Journaling has never been a daily habit for me.

As much as I would LOVE to tell you that I wake up with the birds and gleefully open my notebook to do morning pages (look up The Artist’s Way if you’re not sure what that is) the reality is very different.

I journal in bursts. Sometimes multiple times a day, on my phone and in several notebooks. Other times, I’ll manage one paragraph of incoherent ramblings and resist trying again for months. There’s no shame in this, and it doesn’t mean that you’re not ‘good’ at journaling.

Personally, I’ve been seriously struggling to organise my thoughts recently and wondered if this focus mapping technique would help you. While it isn’t going to solve all of life’s problems, it has helped me get back into a groove with writing, after many many months of feeling unable to get started. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you might enjoy these other therapeutic writing techniques.

Forget ‘perfect’ journaling. Journaling doesn’t have to be a long, linear story of your day. Our thoughts jump around – let’s allow ourselves a more natural way of organising our ideas.

Try Focus Mapping

Focus mapping is a visual technique that can help you journal more easily. Here’s how to do it:

1. Grab a blank sheet of paper.
2. Write today’s date in the centre and circle it.
3. Draw 4-5 lines branching out from the date.
4. At the end of each line, write a topic on your mind (e.g., work, family, goals).
5. Add more branches to each topic with specific thoughts or ideas.
6. Keep expanding until you’ve written everything on your mind.
7. Review your map and choose one topic that stands out to you, and journal further on it.

Why it works

– It’s visual and fun
– Helps organise scattered thoughts
– Shows connections between ideas
– Lets you choose what to focus on

And hey, there’s no right or wrong way to journal. This method is just a tool to help you get started AND gives you a bank of ideas to work from the next time you open your notebook.

Try it out and see if it works for you.