“It doesn’t matter how slow you go, as long as you don’t stop”
- UNKOWN
If you are new to journaling, opening my book (or any prompt book) and seeing six prompts on each page may make you close the book again! Please don’t put the book down. Just because there are several prompts on a page, doesn’t mean you have to jump in and answer all the questions from day one. It’s okay to choose one prompt per day until you get into the swing of things.
It can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a habit, and according to Atomic Habits (written by James Clear), you are more likely to commit to a new habit if you make it easy and appealing. Journaling is something that is intended to be a daily habit…so making it less overwhelming gives you a better chance at succeeding at this new habit.
As mentioned before, my book contains one unique prompt for each day, as well as five repetitive. Even though the prompts are there to guide you and move you through your journaling journey, it is your journey, so do what is right for you. Here are a few ideas of how you could start.
Starting with your daily affirmation is easy…once you’ve decided on what you need to remind yourself of. It is recommended that you repeat the same daily affirmation daily for at least 30 days…or whenever you feel like it has made an impact and you are ready to move on. That’s one month of writing the same sentence…how easy is that?! If I was to choose this option, I would probably add the next option too for a little extra challenge!
Choose to answer one of the repetitive prompts. Although these prompts are thought-provoking, they will not require as much deep thinking…you will be reflecting on your day rather than your whole life. And because they are repetitive, you know what prompt is coming, so you can think about it throughout your day and not just when you open your book and write.
Start with the daily unique prompts. These prompts are designed to make you think about your past experiences, future goals and who you are as a person. They may take more time to answer, but this is where most of your personal growth will happen.
Whenever you feel ready to more prompts to your day, do just that. All the prompts are there to help you but be sure to take the help on your own terms and in your own time to ensure success in keeping the habit and discovering yourself.
I started by answering the unique prompts because that was all that was available within the prompt book that I chose to use. I slowly added other prompts (the repetitive prompts you will find in my book) to further my journey and growth.
Does one prompt at a time sound more manageable to you or are you the kind of person to just jump in and do them all?
