Attaining Motivation and Gratitude Through Journaling

One of my favorite life-enhancing habits is keeping a motivation and gratitude journal. This is the best part of my morning routine (besides time with my family). Writing in this type of journal has remarkable benefits: it sets the tone for the day, makes me happier, helps me see things clearly, and results in more accomplishments.

In this blog, I’ll share with you my daily system for using a journal. Maybe you’ll like the idea and want to try it yourself. Or maybe you’ll be inspired to create your own unique journal that’s perfect for you. Or perhaps you have another way of cultivating motivation and gratitude. In any case, I hope you find something here that makes you feel happy, free, effective, abundant, and highly motivated to make your goals reality.

My Favorite Journal Structure

I write in my motivation and gratitude journal almost every morning. I’ve kept this habit for about a year and half. My journal has a specific structured format: 3 Good Things, Lesson Learned, and Personal Goals.

It’s really easy, and it pays dividends.

Here’s an example:

Sunday 1.14.2018

3 Good Things:

1. My wonderful son.

2. I’m happy that I’m finally writing blog articles, after thinking about it for so long.

3. I’m feeling excited about life today.

Lesson Learned:

“The best insurance for a satisfactory future is to handle the present moment well.” -John A. Schindler in How to Live 365 Days a Year

Personal Goals:

• Visit my friend with my son at 1 pm.

• Trader Joe’s at 4 pm. Be thrifty. Meet friend. Text her at 3:30 pm.

• Update budget.

• Fill out well-baby paperwork.

• Finalize blog.

• Clear space on all three cameras.

• Morning/evening routines.

• Enjoy the sunny day.

It’s that simple.

A former sales coach inspired me to keep a journal in this specific format. She learned about journaling “3 good things” in a book called “The Happiness Factor.” This former colleague of mine started a closed Facebook group, which I joined, where members posted their journal entries to share with the group. I enjoyed sharing my thoughts and reading what others had to say about their lives. I stayed with the online group for about a year. Then about six months ago, I switched to a paper motivation and gratitude journal. This way I have a handwritten journal to refer back to, and I can write in it without going online. I found an awesome blank lined journal at the FedEx store that says, “The best way to predict the future is to create it” -Abraham Lincoln. Very fitting.

I’ve Made Journaling a Habit

I write in my journal almost 7 days a week, but I do skip some days.

Weekday Journaling Early in the Morning

Writing in my motivation and gratitude journal is a pleasant part of my weekday early morning routine, which looks like this: I prepare myself to wake up early by going to sleep around 9:30 pm the night before. This allows me to wake up really early, before my husband and son, so I can have some alone time, and write in my journal. I usually wake up around 4:30 am. These days, I almost never hit the snooze button. I get up right away, even though in the moment I never want to. But I’m able to get moving surprisingly easily, thanks to The 5 Second Rule, which I’ll write about in a future blog post.

I immediately go into my morning routine on autopilot, first putting on warm clothes which I keep right by my bed. Then I head downstairs to the kitchen. I don’t check social media or the Internet for at least half an hour. But I do allow myself to listen to an audiobook or podcast on a Bluetooth to engage my mind and stay awake. I prepare coffee, a green veggie-and-fruit smoothie, and some light breakfast.

It’s usually about now when my tiredness lifts, and I start feeling truly happy about being awake. I light a candle and partially dim the lights. I get out my journal and a fine pen, and listen to my intuition. I try to tune into my inner voice, universal intelligence, my true feelings, the heart of the matter, the deepest layer of the onion.

Then I write in my motivation and gratitude journal: 3 Good Things, a Lesson Learned, and Personal Goals. I enjoy this process. It puts me in a good frame of mind, it’s almost meditative, and gets me in touch with my most important values.

I usually copy my personal goals for the day onto a small piece of paper and carry it with me throughout the day. It keeps me on track, so I don’t get distracted, and I remember what’s important to me. This system works really well for me.

Weekend Journaling in a More Relaxed Way

On weekends I usually do a similar routine, but at a much slower pace. I generally sleep in as long my son will allow me, laze around with him and my husband over coffee and breakfast, and get to my motivation and gratitude journal by late morning. 

Sometimes I skip the journal for several days at a time. But I never give myself a hard time. So far, I always come back to it, because the abundant benefits I experience are so reinforcing.

Structured Journaling Versus Free-Format

I love keeping a journal with this simple structure, including 3 Good Things, a Lesson Learned, and Personal Goals, because it reinforces positivity, personal growth, and action.

I’ve tried other free-format journaling routines in the past. For example, I used to fill three journal pages every morning with anything that came to mind, which might be perfect for some people, but it was too much of a time commitment for me. Also, I sometimes had a tendency to complain and wallow. I didn’t like seeing all that negativity from my mind put on paper, for myself and potentially others to read and focus on. It didn’t help, and it didn’t feel good as a daily practice. I do occasionally make exceptions and write about challenges I’m dealing with, which can be therapeutic and help solve problems.

But for my morning routine, I prefer to stick to writing in this short, structured format, and I find a lot of freedom within it.

That’s what’s right for me. Every person is different and should journal, or not, in whatever way feels best to them. I’m just sharing what works for me, because the benefits have been wonderful.

Each Journal Topic Examined

My thoughts on each of the topics I write about in my motivation and gratitude journal, are as follows:

“3 Good Things”

Writing about three good things in my life everyday is transformative, over and over again. It makes me feel great and puts me in the habit of noticing and appreciating the abundance around me. It reminds me that I’m living the good life. It makes me feel lucky. Also, it becomes a written record of the good stuff I want to remember.

“Lesson Learned”

Life is full of lessons, new information, and surprising insights. It’s helpful to contemplate how everything is connected, and how it relates to my life. I find it helpful to put these important truths into words and internalize them.

“Personal Goals”

This is where I take everything I’m feeling and put it into action. It often looks like a short to do list with my intentions for the day. I love to do lists, because they help me get so much more done. In a world full of distractions, they keep me focused on my main objectives, and taking action on my priorities. I enjoy crossing items off the list.

If I don’t complete a goal on any given day, I usually decide to carry it over to the next day, but not always. It’s a good system. I think there’s something extremely powerful about writing down goals. I enjoy feeling motivated and accomplishing my carefully chosen goals.

Sometimes if I need some extra motivation, I write down a totally-frivolous reward (like watching an episode of The Bachelor or surfing Facebook) that I give myself upon accomplishing something. Or I use a timer, if I want to make sure I work on a specific task for a minimum length of time. Sometimes, especially on weekends, I loosely schedule my whole day. These strategies help me “tame the beast” that is me and regain self-control, which I’ll cover more in next week’s blog.

Journaling Results in More Accomplishments, Abundance, and Satisfaction

Overall, writing in a motivation and gratitude journal has been very helpful for my personal growth. It’s something I look forward to every morning. Even though I’m not naturally a morning person, it’s totally worth getting out of bed a little earlier. The payoff is huge. I feel more grateful, abundant, satisfied, enlightened, and also more fired up and effective.

I encourage you to start your own motivation and gratitude journal. Or begin your own customized journaling practice, if you don’t have one already. Do what feels right for you. I hope this idea brings abundance, accomplishment, and all kinds of good things into your life.

NEXT WEEK: MY THOUGHTS ON THE GOOD LIFE – “TAMING THE BEAST: TAKE CONTROL OF YOUR LIFE WITH DAILY ROUTINES”