How Journaling Can Transform Your Life: A Complete Guide

Q: Why Journaling Is a Big Deal

- **Actions shape outcomes** – decisions stem from thoughts and feelings, which in turn drive actions. - Many people want goals like financial freedom but get stuck in mental loops of fear, anxiety, and self‑doubt. - Writing thoughts and feelings on paper removes most of their power, turning vague mental chatter into concrete data you can examine. - The mind is a *survival machine* focused on safety, not growth. Journaling forces the mind out of its comfort zone and into a growth‑oriented mindset.

Ali Abdaal

Jan 26, 2026

•

3 min read

YouTube video ID: nzZq7qtYHVM

Source: YouTube video by Ali Abdaal — Watch original video

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Introduction

The speaker shares a decade‑long journaling habit (since 2015) that he credits as the single most powerful habit reshaping his life. He promises three parts: why journaling matters, the three levels of journaling, and actionable steps to start right now.

Why Journaling Is a Big Deal

Actions shape outcomes – decisions stem from thoughts and feelings, which in turn drive actions.
Many people want goals like financial freedom but get stuck in mental loops of fear, anxiety, and self‑doubt.
Writing thoughts and feelings on paper removes most of their power, turning vague mental chatter into concrete data you can examine.
The mind is a survival machine focused on safety, not growth. Journaling forces the mind out of its comfort zone and into a growth‑oriented mindset.

The Psychology of Thoughts, Feelings, and Decisions

Thought → Feeling → Decision → Action
Unwritten thoughts (e.g., “Jane from HR will laugh at me”) amplify anxiety and block progress.
Externalizing thoughts reduces their emotional charge (often by ~95%).
By treating thoughts like clouds—observable and transient—you stop letting them dictate your life.

The Three Levels of Journaling

Level 1 – Daily Log (Beginner)

Write what you did today or yesterday.
Use the Homework for Life technique from Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks: capture the most story‑worthy moment of the day.
Benefits: builds habit, creates a memory archive, shows progress over years.

Level 2 – Thoughts & Feelings (Intermediate)

Morning Pages (Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way): three pages of free‑flow writing each morning.
No judgment, no audience – just dump whatever pops up.
Helps you notice recurring negative patterns, boosts creativity, and clarifies emotions.
Add a layer: label the feelings you’re experiencing (anxiety, excitement, frustration) and explore their origins.

Level 3 – Goals, Vision & Deep Insight (Advanced)

Write about long‑term goals, ideal future, and values.
Prompts such as “What would people say at your funeral?” or “Describe your ideal end‑state.”
Turns vague desires (e.g., “I want money”) into concrete motivations (e.g., “I want freedom to teach”).
Leads to actionable plans, systems, and a personal GPS for goal‑setting.

Actionable Tips to Start Journaling Today

Pick a physical journal you love – a nice‑looking notebook makes the habit enjoyable (e.g., Harry‑Potter themed, Moleskine, Leuchtturm1917).
Add a digital backup – apps like Day One let you scan pages, add photos, and search quickly.
Use prompts – the creator provides a free Google‑Doc of favorite prompts; start with one a day.
Leverage AI for prompts & reflection – ask Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc., for customized journaling questions or to analyze your entries.
Decide on habit vs. deep‑dive –
Daily habit: 2‑5 minutes, anywhere, shallow or deep as you feel.
Deep dive: 2‑4 hour “think‑day” retreat in a new location, no phone, focused prompts, yields breakthrough insights.

Tools & Resources Mentioned

Brilliant.org – interactive AI fundamentals courses (sponsored, 20% off premium). Helpful for building the analytical mindset that complements journaling.
Voice Pal – voice‑based journaling app with prompts, available on iOS and Android.
Day One – long‑standing digital journal app for hybrid physical/digital workflow.

Closing Thought

Journaling is not just a diary; it’s a systematic method to externalize thoughts, neutralize limiting emotions, clarify values, and build concrete plans that turn dreams into reality.

Consistently writing down your thoughts, feelings, and goals turns mental clutter into clarity, giving you the power to choose growth over safety and ultimately reshape your life.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Ali Abdaal on YouTube?

Ali Abdaal is a YouTube channel that publishes videos on a range of topics. Browse more summaries from this channel below.

Does this page include the full transcript of the video?

Yes, the full transcript for this video is available on this page. Click 'Show transcript' in the sidebar to read it.

