Personalized Journal
A journal is already a personal thing, but do you know that you can still make it more personal? You can do so by customizing it in a way that it would suit and fit to your current and personal needs. Most journals come in blank sheets where it is up to you on how you are going to fill it and instead of just filling it out as is, you can transform and customize it in a way that it would motivate you to keep your daily journal writing.
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Keeping a Personalized Journal
1. Start with basic main contents
Before you should start customizing your journal, you should make sure that you have already listed down the basic main contents of your journal which may include the calendar, monthly spread, your daily or weekly class goals, or even that simple daily journal entry page.
This is important especially if you are just starting out with journal writing so that you will not be overwhelmed once you would already be starting to customize your journal according to your needs. Keep in mind that you should start small before you would start getting into something that is more complicated.
2. Make it your personal space
If there is only one thing that you should remain in your head after reading this article, this is it. When it comes to journaling, you actually have nothing to worry. There are no specific rules when it comes to personalized journal writing. Just get rid of all your expectations in your head when you are to personalize your journal and own it. Make it your personal space by putting whatever you want as long as it gives you satisfaction.
Do not worry if you do not have a specific journal entry for the day. You can just doodle, create a quote wall and doodle around it, write a journal entry and doodle on it, practice typography, collect stickers, and test your new pens.
3. Feeling Uncreative?
No matter how you want to pursue daily journal writing, there are days when you just feel uncreative or that your creative juices are simply not coming out of you. When you are currently experiencing this, it is entirely okay and it is normal to feel that way.
You have two options when you have this dilemma: first, just skip writing altogether and second, just write random things that would pop in your mind. There’s a thing that we call as free writing. Free writing is a pre-writing technique used commonly by prose writers and writing teachers when they would just write continuously for a set period of time without really minding their spelling, grammar, and even a specific topic. When you apply free writing on your journal, you will be able to produce raw material. Oftentimes, what you will be able to produce are unusable material; however, it can certainly help you block that annoying voice of self-criticism and just write whatever your want to write until you feel creative again.
4. Make it as your lifestyle
Do you know that your journal is very flexible? It’s flexible to a point that it could serve as your planner. When you would incorporate your daily planning on your journal, it will soon become a part of your lifestyle, and eventually your lifestyle. Making your journal as your lifestyle is one of the ways that could help you in personalizing your journal.
Here are some ways of making your journal your lifestyle:
- write down your daily class or work schedule
- your work meetings or projects
- have a healthy food list along with recipes
- your pantry, refrigerator, or cupboard inventory
- fitness tracker, which may include your calorie tracker and exercise tracker
There are a lot of other ways that you can make your journal your lifestyle, just make sure it meets your life’s needs.
5. Make it your companion
Most people would treat their journals as the thing that keeps their life together. This is wrong on so many levels because it is you who should make your life better and your journal is just one of the tools that you use that could help you in doing so. You should make your journal your companion in your pursuit to a better life. Whatever you do in your life, it would feel great if you would have a companion that could help you face all of your daily struggles and not someone who would solve those struggles for you because that is simply impossible when it is your life to live.
For instance, you are a student, and as a student, you may already have an inkling that a student life also means that it is a life filled with schoolwork. This is where journal can come in and be a good companion to you by making sure you would write all of your to-do lists and tasks for school. You can even include your class schedule, list down your number of hours spent on studying and the areas that you should study, and you can even include some motivational words of advice so that you will be able to perform excellently as a student.
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Weekly Personalized Journal Example
Personalize Your Journal to a Whole New Level
Who says journal personalization stops at the written content? Take it to the next level by amping it up to the next level by simply adding design elements that could spice up your boring journal entries.
Here are some ways on how to do so:
1. Create a grand entrance using dashboards
Your journal dashboard is the first thing or page that you see as you open your journal. Most people would add printed inspirational or motivational quotes since it is one of the best ways to make one’s journal a personal one.
You can opt for other dashboard content ideas aside from the typical inspirational quotes.
2. Add dividers to organize your journal entry contents
It is by having dividers that would really make your journal personalized since you are creating a divider that suits to your personal needs. You could have various content in your journals such as to-do lists, plans, a narrative of what happened in your day, schedule, and even your list of goals. And if you would just randomly put the content in your journal entry page, it would be chaotic.
Your dividers could be as simple as lines that would set one part from another and you may use colorful pens in doing so. You can also make use of stickers and washi tapes if you want a pop of color.
3. Add decorations for a pop of color
Stickers and washi tapes are one of the best ways to decorate your journal because it does not make your journal bulky. For example, you are going to have a catching-up meeting with your old friends over coffee, you can put on a cup of coffee sticker on your journal entry page. You could also make use of washi tapes as borders so that your journal entry page would not look too plain.
Having decorations on your journal entry page can definitely boost up your motivation in order to continue with what you are doing, which is daily journaling.
4. Need more space? Sticky notes to the rescue!
Do you have a lot of entries on a single day but you just could not dare to fill out the next page because it is the page for the following day? Do not worry because sticky notes can help you with that. Sticky notes come in various shapes and sizes that will definitely cater to your needs. If you want an additional big space, you can make use of the standard square-shaped sticky note and stick it on your journal entry page. You would not have to worry about getting the page ripped because sticky notes are easy to remove and it causes no damage to the page at all.
Aside from that, you can also make use of sticky notes for highlighting some contents on your journal entry since there are sticky note tabs that can easily help you in highlighting items.
5. Do not hesitate to add miscellaneous elements
The miscellaneous elements are the ones you insert on your journal entry page. These may include pockets or envelopes where you can place your thoughts and notes for the day. You can also insert some wallet-sized photos or Polaroid photos of the events that happened throughout your day, and you can insert the list of things you have to remember.
Having to insert miscellaneous elements in your journal makes it more personalized since you are the sole controller of your journal.
Do not be afraid of being adventurous when it comes to your journal because, keep in mind, it is your belonging and you can do whatever you want to do with it. There’s nothing wrong in making a personal belonging more personal. If it makes you happy, then, by all means, have it your own way. You may also be interested in Daily Journal Examples.
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