January, with its mark to a near year, holds a lot of potential into self-discovery. For many, setting new goals and things to strive for during the rest of the year is exciting. Sometimes, these ambitious goals get lost in time throughout the year. It may be that we all just need something to assist us in achieving our resolutions. 

With the overwhelming number of items we add to our list, it’s important there is a consistent way to look at our growth in the end – and starting a journal can be an effective answer.

Organization is one of the key factors in keeping a journal. Not only is there a clear space for all your goal trackers, but it’s a blank canvas for any thoughts that may have you a bit scrambled. I’ve kept reading and summer journals before, so I figured this may be a good year to make more of a habit of it. 

Observantly, they’re very helpful in keeping everything in order, and even amongst all the organization, they leave an open door for creativity. 

While it’ll keep all your to-do’s in order, it will also bring on a sense of completion. You can check things off as you complete them and see what still needs to get done. Having all your important notes easily accessible can bring you at ease with whatever’s on your plate. Eventually, you’ll be ticking off so many squares you’re sure to reach your resolutions.

Journaling also allows you to make clear plans for your day, month, and year as a whole. Planning ahead of time limits the possibility of procrastinating too much and becoming overwhelmed. With everything laid out, there is more push to get things done, as it’s quite satisfying to cross things off your list. With that mindset in place, you’ll spend less time avoiding your to-do’s, thus creating more free time.

It’s really all about creating motivation. Whenever I write in my journal, I immediately notice what hasn’t been done and aim to cross it off the following day. 

While it’s important to keep a mindset of success, you shouldn’t beat yourself up over not finishing items immediately. Life can often get in the way and all you have to do is keep working at your resolutions. That’s why they’re called resolutions: if you already had them mastered, they wouldn’t have made your original list.

While there’s an endless array of benefits to journaling, the best one is the memories you’ll get to look back on. Storing everything from a year in one small place makes it so easy to reminisce at the end of the year. You can place pictures, movie tickets, concert tickets, really anything, in your journal. When the year draws to a close, you’ll have a direct reflection in the palm of your hands. All your highs and your lows. 

A friend of mine has journaled since she was in elementary school. Endless journals. She can go back and see exactly what she was doing or thinking at the time, even see how she’s changed throughout the years. If your year’s resolutions are all for your self-discovery journey, the best way to see that is in the thoughts you had along the way.

With all of the New Year’s resolutions that will be proclaimed this month, a platform to mark all of them is entirely helpful.  With its organized concepts and open-to-interpretation layouts, journaling is sure to work for anyone wanting to track their year.