Helpful resources related to this video

If you want to practice or explore the concepts discussed in the video, these commonly used tools may help.

Moleskine Classic Notebook Recommended

Provides a high‑quality, durable physical journal that makes the habit enjoyable, encouraging daily writing and long‑term consistency

Amazon →

Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook

Offers numbered pages and index sections ideal for structured journaling across the three levels, helping you track progress and reference past entries

Amazon →

The Artist's Way Julia Cameron

Introduces the Morning Pages technique, a proven method to clear mental noise and boost creativity, essential for intermediate journaling practice

Amazon →

Storyworthy Matthew Dicks

Teaches the Homework for Life exercise to capture daily story‑worthy moments, reinforcing the habit of daily logging and memory recall

Amazon →

Day One Journal App

Digital journaling companion that syncs across devices, lets you scan physical pages, and provides searchable archives for easy reflection

Amazon →

Links may be affiliate links. We only include resources that are genuinely relevant to the topic.

Summarize another video

Full Transcript YouTube

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to
the channel. This video is all about how
you can use journaling to change your
life. I have been journaling
consistently since 2015, pretty much
every day through a combination of
physical and digital format. And I found
that journaling has been the single
habit that has most positively impacted
my life because it's led to all of the
things that I've done over the last 10
years that have led to my life being
completely transformed. And I genuinely
think that if you haven't started
journaling yet, if you start doing it,
it will also drastically change your
life for the better. So, this video is
going to be split up into three parts.
Firstly, we're going to talk about why
journaling is a big deal and why it's
important in the first place. Secondly,
we're going to talk about the three
levels of journaling. And thirdly, I'm
going to share some actionable tips that
you can use to start applying journaling
to your life today if you want your life
to be changed. And if you're interested
in a totally free list of my favorite
journaling prompts, they'll be linked in
a Google doc down below. I keep that
updated and have done for years with my
favorite journaling prompts. So, you can
just download that and go if that's
[music] what you are into.
Now, the thing with journaling is that
you've probably come across it before.
You might even seen some of the videos
I've done on the channel about the
importance of journaling. But when I
speak to people around this, most people
know that they kind of should probably
maybe be doing some journaling, but they
are not doing it consistently. Or if
they are doing consistently, they're not
like seeing the results that they would
really like to get from journaling. So,
the key thing here is that it's pretty
uncontroversial to say that the actions
that you take dictate kind of your
outcomes in life, right? So you could
take positive actions that would lead
you on a good trajectory or you could
take actions that take you on a bad
trajectory like you know probably
scrolling Tik Tok for eight hours a day
is probably not helpful would probably
take you on a negative trajectory but
learning some high income skills and
choosing to start your business for
example might take you on a more
positive trajectory. All of this is the
action that we take upstream of the
action is a decision. So for example,
the decision I made to start this
YouTube channel in 2017 directly led to
the actions of me making YouTube videos
for the last like eight years and that
has had a very positive impact on my
life. As a result, I've became become
financially free and I'm able to do all
the fun things and you know this gets to
be my career which is amazing. So thank
you if you've been following the journey
for any length of time. But that all
stemmed from a decision to let's start a
YouTube channel, right? And so then the
question becomes like how does that
decision form? And that decision forms
as a result of thoughts and feelings and
beliefs. And in many ways, beliefs are
just the same thing as thoughts. They're
just thoughts that we take more
seriously than other thoughts. It
basically just comes down to thoughts
and feelings. Some combination of
thoughts and feelings leads to a
particular decision. And then that
decision leads to actions that change
your life. So for example, let's say you
want to become financially free. That is
a thought probably accompanied by some
kind of feeling. It's like a desire for
financial freedom. But loads of people
have the desire for financial freedom.
Almost no one actually does anything
about it and almost no one achieves the
result. So then you got to have the
thought of I want financial freedom. And
then you got to have a sort of feeling
of confidence or a feeling of like want
like actually wanting to do the things
that it takes to become financially
free. And then maybe you watch a video
of mine or you come across some content
that says starting a business is a good
route to financial freedom compared to
just trying to get ahead in your career
or whatever the thing might be. So
you're like, "All right, cool. Now you
have another thought which is I should
start a business. And then when you have
the thought of I should start a business
