How to write a functional personal diary

In this article you will find out like writing a personal diary effective.

The diary has always aroused a certain fascination: the captains of the ships, the graduates of the army and sometimes ordinary people kept it.

The diary is still written by countless successful people all over the world, the reason is soon said: it offers several advantages.

In this article you will learn what to write in the diary personal, how to treat it and what benefits you can get by writing regularly.



How to write a functional personal diary

I like the idea of ​​keeping all my thoughts in one place, like a brain where you can look.

Jennifer Lynch

On Personal Growth Lovers I spoke very often about the diary, defining it on many occasions as fundamental and of great help in all areas of personal growth.

In one of the first posts, I promised that I would write an article dedicated to the benefits of keeping a personal diary, so I prepared a guide on like writing a diary.

The personal diary can have different uses e various facets, don't just imagine the secret diary that the children have at school and that maybe you also had, the concept is the same but the substance changes.

Before reading this article, keep in mind that an effective diary should be written in about 4 - 5 minutes, if you take longer to write your diary, in the long run it will become boring and you will end up giving up this good habit.



Before looking at what and how to write a personal diary, let's see the benefits you could get.

The benefits of writing a personal diary

# 1 Make it clear

Writing allows you to reflect on your activities, both occasional and daily, it is often the small recursive actions that we do not notice that make a real difference in the quality of our life.

By writing a personal diary, you have the opportunity to notice these small actions that you repeat often, perhaps without paying too much attention to them.

Over time, you will be able to reread what you have written, to clarify your past and plan your life better, having as a starting point your experiences sealed in your personal diary.

# 2 See what worked and what didn't

The diary is one of the main tools to hunt for positive and negative feedback.

Has that project you started brought the desired results? What went wrong? What went wrong?

Personal analysis of your life is much easier with the diary and it is easier to follow the path you have taken in the last few years to determine what has worked best for you.

Have your dreams, your hopes and your goals been disregarded or have you managed to get it all done?



What are the activities that have produced sensational results and which ones have led to nothing?

The personal diary gives you the opportunity to answer these questions by being one analysis tool very powerful.

Write a diary personal also serves to understand what are the elements, both exogenous and endogenous, that are blocking you, so as to overcome them once and for all.

# 3 Don't lose your best ideas

Surely, you will have happened to have suddenly had a brilliant intuition and to have forgotten it shortly after, or to have found an idea or a starting point for your project but not to have it in writing, because you were sure not to forget it, which then it happened.

Finding new ideas is a fairly spontaneous mechanism, but often what is missing is there solidification of the idea in your mind, as well as a plan to make it happen with precision.

Writing ideas, projects and thoughts in the diary solves this problem, in addition to having noted what you thought, fixing it on paper, by cold rereading you will have greater objectivity in the judge your idea, and in bringing forth new ones.

Also consider that, writing ideas in the diary, frees up space in your mind, space that otherwise would remain anchored in the past.


When you have had brilliant ideas and ideas, you will have noticed how these thoughts continue to whirl in your head without evolving, in these situations it is essential to write them down, you will immediately free up space to make evolve your idea and to find new ones.


# 4 Say thank you

Including even a single line of gratitude in your personal journal helps you to end the day well.

Remember, however, that the gratitude of the diary should not replace the real gratitude due to other people who deserve it, but integration that already dispensed during the day.

Always thank the people who helped solve a problem or gave you a little support.

Writing and re-reading gratitude in the diary, you it stimulates to be grateful for all the things you don't usually pay attention to, try to think about it, how many little things are you doing well today without you having consciously thought about them?

# 5 Decrease stress and anxiety

The personal diary is capable of absorb your problems and your worries, including anxiety and stress, so much so that it is sometimes used as a therapy tool.

For example, noting frustrations and anger, including bad words, gives you the opportunity to use it as a direct outlet, which facilitates your personal growth.

Personal improvement is also fueled by knowledge of yourself, the diary allows you to review yourself past and present, of course if you have been honest in writing.

What and how to write a personal diary

Writing a normal diary is an almost trivial operation, you write down everything that goes through your head, in no particular order and without a logical sense.

