I have always kept a journal. Writing down my thoughts and feelings just came naturally. Unfortunately, making journaling a daily habit didn’t. In fact, for years my New Year’s resolution would be to journal every day. Spoiler alert: I never made it past the first week—instead, I would journal in a less consistent way during the weeks that followed. I figured it was due to my lack of discipline, but it turns out I might have just been journaling at the wrong time. According to psychologist Dr. Kathryn Smerling, there actually is a best time to journal, especially if you want to make it a daily habit.
Of course, writing down your thoughts and feelings is not a one-size-fits-all practice. “It’s your journal,” Dr. Smerling stresses to Parade. “There are no expectations.”
It’s a creative endeavor with absolutely zero rules. It can be used as a way to set intentions for the day, digest what just happened, pray or meditate, or simply as a spot to keep your most random thoughts.
Whatever your main goal, the psychologist shares that “journaling makes you grow, it really does.” She continues, adding that by putting pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard), “you’re giving yourself a chance to expand yourself.”
Journaling gives you a place to grow, whether you like to write in the morning, at night or any time in between. That said, Dr. Smerling still recommends writing down your feelings at this exact time of day—here’s why.
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The Verdict: What Is the Best Time of Day To Journal?
Dr. Smerling is a fan of breaking out a journal first thing in the morning “when you’re fresh and you just woke up.” Why?
“That’s when you’re most alert—after a whole night’s sleep,” she tells Parade.
Now, I wouldn’t describe myself as “alert” when I wake up in the morning, but Dr. Smerling sees this as an advantage.
“Your head hasn’t begun to fill up with all kinds of intrusions that come from a hectic daily life,” she notes, which makes it the perfect time for stream of consciousness writing that won’t be muddled with the stresses of the day. “You’re not ruminating yet. You’re not pouring over the myriad of information that we get on a daily basis.”
The Psychology of Morning Journaling: Brain Dumping vs. Goal Setting
As previously noted, people don’t always journal for the same reason, but generally speaking, people who like to write in the morning tend to do it for two main reasons: brain dumping and goal setting.
Brain dumping
Journaling first thing in the morning is a great way to clear your mind before the day by, well, dumping out all your thoughts so they don’t hang around and impede your day—or, as Dr. Smerling calls it, “ziplocking.”
“Ziplocking means that you want to be able to get up and write almost a stream of consciousness in your journal—whatever that may be,” she explains. “And then ziplocking means to close it, put it away until the next morning.”
Goal setting
If you prefer to use your journal to set priorities or plan, then doing so in the morning is a great time to set your goals or intentions for the day. Journaling, Dr. Smerling says, “does help you focus a lot,” which makes it the perfect time to plan out your day. Plus, she adds, writing down your intentions makes them more concrete and doable, so you’re more likely to follow through.
“Journaling is an excellent way for you to stop the ruminations and stop the rat cycle of thinking about the same thing all the time,” she tells Parade. “When you write things down, they become concrete.”
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Morning vs. Evening Journaling: Which One Fits Your Goals?
If your goal is to make journaling a regular part of your life, then Dr. Smerling suggests you don’t stress too much about when in the day you focus on your writing. If you’re a morning person, try journaling in the morning. If you’re a night owl, you can try it at night. In fact, she recommends experimenting with both when you journal and how you journal to find what works best for you.
“You’ll see when you start to express yourself, and you look back and read previous days’ journaling—what is more satisfying for you to read?” she says.
Experimentation aside, morning journaling is best if your goal is to start your day with a clear head and be more present.
“Morning journaling is helpful if you want to be more spontaneous,” she says, adding that your journal entries in the morning will be more unpredictable and free without the weight of the day.
It’s also great for those who want to set intentions for the day ahead, as Dr. Smerling notes, “in the morning, your cortisol and mental clarity are naturally higher, so journaling can help set the intention.”
Evening journaling is best for those who want to reflect on the day they just had.
“It gives you a bird’s-eye view of your day and the things that happened,” she states.
Evening journaling, then, might be a more literal account of your day, versus morning journaling, which Dr. Smerling says “gives you an opportunity to reflect on your unconscious and your subconscious.” By processing your day through journaling, she adds, you can “reduce stress and improve sleep.”
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How To Build a Daily Journaling Habit: 4 Expert-Backed Tips
Here’s what the psychologist recommends.
1. Schedule your journaling
Scheduling your journal time might seem daunting, but it’s imperative if you want to form a daily journaling habit. If you want to try morning journaling, Dr. Smerling suggests getting up 15 minutes early and keeping a journal and pen by your bed for easy access.
2. Journal daily for at least 21 days
They say it generally takes 21 days to form a new habit (give or take depending on different factors, per Scientific American), and that’s a good goal to start with. However, Dr. Smerling recommends “at least six weeks” of daily journaling if you really want to commit.
3. Set a timer
If adding a daily journal to your already packed routine feels too daunting, try setting a timer. “Two to five minutes to start,” Dr. Smerling says.
This way you have a set end time, so you don’t have to worry too much about just sitting there with nothing to write. Increase the time as you become more comfortable and go from there.
4. Be curious
Above all, Dr. Smerling tells Parade that if you want to start journaling daily, the best thing you can do is to start.
“Be curious,” she says about yourself and about your journaling preferences. “If you want to make it more concrete, you make it more concrete. If you want to make it more reflective and more mentally reflective and emotionally reflective, you can do that too.”
And remember: “There’s no such thing as perfection when you’re journaling.”
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Source:
- Dr. Kathryn Smerling, PhD, LCSW, is a psychologist and licensed clinical social worker who specializes in individual and family therapy. She is also the author of Learning to Play Again: Rediscovering Our Early Selves to Become Better Adults.