again loads of people have the thought
of I should start a business and yet
when I pulled people in my audience like
78% of you want to start a business but
you haven't yet started a business. So
there's another blocker that holds you
back and that would be another thought
in terms of like what business idea
should I pursue and then along this way
along the thought of I want financial
freedom I should start a business. the
thought of what business idea should I
pursue or that question in your mind.
This this is also accompanied by a lot
of different feelings and feelings are
also these other internal things that
you know internal bodily sensations that
we apply some kind of label to. So the
feeling of anxiety, the feeling of fear,
the feeling of like cringe at the
thought of like outing yourself as a
wannabe business owner, the feeling of
like oh but like am I going to have to
show my face? Am I going to have to
create content? Am I going to have to
speak to people? and like what if I get
rejected and all this sort of stuff and
all of these are feelings accompanied by
thoughts like thought feeling
combinations that block loads of people
in the world who have the thought of I
should start a business or I want
financial freedom. The thoughts and the
feelings block them from actually ever
taking action on doing the thing. Now
what the hell does all of this have to
do with journaling? Well, what it has to
do with journaling is journaling is
literally the process of writing down
your thoughts and your feelings and to
an extent your beliefs. And the thing
about thoughts and feelings in
particular thoughts like when they are
in your mind and they are not on paper
they have way more power over us. The
the thought of if I start my business
then my colleagues will laugh at me is a
thought that I hear a lot from students
in our lifestyle business academy which
is kind of like my online business
school. It tends to be like
professionals who are successful in
their in their day jobs and in their
lives who really want to start a
business to get to financial freedom but
they're really worried that their
colleagues will laugh at them if they
start posting on LinkedIn for example.
Now, saying that out loud, it seems
dumb, right? Like, why would you let the
thought of what Jane from HR thinks
about your business because you worked
with her 10 years ago, why would you let
that stop you from achieving financial
freedom? But when that thought is in the
mind and it's just like in our heads and
it's just sort of bouncing around, the
thought of like Jane from HR is going to
laugh at me, therefore everyone else
will laugh at me, therefore my manager
will laugh at me, therefore like I'm
going to lose my professional reputation
and my social status and therefore I'm
going to end up broke and homeless and
alone. And these are not like conscious
thought processes, but it tends to be
what the mind does because the mind is a
survival machine and it's geared towards
protecting us from bad things. It is not
at all geared towards helping us live
the life life of our dreams. The mind is
totally happy if we stay completely
miserable but in our comfort zone. In
our comfort zone of safety. The mind is
optimizing for safety, not for growth.
And in general, if you want to take
actions that optimize your life and take
you in a direction that you feel your
life has changed for the better, we want
to be optimizing for growth rather than
for safety. And so the mind is just not
the right tool to do this. One example
that I quite like is like, you know,
imagine you're trying to do something
complicated like designing a bridge.
Would you try and do that in your head?
Probably not, right? Like bridges are
very very complicated devices that
require loads of like engineering and ma
and like mathematics and like
architectural stuff and material science
and all that stuff goes together with
loads of people to make a bridge. They
don't do it in their heads. they put it
down on paper, right? And so if you're
trying to calculate a complex
mathematical equation, of course you
would put it down on paper. And yet
loads of us just never put our thoughts
and feelings on paper. We have them in
our heads at all times. And then what
happens is that those thoughts and
feelings run rampant and start running
going down rabbit holes and stuff. We
end up making decisions as a result of
those, but because we're doing them
subconsciously, we don't realize that
like anxiety and fear and cringe and
like the fear of rejection and like what
are people going to say and all that
kind of stuff. We just don't realize
that that stuff is holding us back from
achieving our dreams. And so when you
start journaling, going back to
journaling, when you start journaling,
which is literally the process of
writing down your thoughts and your
feelings when you write them down, I am
not starting my business because I am
worried that Sarah from accounting will
laugh at me. You write that down and
suddenly that particular thought loses
like 95% of its power. And be like,
Sarah, really? Am I am I really going to
let what Sarah from accounting thinks
like stop me from achieving financial
freedom? That's just dumb. And
then you can kind of see your thoughts
for what they are. Most of us, unless we
have a journaling practice or a
meditation practice, which is sort of
somewhat similar in that it has somewhat
similar effects to an extent. Unless you
have a strong journaling or meditation
practice, you probably take your
