The Art of Journaling: How To Start Journaling, Benefits of Journaling, and More

"We do not learn from experience…we learn from reflecting on experience."

• Research reveals that people who journal have a 25% increase in performance when compared to people who do not journal.
• Journaling helps improve well-being after traumatic and stressful events.
• Journaling improves communication skills. Writing reflects clear thinking, and in turn, clear communication.
• Journaling before bed decreases cognitive stimulus, rumination, and worry, allowing you to fall asleep faster.
• Reflective writing reduces intrusive and avoidant thoughts about negative events.

• You can bring your problems to a journal. Journaling is you figuring things out and clearing your head.
• Leave your destructive thoughts in your journal. We all carry around destructive thoughts about the things that went wrong. Instead of holding our thoughts in our head, we can put it down on paper.
• Keep a journal for your grandchildren. Fifty years from now, our own notebooks will be around to astonish and inspire our grandchildren, unlike our tweets and Facebook posts.
• Journal for your future self. Produce something that you can look back on and learn from.

Forget all the rules others impose about a journal. Do what works for you.

Marcus Aurelius seems to have done his journaling first thing in the morning. He would note what he was likely to face in the day ahead.

Putting his own thinking down on paper let him see it from a distance. It gave him objectivity amidst anxiety and frustrations that flooded his mind.

• Seneca did most of his journaling and reflection in the evening. He examined his entire day and would go back over what he said and done, hiding nothing. Then he would ask himself whether his actions had been just and what he could improve.
• Winston Churchill would not go to bed having not created, written or done anything that moved his life forward.

Write down what strikes you, quotes that motivate you, stories that inspire you for later use in your life, business, writing, speaking, or whatever it is that you do.

Tobias Wolf wrote that he had a separate journal he called a "commonplace book" that is a collection of quotes, ideas, stories and facts he wanted to keep for later. He said it made him a much better writer and a wiser person.

• Ludwig van Beethoven was rarely seen without his notebook. Even when he was enjoying a beer with friends, he might suddenly pull out his notebook to jot down an idea that just occurred to him, creating a treasure of ideas.
• Pliny the Younger wrote that even on a hunting trip, he would think something out and make notes. He said that one should not look down on a mental activity of this kind, as "it is remarkable how one's wits are sharpened by physical exercise."

The bullet journal method, or BuJo, is a tool to help us to declutter our minds.

BuJo is a mindfulness practice with the goal of intentional living. It is weeding out distractions and focusing your time and energy on what's truly meaningful in your work and personal life. All you need to get started is a blank notebook.