours might be much messier, shorter or completely unrelated to work.

I use journaling mainly to help empty my head when there is a lot in it. I don’t expect every entry to produce an answer. Sometimes putting the thought somewhere is all I wanted to do.

Some evenings, I don’t fancy writing a whole story. I do, however, feel like drawing something or having a little scribble.

So that is what I do.

It doesn’t have to be beautiful. I’m making these pages for myself, and I don’t need the drawing to turn into anything in particular.

If words feel like too much, you could draw a few shapes, make a pattern around the date or write one word and doodle around it. You can leave the rest of the page empty.

Every so often, I’ll add a sticker, something I’ve found or a Post-it. I might save a saying I came across that day because it caught my attention. Those little additions make the journal feel personal to me.

There is no need to gather supplies for this. If something comes your way and you’d like to keep it, there can be a place for it between the pages.

I want to say this quite plainly, because I have several: you are allowed to have more than one journal.

You might like a small book for brief memories and another with space to draw. You might enjoy a gratitude journal sometimes and want a completely blank page at other times. You can also keep everything together if that is easier.

My own books don’t need to become a carefully managed system. Having several doesn’t mean I have to fill in several entries whenever I sit down.

If you’re starting out, one notebook is plenty. If you already own a few, you can use whichever you feel like opening. Nothing needs to be transferred, colour-coded or caught up before you begin.

When you spend much of the day choosing your words carefully, it can be lovely to have somewhere private to be a little less polished.

You can write that something was frustrating. You can acknowledge that you were pleased with yourself. You can change your mind halfway through a sentence.

A gratitude prompt is there if it appeals, but you don’t have to find a lovely lesson in a difficult afternoon. Equally, a small good thing is worth recording without a long explanation: a kind message, a particularly good coffee, something that made you laugh.

If you’re writing about work, keep other people’s confidential information out of your personal journal. A few words about your own thoughts are usually enough to capture what you wanted to explore.

There is room here for the rest of your life too. Your journal can hold the things that have nothing to do with your job title.

I don’t believe journaling needs the pressure of an unbroken daily routine.

If a daily moment suits you, enjoy it. If you reach for your journal only when you have something on your mind, that can be your way of using it.

You don’t have to account for the days in between. Open the book where you left off, add today’s date if you like, and start with whatever is there now. A dated page can stay blank.

This feels particularly worth remembering in January, when a fresh notebook can so easily become another resolution to keep up with. You can begin because you’re curious, because your head feels full or simply because you’d like somewhere of your own to write.

You’re allowed to discover what suits you as you go.