thoughts way too seriously. And so when
you have thoughts and you get into these
rabbit holes, you are allowing those
thoughts which are really just, you
know, thoughts are not real. It's kind
of like the cloud in the sky, right?
Like I mean, yeah, there's a cloud
that's gone by. I currently have the
thought of like, oh, lunchtime's in an
hour. I was like, who cares? There's a
cloud going there. there's a car going
there. Like it's all just it's all just
stuff, right? And unless you journal or
meditate or both, ideally, you will take
those very seriously. And you will allow
your thoughts, which are simply patterns
of energy in the neurons in your mind,
you will allow those to dictate your
actions and your decisions. And
therefore, you end up on a trajectory
where you're living with regret because
you never pursued your dreams because
you allowed fear to get in your way and
stuff. So basically, that's a long
roundabout way of saying that
journaling, i.e. Writing down thoughts
and feelings is really really important
if you want to change your life. Now, in
other exciting news, as you might have
heard, uh my team and I are currently
building an online business school
called the Lifestyle Business Academy,
and we're iterating on things at a
pretty fast pace. Now, one of the big
perks of having so many students going
through our program is that we now have
a ton of [music] data points and moving
parts to manage, including content and
feedback and workflows and automations.
And all of that gets way easier when you
understand how to use AI properly. And
something that has really helped me and
the team with this is Brilliant, who are
very kindly sponsoring this video. They
have these fantastic interactive courses
on the fundamentals of AI. Things like
how the AI large language models works,
how to think about algorithms, how to
break problems down. And all of this has
been very interesting to learn about,
but has also had a tangible impact on
how we are using AI to run our business
more effectively. The thing I love about
Brilliant is that they don't just teach
you theory. It's actually a hands-on
approach to problem solving that
genuinely changes how you approach your
work. And so, as you're going through
the content, like you're watching the
stuff and the explanations and then
you're actually applying them in
practice. And that gives you these
little aha moments which is great for
building the kind of intuition that
research shows is way more effective
than just traditional kind of
lecture-based learning. The platform
also adapts to you at the right level.
So it gives you personalized practice
and it nudges you forward at exactly the
pace you need. So if you would like to
become a better thinker and also reach
some serious learning goals along the
way, head over to brilliant.org/aliadal
or scan the QR code on screen or click
the link in the description and that
will also get you 20% off the annual
premium subscription. So thank you so
much Brilliant for sponsoring the video
and let's get back to it. Okay, so now
we get to how do you actually do this?
And I think of this as the three levels
of journaling. Level one is great for
complete beginners to journaling and
it's super super easy. You just write
down what you did today. So either in
the morning you can write down what you
did yesterday or in the evening you can
write down what you did today. And there
is a fantastic book by a lovely chap
called Matthew Dixs called Storyworthy.
And there is a strategy in that book
called Homework for Life. And it's
basically a book about like how to tell
better stories. But it's more than about
that. It's just it's one of my favorite
books of all time. Anyway, the idea
behind Homework for Life is at the end
of every day, you just ask yourself,
what was the most storyw worthy moment
that happened today? And then you just
sort of write down what it might be. And
if you can't think of anything that was
storyw worthy, it doesn't matter. You've
got to come up with something like what
was just one thing that happened in your
day that was at least slightly
interesting or at least slightly more
interesting than everything else. Even
if you have a really boring life, you
have to come up with something. And that
is a great journaling practice because a
it's amazing for being able to actually
relive your own memories because our
memories are in many ways what we retire
on. And so when you go back through your
journals like I've got journals over
here from like years I've been
journaling regularly since 2015. So now
I have like 10 years worth of journal
entries where you know if I do them on
an app I can see sort of on this day in
2015 on this day in 2014 this is what I
was thinking. This is what happened. And
reliving those memories is generally
quite nice because it's quite nostalgic
because it's been a while. And it's also
nice because it lets you see how far
you've come. So at the very basic level,
this doesn't require you to open up
about your feelings or about your
childhood trauma or anything like that.
You literally just write out what you
did today. Then you have the next level
of journaling, which is you write out
what you are thinking. Now there is a
technique from Julia Cameron's book, The
Artist's Way, called morning pages,
which is amazing. Loads of people swear
by it. And the idea behind morning pages
is that every morning you just write out
three pages. You can do less than three
if three is too if three is too many.
You're just literally writing down
