7 Journaling Questions That Will Make Your Day

My morning routine revolves around three things: Meditation, Exercise, and Journaling. Let’s begin with Journaling.

I get stuck on a daily basis. Journaling is the tool to spot my own bullshit and keep it together.

By writing about my inner turmoils, I get to make a bit more sense of the world and myself. So whenever I’m angry, happy, or overwhelmed, my journal is the place I write it all down. This does a couple of things:

• I get it out of my system. The stories need to go somewhere, and when they’re black-on-white, they’re no longer in my head.
• I get more clarity. When I articulate what I feel, I am more in touch with my emotions, and I am also taking a small step back to reflect. This distance allows me to deal with the feels.
• Solutions come automagically from writing about the problems.

Journaling in the morning is especially effective, because it allows you to set the tone for the day. Morning routines benefit from the primacy effect: the things you do in the morning resonate throughout the day ahead.

I have developed a set of questions for my morning journaling practice. These questions nudge me into the mindset of gratitude and appreciation, and they challenge me to make the most of the day ahead. They provide me with a simple and consistent practice, which resonates throughout the days and years.

Here is the full list of questions:

1. What’s going on?
2. What’s going well?
3. What am I grateful for today?
4. What did I learn recently?
5. What would make today excellent?
6. What virtue can I practice now?
7. How can I do the most good in the world?

As you can see, they are simple and straightforward. You can answer this whole list in 5 minutes (although I usually take about 15 minutes just to go a bit deeper.)

1. What’s going on?

First, get all the stuff out of your head. Write down what’s going on, anything that buzzes and that you’re busy with.

This gets the noise out of the way, and primes you for the remaining questions. Anything goes, don’t think about it too much, just make it a brain-dump of all the stuff happening in your life right now. Feel free to vent here — it’s fine to get the crap out of your system before you move on to the good stuff.

2. What’s going well?

The things that go well indicate that you are “in the zone” for that particular topic. These items hint at your skills and proficiencies, which is useful to be mindful of when going about your day. And perhaps there’s a hidden hint to your life purpose buried in the answers here, especially if you notice recurring themes.

Importantly, appreciating your strengths (or luck) lifts spirits.

3. What am I grateful for today?

This is the heart of the list, the most important question to answer. If you do nothing else, ask yourself this question daily. It will level up your wellbeing like nothing else (except perhaps meditation).

Take a moment to reflect and appreciate the things in your life that you are grateful for. Make this list as long as you want — at least three things. On top of simply listing these items, live the experience in your mind. Get those good vibes going.

Sometimes, it can be hard to come up with anything to be grateful for. If that’s the case, the small things can save the day. Consider being grateful for the fact that you are able to breathe and that your heart is pumping. Even if this seems trivial, just take a small moment to reflect on it, write it down, and continue your day.

4. What did I learn recently?

This question primes you for the more forward-thinking questions that are coming up. You are on a journey, and if you become aware of things you’ve learned, then that can give you key insights into your path and direction.

Your skills and experience are incredibly valuable, and your continued self-education is the most important investment you can make. Some pointers:

• What have you observed recently?
• What are you reading or listening to? Did you take anything away from it?
• Did someone give you interesting feedback recently?
• Did you have a new kind of experience recently?

Writing down what you’ve learned accelerates your education dramatically.

5. What would make today excellent?

Name one thing that you want to accomplish today, or that you’re looking forward to. The anticipation of this act or event will prime your brain to accomplish it, and enjoy it more when it occurs.

Don’t make this a To Do List. List one thing only, so that you focus your attention on it and set yourself up for success.

6. What virtue can I practice now?

Anticipate the challenges for the day, and how you are going to tackle them. By preparing yourself this way, you are better equipped to face the trouble coming your way. What virtue will help you move gracefully through the daily grind? Patience, courage, love, persistence?

By calling it out, you mentally rehearse using this virtue. Focus is a virtue — list only one.

7. How can I do the most good in the world?

Last, but not least, this question challenges you to connect your actions to a deeper purpose in your life.

This question is a catalyst for deep reflection and sustainable transformation. There’s a good chance that your answers will repeat themselves over the weeks and months — and every time you ask yourself this question you will get more clarity on your bigger mission in life, and also how to effectively act on that mission right now.

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Even if your day is almost over, I challenge you to start today. Take a pen and piece of paper, or open up a text editor, and write down the questions and answers. You might be surprised at what comes out.

A consistent practice will give you exponential benefit. Start small, set a timer, and do it every day, ideally at the same time and place. No worries if you skip one day, just get back on the horse and keep going. Like any habit, it might take about 2 months to sink in and become automatic.

Like a good cup of coffee, journaling in the morning will allow you to reap the benefits throughout your day.

Good luck, have fun, and let me know how this goes!