Here's What I Did To Journal Every Single Day Without Fail

Do you struggle to cultivate a habit?

Do you need something to stay accountable when it comes to building new habits?

Then this post is for you.

I started writing morning pages in 2018 but since July 2019, I wrote them every day until the November of 2020 when the time for my wedding came near.

I quit my beloved practice of morning journaling as I got busy in my wedding preparations and settled in a whole new home, family, and life.

I really wanted to go back to writing daily morning pages but I just could not make time for myself.

It became easier to give in to situations than make time for journaling.

But today, I completed one year of writing morning pages every day without fail after restarting my daily practice in April last year.

When emotions started taking a toll on my mental health and I found no outlet, I decided to go back to my journal and write anything, even if meant writing a sentence or two, every day.

I didn't call it my morning pages journal. I named it my 'daily pages' journal.

But this time, I didn't want to quit this powerful practice in any way. So, I decided to write the number of days along with the day, date, and time on my daily journal entries.

Why It Made A Difference?

I am not a Snapchat user but I have heard that people go to any extent to maintain 'streaks' on it.

Writing the number of days, e.g. day 1 on the first day of journaling, day 2 on the second, day 3 on the third and so on, helped me to first create a streak.

And although I'm not a Snapchat user, I love maintaining streaks, especially if they are for my own good.

A habit tracker could have worked too but writing the day count on each day's entry gave me a certain kind of joy.

When I wrote 366 today, it just felt so so good! It also helps me to track my 100 days of journaling, 200 days milestones, etc. which I really wanted to do ealier.

Though I didn't write morning pages for 5-6 months in between, I'd still say that I have been writing morning pages for about 3 years now.

Life keeps getting in the way and I think I'll have to discontinue them again in a few months but I'd still continue to count days the way I do now.

So, next time, if you have a hard time cultivating a new habit or routine, just start maintaining a streak.

After one point, it becomes too hard to want to break the streak. You don't get the lost time back, do you?

You may read more about morning pages and journaling here.

I love journaling and also love to share more and more about it. Kindly drop in comments any questions you have regarding journaling or topics that you want me to write on.

You may grab my book Trusting God: The Path Of Least Resistance to know how journaling takes me closer to God.