whatever is coming to your mind. So, I
like to start out my morning pages when
I do it with today is going to be a
great day because and then I just keep
writing. And then the idea is you just
keep writing. You don't judge what
you're writing. No one else has to read
what you're writing. You're not writing
for publication. You are merely just
writing out stuff that comes to your
mind. And you generally find that in the
process of doing this as you build the
connection between the thoughts that are
happening in your brain and what your
pen is saying or if you're typing it
out. Technically, she says you should
write it out by by hand, but sometimes
that's annoying. So, I do type it out.
Sorry, Julia. Apologies. As you develop
that connection between actually being
able to type out or write out what
you're thinking, you actually get a lot
of insight into your thought processes,
you start to realize that, wait a
minute, the thoughts that I keep
thinking are actually kind of negative.
Huh, it's interesting. Why am I talking
to myself like that? You also, if you
have any kind of creative practice, any
kind of like if you're creating content
or trying to write a book or trying to
do any art or anything that involves
creating and putting anything out there
into the world, often the process of
like getting your thoughts out on paper
can really help with your creativity as
well. Then as a sort of addition to
that, instead of just writing what
you're thinking, you also write what you
are feeling and trying to put your
feelings into words. Again, this is just
super super helpful. It gives us a lot
of self-awareness about the feelings
that we all have. We are all
experiencing different feelings at
different times of the day. It is
remarkable just how much our feelings
subconsciously dictate our decisions and
our actions. And so being again being
able to write it out, huh, I'm currently
feeling a little anxious. Why am I
feeling a little anxious? I feel a sense
of like franticness that's sort of just
coming into my life. I feel like I'm
maybe running out of time and that's
leading to a feeling of like agitation
and franticness that if I don't do all
the things then I don't know something
bad will happen. Now that thought
process or that feeling process in our
brains and in our bodies will run
rampant and we'll just be like a little
stressed a little on edge at risk of
burnout without realizing it. But as
soon as you start journaling and you
write write it out and put it on paper
you can be like huh that's interesting.
Why do I act as if I'm running out of
time? Am I running out of time? Well,
no, not really. I wonder where that
thought comes from. And then what
happens is that you start like
approaching your thoughts and your
feelings kind of like a detective or
like an investigator. You're like, huh,
it's interesting that I have the
thought, this video sucks right now
because I don't have any scientific data
in it. Hm, I wonder where that thought
comes from. Maybe that comes from
thinking that like the only value I have
to add as a YouTuber is in like whether
I add scientific data to my videos. Huh,
that's interesting. Is that true? In the
process of journaling, you're sort of
like having the sort of conversation
with yourself, but you're not having the
conversation with yourself in your head
where it's very easy for it to get to
derail into like negativity and stuff.
You're having the conversation with
yourself on paper or copy paste into
chat and then get an analysis from Chad
or Claude or whatever. All of this just
gives you way more insight into your own
thought patterns and your own feeling
patterns. And then level three, I think,
is that once you're able to do that kind
of stuff, which is it's not that hard,
you then start journaling about your
goals and your plans. Now, this is where
I really like journaling, right? Like
there's a lot of value in journaling in
just being able to write out what you're
feeling. But for me as a productivity
bro who cares about like goal
achievement and like getting places like
becoming financially free or whatever.
You then start writing about your goals
and plans. You then start writing like
okay cool. I've written out what I've
done today. I've done my morning pages
whatever thing thinking and feeling. And
then at some point you'll start writing
about the future. You might see a
journaling prompt that says something
like you know what would you like people
to say at your funeral? And you're like
huh that's an interesting question. What
would I like people to say at my
funeral? Well, at my funeral, most
people don't won't really care about
like my sort of achievements. They're
not really going to care how much money
I have. But at my funeral, you know,
people generally talk about service and
they talk about character. So, hm,
what's the kind of service that I would
like to offer to people or to the world?
What's the kind of character I'd like to
develop? And now you are in the mode of
processing where you're actually able to
make sensible decisions about what you
want to do with your life. You might
come across a journaling prompt. What
does your ideal end state look like?
Like imagine you've achieved everything
you want. What does your day-to-day look
like? You're like, "Huh, I've never
thought about that." Okay, let's imagine
I have achieved everything I want. Let's
imagine I have started that business or
got that promotion or gotten them, you
know, gotten married, had the kids,