This diary is typical of when you are a child, it certainly has some usefulness, but aware of the great advantages of having a effective diary I show you a different and more orderly method.

I propose to you the method I have called RELO: Ringrates, Eworks, Libera, Ogoals, which consists in dividing what you write in the diary into 4 sections with a specific order.

Part 1: Give thanks

Always starts at write the diary starting with gratitude, write thanks to the people who helped you today, for a positive event that happened to you or for anything, even a small one, that slightly improved your day.

Pay attention to all the things that went the right way, write down the simple ones, like being able to catch the bus on the fly or receiving an unexpected smile.

Of course, on some days you may be more grateful than on others, but in any case, always write a few lines of gratitude, once a day think about what went right rather than what went wrong.

Part 2: Elaborate

Try to write down in a natural way what happened to you during the day, what you did to improve the quality of your life, what you were unable to do and why.

This section must act as an accurate analysis of your actions, to understand what you do best and what are those activities that with the same effort and time produce superior results.

I have already written about the pareto principle in the article on personal productivity, this principle simply says that 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes, this section of the personal diary can be used precisely to identify which activities give you the best results with the minimum effort.

Part 3: Free

Use this area of ​​the diary to let off steam about your day, just like I said in the opening paragraph.

Writing creates a direct line to your mind, then use the diary as an outlet, use this paragraph to get rid of all the frustrations, anxieties and stress you have accumulated, do it naturally, with swear words, straight away and without thinking too much.

The only thing I recommend in this part is to keep a minimum of order and beautiful handwriting for the purpose of a simple rereading.

I bet you wouldn't like to re-read your diary after years and not understand a damn what is written in it.

Part 4: Goals

As a last step, write down in a calibrated way, perhaps with bulleted lists, your plans for the next day or in general for the future, your wishes, your ideas and your projects.

If you already have some clear ideas segment your goal into small steps that you can do day after day and check them out every time you go back to writing in your diary.

To effectively write goals and projects while avoiding procrastination, refer to the always good article on the to-do list.

As you have seen write a personal diary effective is not so difficult with the RELO method, try to use it for a few months and you will begin to see its benefits after a few weeks.

Write a traditional or digital diary

How to write a functional personal diary

Although I like to take full advantage of technology in all its forms, I must admit that I am still very attached to traditional paper diary, I have been using the electronic diary for years, but for some things I still can't separate myself from paper.

If, like me, you are a lover of paper and handwriting, you can buy an old-fashioned diary like the Soledì, if you prefer a minimal and sober style, you can orient yourself on the evergreen Moleskine.

That said, if old pen and paper aren't your thing, there are plenty of apps that can be used in this sense, for Android:

  • Secret Diary
  • Secret diary with password

For iPhone instead:

  • Secret diary with lock
  • Secret Diary

Now, you have all the tools to start writing a personal diary.

Other tips for writing a diary

How to write a functional personal diary
  1. Write neatly, you will make your life a lot easier when you go to reread the diary after a long time.
  2. Don't worry if you can't write every day, the important thing is to maintain a minimum of consistency without abandoning it.
  3. Have fun writing and rereading, many significant things of today can be fun anecdotes of tomorrow.
  4. If you train, also write a training diary.
  5. Don't just write words, insert scribbles, drawings and anything you feel like throwing down.
  6. If you are a beginner and you find yourself in trouble, think about what you would write on social networks.
  7. Always enter the date, it will be more enjoyable to reread when time has passed.
  8. Decide which writing best fits your personality, do not try to imitate a particular style or language, the diary is personal, you will probably only read it, so be yourself when you write.
  9. Find a good spot. A diary can be written anytime, anywhere, but if you need a little inspiration, find your place to bring together tranquility and peace of mind.

Il personal diary it is useful for multiple activities and offers safe benefits, it is effective and simple to fill in, if it is not among your habits, try to import to write it for a month and you will see that you will never abandon it.

The article to learn like writing a diary personal diary ends here, now you can have your say in the comments below, you can let us know if you usually use the personal diary and how you found yourself.

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