MICHAEL ROXAS

Journaling prompts

Prompts I use in my writing when I can't think about what to write.

Journaling has been one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Writing serves as an outlet of my thoughts. An alternative to conversing with people without draining the life out of myself and others. I find that it's easier to talk with people when I've thought about something long enough to write about it.

I write at least two sentences a day. A thought. An idea. A feeling. An event. A note.

In fact, everybody writes everyday. They just don't know it.

I usually write in sessions. Giving myself a time limit for each type of a journal. Daily journals shouldn't take more than a minute. Monthly journals should let you reflect more. Quarter journals... a little bit more. Yearly... I haven't done this yet. But coming across Steph Ango's 40 questions, I look forward to the end of this year.

Here are some of the prompts I use on entries:

Daily (End of Day)

  1. What am I grateful for?
  2. What have I done wrong?
  3. How can I be better tom?

Daily (At noon, daybreak)

  1. What's accomplished so far?
  2. What needs to be done?

Weekly (on a Friday or Saturday)

  1. What are the events next week?
  2. Do I really need to be there?
  3. Do I really have to do this?

Quarterly (my favorite journal entry)

Got this idea from Clark Kegley.

  1. My 3 biggest wins in the last 90 days?
  2. My 3 biggest lessons in the last 90 days?
  3. My 3 goals for the next 90 days?

Annually

From Steph Ango's yearly 40 questions.

  1. What did you do this year that you’d never done before?
  2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions?
  3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
  4. Did anyone close to you die?
  5. What cities/states/countries did you visit?
  6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year?
  7. What date(s) from this year will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
  8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
  9. What was your biggest failure?
  10. What other hardships did you face?
  11. Did you suffer illness or injury?
  12. What was the best thing you bought?
  13. Whose behavior merited celebration?
  14. Whose behavior made you appalled?
  15. Where did most of your money go?
  16. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
  17. What song will always remind you of this year?
  18. Compared to this time last year, are you: happier or sadder? Richer or poorer? Healthier or unhealthier?
  19. What do you wish you’d done more of?
  20. What do you wish you’d done less of?
  21. How are you spending the holidays?
  22. Did you fall in love this year?
  23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
  24. What was your favorite show?
  25. What was the best book you read?
  26. What was your greatest musical discovery of the year?
  27. What was your favorite film?
  28. What was your favorite meal?
  29. What did you want and get?
  30. What did you want and not get?
  31. What did you do on your birthday?
  32. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
  33. How would you describe your personal fashion this year?
  34. What kept you sane?
  35. Which celebrity/public figure did you admire the most?
  36. What political issue stirred you the most?
  37. Who did you miss?
  38. Who was the best new person you met?
  39. What valuable life lesson did you learn this year?
  40. What is a quote that sums up your year?

Decennially

From Steph Ango's 40 questions for a decade.

  1. What would you do if you had 6 months to live?
  2. What would you do if you had a billion dollars?
  3. What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago?
  4. What do you hope will be the same 10 years from now?
  5. What do you hope will be different 10 years from now?
  6. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
  7. When and where were you happiest?
  8. Why do you get out of bed in the morning?
  9. What do you consider the lowest depth of misery?
  10. What is your most marked characteristic?
  11. What is your greatest fear?
  12. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
  13. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
  14. On what occasion do you lie?
  15. What is your greatest extravagance?
  16. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
  17. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
  18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
  19. Which talent would you most like to have?
  20. What do people frequently misunderstand about you?
  21. What is the quality you most like in a man?
  22. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
  23. What do you most value in your friends?
  24. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
  25. If you could give everyone in the world one gift, what would it be?
  26. What was your greatest waste of time?
  27. What do you find painful but worth doing?
  28. Where would you most like to live?
  29. What is your most treasured possession?
  30. Who is your best friend?
  31. Who or what is the greatest love of your life?
  32. Which living person do you most admire?
  33. Who is your hero of fiction?
  34. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
  35. What is your greatest regret?
  36. How would you like to die?
  37. What is your motto?
  38. What is the best compliment you ever received?
  39. What is the luckiest thing that happened to you?
  40. What makes you hopeful?

#journaling #kepano #obsidian #prompts #writing