etc., etc. What then? What would I
actually be spending my time doing? I'm
like, well, maybe, you know, I I just I
really like to do standup comedy. Oh,
interesting. Where did that thought come
from? Like, yeah, I'd really like to do
standup comedy. That would be really
interesting. Or I'd really like to write
songs or like release my own album or
whatever that that thing might be. often
like we don't give ourselves permission
to think [music] in those sorts of ways
because we are so fixated on what's the
next thing that I have to do. A lot of
us are running through life, ticking
things off a to-do list, acting as if
our time is running out and we're so
focused on like just getting through the
day and just getting the stuff ticked
off and like removing the these sources
of stress from our lives like like I've
got to pay the electricity bill, got to
pay the water bill, a like the
radiator next door is broken so I got to
call a plumber about that, etc., etc.,
etc. that when you journal even for 5
minutes or 10 minutes and you do it
consistently, you get distance [music]
from the day-to-day and you can start
thinking about the future and you can
start asking yourself what do I actually
want? That is like one of the key things
that I have personally gotten through
journaling over the years [music]
just a better sense of what do I
actually want? Because if you really
figure out what you want and you know,
not in terms of like I want a
Lamborghini or I want a yacht or
whatever, but like what you
intrinsically want, what you
intrinsically want or value, you can
then start to make decisions that take
your life closer in alignment to what
you want and what you value. And so you
might think that you want a lot of
money, but in the process of journaling,
you might realize that like, okay, well,
what would I do with the money if I had
it? You might realize that what you
would do is that you just want freedom.
You want freedom to be able to spend
your time however you want. And then
you're like, all right, cool. So it's
not really money I want. It's more like
team freedom that I want. And then
you're like, okay, but like why do I
want the freedom, right? Like what would
I do if assuming I had all the money and
all the freedom? How would I spend my
time? And you might land on something
like I did that like, you know what, I
would really just focus on teaching. I
just really like teaching. I like, oh,
interesting. Teaching is the thing that
I want to do. Like that kind of thought
process was what helped me realize that,
you know, my career as a doctor wasn't
really for me. And I realized that like
the most enjoyment I ever had in as a
doctor was when either I was learning
something new [music] or I was teaching
something. So I'm like, huh, that's
interesting. like learning and teaching
are the things that I seem to want. Is
that true? And then do some journaling,
figure that out based on like, yeah,
actually a lot of the past experiences
of fulfillment in my life have been
involved either when I've been learning
something new or I've been teaching
something. So, I don't really care about
the money for the sake of the money. I
care about the money because the money
gets me freedom and the freedom lets me
teach. Oh, okay. So, maybe that's what I
want. I want the freedom to learn and
teach on my own terms. And so, that kind
of insight can come through journaling.
It can come through like having a life
coach. It can come through talking about
your thoughts and feelings to like an AI
model and you know hopefully it's
guiding you somewhat guiding you in the
right direction. All of it requires
externalizing your own thoughts and your
own feelings because when they are
internal there's not much we can do with
them and we end up going in all these
sorts of different places but
externalizing them in any way be it
through journaling or through talking to
an AI which is kind of basically
journaling or talking to a life coach
which is basically just like journaling
out loud and they're just asking you
questions. All of that is getting at the
question of what do I actually want? And
then once you figure out what you want,
then you turn it into a goal. You turn
it into a plan. You turn it into a
system to follow the plan. This is sort
of like my GPS uh method for goal
setting. Uh which will be linked up
there and down there if you're
interested in learning more about it.
And it's all based on what do you
actually want? I have people who come up
to me at my events a lot being like,
hey, how do I figure out what to do with
my life? Or questions like that. And my
first question is often, have you tried
journaling about it? And often the
answer is no, not really. Or like, oh
yeah, I've been meaning meaning to, but
I haven't really got around to it. It is
remarkable how much clarity you can get
by just setting a 10-minute timer and
just asking yourself a question and then
just typing out whatever comes to mind
or speaking out whatever comes to mind
as a response. If you're interested in
an app to help you with that, my team
and I have built a tool called Voice
Pal, which is kind of like voice- based
journaling or note-taking. You just go
for a walk. It's got a few journaling
prompts within it as well, and you can
just like pick a prompt and you can just
like speak out whatever you want.
That'll be linked down below. It's on
the App Store. It's on Android. People
are loving it. It's great. You should
check it out if you would like.
Okay, so that was a lot of theory. Let's
