Journaling Prompts: 10 Questions To Ask Yourself Every Day

Improve your self-knowledge and become a better thinker

I’m not really a fan of journaling prompts because it’s turned into a gimmick. Every journaling app or article about the topic uses them. And people come up with the weirdest prompts.

It almost seems like they think you need to trick people into writing more. But a person who believes in the power of writing doesn’t need to be seduced to write more.

However, writing doesn’t always happen by itself. Sometimes we need to give ourselves a little push to get started. And that’s how I use journaling prompts.

I stick to prompts that trigger self-reflection — and I stick to a small list of questions that I keep repeating to myself. That’s the secret of journaling. It’s useless to journal once or twice a year. The purpose of journaling is to track your progress over a period.

By asking yourself the same questions consistently, you can see how you respond as your life circumstances change. It’s similar to Peter Drucker’s feedback analysis; a practical, long-term strategy for knowing yourself better.

To give you some inspiration, here are 10 journaling prompts I regularly use.

1. What time did you go to sleep and wake up?

One of the best things you can do to improve your energy is to sleep and wake up around the same time every day.

So it’s not only about getting 8 hours of sleep; a consistent sleeping schedule matters too. When you write about the times you go to sleep and wake up, you get a good idea of your sleeping pattern. When it’s irregular, you remind yourself that you might want to be more mindful of your sleep.

I usually start my journal entry in the morning with this question. It’s an easy way to get started. Most of my entries look something like this: “Woke up at 9 am, slept around 1 am. Feel good.” The last part brings us to the next prompt.

2. How do you feel?

Did you wake up energized or tired? Just observe yourself and write about how you feel. You don’t have to judge or come up with ways to improve right…