3 Things to Write in Your Journal to Stay Focused This year
At the start of the new year, everyone jumps into planning mode and starts setting their goals for the year. This might cause anxiety as you start thinking about what might be ahead for you. It could also cause anxiety when you start feeling like you are being in setting your goals.
This is why I always recommend starting slow and easing into setting your goals. Sitting down on January 1st and just throwing some random goals onto paper, just to say you did it, is not the way to go.
You should really give thought to your goal planning and set the foundation first. Once you set the foundation for your year, all your goals will flow easily from there.
This post will guide you through 3 things to write in your journal to help you set your foundation. You can also grab my Goal Planning Worksheet to help as well. This goal planning worksheet prompts you to establish what is important to you and from there you will be able to create goals that are in alignment with those things.
Reasons to Write in Your Journal
You may be reading this and thinking to yourself, “I don’t even have a journal”. That is fine…keep reading. In a recent poll on my Instagram stories, I found that 75% of my audience wants to get started journaling this year. This was great news for me. Journaling is a healthy way to process your thoughts. It is also a great way to keep track of your goals, wins, losses, feelings, and all the happenings in your day-to-day life.
I try to make journaling part of my daily morning routine so I can set the stage for my day with a little reflection and centering my thoughts. When you choose to begin journaling, you can make it what you need it to be. I personally love being able to look back and read about how I was feeling or what I was going through on any given day. I especially love realizing prayers were answered that I was once writing about.
The things I am sharing in this post are the things I write on the first pages of my journal every year. Oh, I forgot to mention that I do get a new journal every year! Tip: find a full-sized journal with enough pages to last all year. Avoid the temptation to pick up every small notebook you see- but that’s a whole other post.
3 Important Things to Write in Your Journal
1. Word of the Year
The first thing I write in my journal is my Word of the Year. I have 2 words this year. It is really helpful for me to see these words and my description of how I want to live out each word this year. These words serve as a guide for my year and keep me focused. If you still need to set your words of the year you can get some help finding yours HERE. In case you’re wondering, my 2 words are authenticity and organize.
2. Crazy Faith Statements
The 2nd thing I write in my journal is my Crazy Faith Statements. I have 8 of them! They include things like being completely healed of Alopecia to getting a book deal. Now, you may not even be on board with the whole faith thing. However, you can replace the word faith with another word that works for you.
I am a strong believer in faith, so I am sticking with Crazy Faith Statements. Pastor Michael Todd talks about crazy faith all the time and it is basically the seemingly “crazy” things you are believing God to do in your life. These statements should include things that may even seem impossible, but you are still believing God to do for you.
3. Affirmative Scriptures
The 3rd thing I write in my journal is my affirmative scriptures. Again, you may not be into reading scriptures. You could stick to traditional affirmations if you want. Since I do love Bible scriptures, I like to attach my affirmations to specific scriptures that speak to me.
I take each scripture and turn it into a personal statement that I can apply to myself. For example, my first affirmative scripture is Psalm 90:17. In my journal, I rephrased it like this: The Favor of God is upon me, and He is establishing the work of my hands. You can do this with just about any verse.
Use scriptures that align with things such as how you want to grow this year, positive truths about yourself you want to remember, or challenges you want to overcome.
Each time I pull out my journal I read all 3 of these things out loud. I find that doing this keeps them at the forefront of my mind and helps me commit them to memory.
Final Thoughts
I hope this post inspires you to pick up your journal. I also hope you consider writing these 3 things in your journal and find that they help you throughout the year.
You can comment below if you plan to try this or if you have already tried it and want to tell me about your experience.
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