now talk about the actionable tips. What
are the things you can tangibly
actionably do to start incorporating
journaling into your life so that you
can change your life. Number one, I
would say get a physical journal.
These are just some of the physical
journals that I have had over the years.
Um, I got a new one recently. Basically,
I just love getting Harry Potter themed
journals. So, this is like a Ravenclaw I
got
Ravenclaw sculpted journal. I got this
from South Africa.
Um, oh, I got this one. This is one that
I got. Um, I think this was from London.
Expectto Patronum. Another Harry Potter
Moleskin like journal. It's just nice
having a nice journal. I think a lot of
people would do more journaling. Where's
Where's the other one? Ah, here we go.
We got some more here.
More journals. Like, you know, when
you've been journaling for a while, then
you you just end up collecting like
journals and stuff and it's just super
cool. Like, this was my experiment with
like bullet journaling where I was like,
w so much stuff in here. It's really
cool. Basically, get a physical journal
that you feel good about using. The
whole concept behind my book, Feel Good
Productivity, is that we are far more
likely to do things and to do things
better if we feel good about doing them.
And so, when I bust out my cute
bluepecto patronum type journal, then I
feel good and I'm much more likely to
actually journal as a result. So, I
would say just go on Amazon, go to your
local shop and get a nice cute physical
journal that you feel good about writing
in. Actionable tip number two is I would
recommend also having a digital journal
of some description. And so you can use
some kind of journaling app for that.
Apple has a built-in free journaling
app. The one I've been using for
literally years is called Day One. I've
been using that basically every week
since like 2014ish. And so when you use
an app, it's also nice because I tend to
photograph and scan in pictures of my
physical journal. So I sort of do a
physical and digital hybrid here. And
it's really cool because then you can
look back on stuff super easily rather
than having to bust out the journals and
then like find find stuff. So yeah,
having an app generally quite helpful.
Action number tip number three is to get
a list of prompts. If you're a beginner
to journaling, actually just having some
good prompts is a very good way of
getting started. And I have linked my
own favorite journaling prompts for free
down below if you want to check them
out. It's in Google doc that I keep
updated with my with my favorite
journaling prompts. Actionable tip
number four, and maybe this should have
been number one, is that these days it's
never been easier to start because you
can always just talk to an AI. My
favorite AI for this is Claude because I
freaking love Claude, but you can use
Claude, you can use ChachiPT, you can
use Grock, you can use Deepsee, you can
use Po, you can use freaking Gemini, you
can use whatever you want. You can
literally talk to any AI tool and you
can say, I am interested in getting
started with journaling. Can you give me
some interesting prompts? And it will
give you some interesting prompts. And
then you can just talk to the AI and you
can do your journaling in that way if
you are just getting started with it.
Final thing I want to talk about is
journaling as a daily habit versus
journaling as a deep dive. So the daily
habit form of journaling when I
personally do it is like you know
somewhere between two and 5 minutes per
day. I don't do it every day. I just do
it most days where I'll get the
notification from day one the app or
I'll go down to the local coffee shop
with my little Harry Potter journal
thing and while drinking a coffee just
do some journaling. That's like a nice
daily type thing and I can kind of go as
shallow or as deep on that as I would
like. I think that's quite nice. It's
quite a nice way of building the habit
and maintaining the habit. But what's
really cool about journaling and if you
really really want to make specific
tangible changes to your life is setting
out time like you know half a day like
or even a couple of hours go to a new
location take some journaling prompts
with you [music] and you know without
getting distracted by your phone
actually just taking 2 hours to almost
do a mini retreat with yourself like a
mini personal discovery or
self-discovery type retreat where in the
process of going to a new location
outside of like your normal experience
and taking some journaling prompts with
you with a notebook and not getting
distracted with your phone, you're able
to genuinely have insights into your
life that help you make decisions that
help you set goals. And those goals
ultimately lead to plans and systems and
then you take the actions that
ultimately changes your life. And if
you're interested in the specific
approach of how to do journaling and
this deep dive method, I have a video
over here that talks about the think day
approach to journaling. And it's a video
where I take you through my own process
for journaling across a period of like 4
hours. Don't worry, the video is not 4
hours long, but I take you through my
own process of journaling as I go to
like a new place here in Hong Kong where
I live and I share with you my top 10
journaling prompts that I really in
particular love for like the think day
approach to journaling. So, that'll be
linked right over there. Thank you very
much for watching and I'll see you in
the next video. Come back.