Motivation is the key to success, but it can be hard to maintain when you are faced with obstacles. Keep your motivation up by writing down your goals and reminding yourself of all the reasons why you want this goal accomplished. A good way to do that is with a motivation journal!
Why use a motivation journal?
A great benefit of using a motivation journal is that it gives you an external resource for reminders. Many people find it difficult to keep motivated because their brain needs constant reminders in order to stay positive.
Having something like a physical or digital journal where they can write down their goals and remind themselves of all the reasons why they want this goal accomplished can help them stay on track!
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It’s important for us not only to have our own thoughts telling us these things, but to have other people remind us, too! (Don’t forget the social aspect!)
Best practices on using one
A motivation journal should typically be used for short term goals. If you’re trying to lose fifty pounds and maintaining that motivation is important to you then a journal can be an invaluable tool in your arsenal, but if you’re just trying to get through finals week then you probably don’t need the journal.
Many people like to set a goal for a number of times they’re going to use their motivation journal and try to beat that number every time!
If you want, your motivation journal does not necessarily have to be digital or physical; it can be anything that reminds you of your goals and motivates you towards achieving them.
A good example of this is if you were looking through a magazine and came across an article that was relevant to your goals. You could tear out the page or cut the article out, but then you would have paper with words about your goal laying around your room–which isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s probably not the best idea if you don’t want to be reminded of your goal every time you go into your room!
An alternative is to cut out the article and put it in a scrapbook, which means that it will still be out around the house but not anywhere where you would need to see it. Even better than either of those options would be putting the article in a motivation journal along with all of your other goals and reasons for wanting to achieve them.
Using a motivation journal with prompts
A motivation journal is an excellent tool for staying motivated, especially if it’s used correctly! A lot of people like to write down their goals and review what they’ve written on the regular, but others don’t really use it as anything more than a physical reminder to stay motivated.
Do whatever works best for you, but it’s better to use the journal as an actual tool rather than just a way to remind yourself that you want to achieve these things! If you find that writing down your goals helps then do it; if you find that it doesn’t really help at all then try something else and see if it helps more.
50 motivation journal prompts
To help you get started on the use of a journal (physical or digital) to motivate yourself, here are 50 journal prompts to use. Don’t worry about using them in a set order or even getting through all of them. If you are feeling a bit stuck, then use them as a tool to help your journaling process.
1. List at least one thing you can get done today to help you move towards your goals
2. Envisage your ideal life. Write down everything you see and feel
3. What is holding me back from achieving my goals and how can I overcome them?
4. List some of the things you are really good at
5. Who are your role models and why do you admire them?
6. What are my biggest fears and how can I face them?
7. Write about the last time you faced a difficult period in your life and how you overcame it
8. If I didn’t worry about money or other people’s opinions, what would I do?
9. One thing I would really like to learn is…
10. What does success look like to me?
11. Write about your biggest stress factor right now and how you can try and beat it
12. To make my day less stressful, I can tweak my morning routine in the following ways…
13. If my house was burning down and all of my family were safe outside, the 3 things I would save would be…
14. This month, my biggest accomplishment has been…
15. Am I surrounded by people who only want the best for me?
16. An important lesson I have learnt lately is:
17. This year, something I’d love to start doing is…
18. What is one old pattern of behavior you find difficult to stop, and how might you overcome it?
19. What are the reasons you want to achieve your goal?
20. What consequences would you face if you weren’t motivated to reach your goals?
21. What is the main thing that kills your motivation?
22. Which habits can I adopt to boost my motivation?
23. If I could be anyone for just a week, who would it be and why?
24. The topics of conversation I get lost in are…
25. If you asked your partner, friends or family what you are good at doing, what would they say?
26. When I am trying to stay motivated, who can support me?
27. By staying focused on my goals, I can reward myself with…
28. To increase my motivation, I can reduce my to-do list. The following are tasks I can delegate or let go of:
29. Look at your current list of goals, are they split into small tasks? If not, break them down now…
30. Write down a goal you want to achieve in 90 days and all the steps you’ll need to take to reach it.
31. Motivation often comes from helping others. Explore how can you help the world around you…
32. When you have strong relationships it boosts motivation. How can you improve current relationships?
33. A positive habit I can develop to boost my motivation is…
34. Expressing gratitude helps increase motivation. List 3 things you are grateful for right now…
35. Write down 3 things that energize you. Aim to spend one hour on one of these things each day.
36. The part of my job I am most passionate about is…
37. What am I excited about in my life right now?
38. Why do I feel discouraged?
39. What is out of sync in my life and what do I feel is missing?
40. Do I need to adjust the timeframe to achieve my goal?
41. What do I need in order to feel motivated again?
42. Are my expectations realistic?
43. If I could change my job, what would I prefer to be doing?
44. What does my daily routine look like and could I change it to boost motivation?
45. Write a list of the things you often do but you have to force yourself to complete. Are there similarities between the tasks?
46. If you were to put together a motivation playlist, what songs would you include?
47. What was your childhood dream, and what happened to it?
48. What does my soul need today?
49. What things am I ready to welcome more of into my life?
50. What can I do today that will bring me joy?
