Journal prompts

How to use a prompt properly

Pick one, set ten minutes, and write without stopping to fix anything. If the prompt bores you two lines in, abandon it and take another — a prompt that does not catch is not a failure of discipline, it just was not the question you needed today.

The most common mistake is treating the list as a curriculum to work through in order. It is not. Prompts are a way in, and most people find that after the first two minutes they have stopped answering the prompt at all and are writing about whatever it opened up. That is the prompt working, not you going off task.

Everyday prompts

For an ordinary day when nothing in particular is happening. These are the ones to use most often, and the ones people skip because they seem too plain to be worth answering.

• What actually happened today, in order, with nothing left out for being boring?
• What took more energy today than it should have?
• What did I put off, and what would doing it actually cost?
• Who did I think about today who I did not speak to?
• What did I say today that I did not mean?
• What was the best ten minutes of the day?
• What am I pretending not to notice?
• If today repeated tomorrow, what one thing would I change?
• What did I learn today that I did not know yesterday?
• What am I looking forward to, and what am I dreading?

Self-reflection prompts

For working out what you think about yourself rather than about your day. Slower, and better suited to a weekend than a Tuesday night.

• What do I believe now that I did not believe five years ago?
• What would I do differently if nobody would ever find out?
• Which of my habits would I be embarrassed to have described accurately?
• What am I good at that I do not take seriously?
• Where am I performing a version of myself, and for whom?
• What do I keep meaning to start, and what is the real reason I have not?
• What advice do I give other people and ignore myself?
• What would the version of me from ten years ago find surprising about this life?
• What am I still angry about that I claim to be over?
• What would I want said about me by someone who knows me well?

Prompts for a hard day

For when something has gone wrong and you want to put it somewhere. Writing is a good way to get a thought out of a loop; it is not treatment, and if a day is more than hard, the right thing to reach for is a person rather than a page.

• What happened, told plainly, with no interpretation added?
• What part of this is actually mine to carry?
• What is the worst outcome, and how likely is it really?
• What would I say to a friend describing this exact situation?
• What is one thing I can do tomorrow, however small?
• What am I afraid this means about me?
• What has helped before, in something like this?
• Who could I tell about this, and what is stopping me?
• What will I probably think about today in six months?
• What do I need right now that I have not asked for?

Gratitude prompts that are not trite

Generic gratitude lists stop working within a week because the answers repeat. Specific ones do not, because they force you to look at a particular day rather than at your life in general.

• What went right today that could easily have gone wrong?
• Who made something easier for me today without being asked?
• What do I have now that I once wanted badly?
• What ordinary thing would I miss most if it went?
• What am I glad I said no to?
• Which small thing in my home do I actually like?
• What did somebody teach me that I still use?
• What is working, that I have stopped noticing because it works?
• What is better this year than last year?
• Who would I thank if it were not awkward?

Prompts for a decision

For when something needs deciding and thinking about it in your head has stopped producing new information. Writing forces the vague parts to become sentences, which is usually where the answer is hiding.

• What am I actually choosing between, stated as plainly as possible?
• What do I already know I want, underneath the reasoning?
• What is the cost of doing nothing for another six months?
• Which option am I arguing for hardest, and why does it need defending?
• What would I advise someone else in this position?
• What information would change my mind, and can I get it?
• What am I afraid of losing here?
• If both options turned out fine, which would I regret not trying?
• Who benefits from each choice, and is that being counted honestly?
• What is the smallest reversible version of this decision?

When to put the list away

Once you have something you actually want to write about, stop using prompts. They are scaffolding for the blank page, and keeping them after you no longer need them turns journaling into a worksheet.

The signal is simple: if you open the journal already knowing what today's entry is about, do not read a prompt first. Most people who journal for years use prompts occasionally, on the days when nothing surfaces, rather than every time.

If writing is the obstacle

Some people never get past the blank page because writing itself is the friction, not the subject. Talking is faster than typing for almost everyone, and saying a day out loud produces different material than writing it — looser, less edited, and usually more honest.

That is what our own app does: Bloom is a voice journal — hold a button, talk for a minute, and the entry is written up as a diary page you can search later. It is iPhone-only, free for seven days and then a subscription, and it is a journal rather than a wellbeing or therapy app. A voice memo app plus a folder does a rougher version of the same thing for nothing, which is worth trying first if you are unsure the habit will stick.