Have you ever felt like your brain was a cluttered mess, or that the filing cabinets in your mind were starting to overflow? I am constantly thinking through to-do lists, shopping lists, the plans I have tomorrow, the plans I have three months from now, what movie I want to watch tonight, and good gift ideas for my friend’s birthdays next year. It’s hit or miss if I end up remembering all of those thoughts, making it difficult to manage the limited space between my ears. Writing down everything and starting a journal system can make the task of remembering easier.

In grade school, teachers would encourage students to keep a planner. Maybe you would use it consistently the first week of classes, but eventually it would be long forgotten and become an unnecessary item weighing down your backpack. Teachers would probably tell you that writing things down would help with remembering important information, and maybe you rolled your eyes because it felt like another meaningless task you were assigned with. But, there is scientific evidence that handwriting is beneficial to memory. Marano et al. (2025) writes, “The act of writing stimulates the brain to connect motor activities with cognitive processes, enhancing neural activity in areas associated with memory and language.”(1) By keeping a record, you can go back to your notes if you need a reminder. The tricky part can be remembering to actually write that task down. Starting a journal can be daunting, but by beginning with a low-maintenance process, success will be right around the corner.

One piece of advice I try to live by is to not jump in head first. When starting a journal, this means dipping your toes in by taking inventory of the random notebooks you already have lying around. This may include a half-finished composition book from high school English class or a childhood sketchbook that only ever collected a few surrealist-style crayon scribbles. This is also an opportunity to think about what size you want your journal to be. Do you want a lot of space for long entries or drawing? Do you want something small that can fit in a pocket or purse? Something in between? Starting a new habit can seem like the perfect time to go on a shopping spree and buy a bunch of supplies like colored pens and highlighters or sticky tabs and washi tape. Remember that it’s possible the first methods you try may not end up working, and all of those new supplies could end up collecting dust. To get started writing everything down, all you need is a journal and any pen you enjoy using.

Once you have your old English composition book, it may not be a bad idea to rip out that literary analysis of Hamlet—as long as you aren’t attached to it—so you can start fresh and begin your new habit. Author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, outlines the way to build a new habit in five simple steps: “1. Start with an incredibly small habit; 2. Increase your habit in very small ways; 3. As you build up, break habits into chunks; 4. When you slip, get back on track quickly; and 5. Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.”(2) We’ll be focusing on the first two steps in this article. Looking at the first step in terms of starting a journal, an “incredibly small habit” is writing anytime you think of something you would like to remember later. It may take a lot of dedication in the beginning, but putting in that work is how you turn a task into a habit. That amount of dedication is why starting small and easy is imperative to success. Trying to create a multi-step routine right away can lead to burnout. Something that works for someone who’s been journaling for years may not always work for a beginner.

For at least a few weeks, take your journal and pen with you everywhere, and write down anything you want to remember, no matter how big or small. Give each thought its own page or, to conserve paper, write down the thought, draw a line underneath, and then keep writing and drawing lines until the page fills up. Don’t worry about it looking pretty. Your handwriting can be scribbled, as long as you understand it. 

The second step in Clear’s guide to building a new habit is to “increase your habit in very small ways.”(2) Consider a journal system you would like to work up to. If the randomness of the first step is working well for you, moving on to a journal system is completely optional. If you want to try an organized system, you can do this by looking at what you’ve written so far and locate any patterns.

“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.” - Christina Baldwin

The patterns I found in my personal journaling style were lists, like recipes to try or handmade gifts to make, but I also jotted down measurements and modifications I made to patterns as I worked on crochet projects. I was taking a new medication for my acne, so I made notes of changes I noticed in my skin. I also wrote down one quote from a book I was reading that stood out to me. The more I wrote down, the more patterns began to appear. Someone else’s journal may look completely different and reveal other patterns. These organic patterns expose why it’s important to see what you would actually use the journal for. I’m glad I did not start my journal by adding an index with a color-coordinated code dedicated to “book quotes,” “to-do lists,” and “random thoughts.” By constraining yourself to specific categories right away, it is difficult to write down the things you need the journal for. Once you know what categories work best for you, there are a few options to work up to for creating a more organized journal such as a commonplace book or a bullet journal.

Commonplace Books

A commonplace book is a place to write down quotes and ideas and stories you want to remember. Ruby Granger, a bookish and self-guided learning influencer, compares keeping a commonplace book to creating your own encyclopedia. When I first started my journal journey, I thought I wanted something like a commonplace book. Commonplace journalers often use an index with a symbol or color system for various subjects. For example, every page with a line from a poem could be marked with a star, so it's easy to identify when flipping through. This does require knowing what you are planning to write, which is where it can be tricky for a beginner and why starting without a system to discover your writing patterns is beneficial. Another option is creating an index to fill in over time. Leave a few blank pages labeled as “Index” or “Table of Contents” before your first journal entry. Then, number all of the pages in the journal. As you add entries, give each one a unique title. Finally, add that title to the index with the corresponding page number. This makes it easy to create an organized system that does not require knowledge of what you’ll be writing beforehand. If this sounds like something you’d like to try, Ruby Granger has a video on YouTube titled “how (& why) to start a commonplace book.”(3) Granger gives a brief history of commonplaceing, how to get started, and why it's a good practice to start.

Bullet Journals

Bullet journaling is very similar to a commonplace book in that it’s a place to write down anything that you want to remember. But a bullet journal is more task and calendar oriented. Kendra Adachi suggests setting up an index with different logs.(4) This includes a future log, monthly log, monthly task list, daily log, and a few collections. Adachi also encourages readers to not get caught up in making your journal pretty and explains how keeping up with decorating each page can be frustrating and may take away from the point of journaling. When Adachi first began writing the daily log, she treated it as a space to write down the tasks she wanted to accomplish, but that didn’t make the journal necessarily useful. She writes:

“The actual definition of log is ‘an official record of events during the voyage of a ship or aircraft.’ …It's the tool you use to take out the important bits of your day and give them permanence. Those bits will be practical, like tasks and appointments, but also personal, like things you want to remember, books you finished reading, conversations you had with an old friend.”(4)

This idea brings in parts of commonplace books like logging stories and memories and combines them with bullet journal practices of noting down tasks and appointments in one perfectly Frankensteined list.

You can do whatever you want with your own journal. You don’t have to stick to one specific system. As I attempted to start a commonplace book, I realized I wanted to use the bullet journal technique. I was craving a space to write down lists and tasks rather than quotes and ideas. I also learned I may need an entirely separate journal for my crochet notes because it takes up a lot of space in my little journal. As you get accustomed with one method, if you choose to try one, you may find it useful to switch it up. It’s possible you may even want multiple journals. Don’t limit yourself to only one method as you get started.

If you want to start a record of all of your thoughts and tasks, or if you just want a system to remember these things better, then give writing everything down a try. Even if you don’t end up using a system like the commonplace book or bullet journal, just by writing you are helping yourself get all of your thoughts out of your head and onto paper. Grab your journal and pen and see what happens!

Works Cited

1. Marano G, Kotzalidis GD, Lisci FM, Anesini MB, Rossi S, Barbonetti S, et al. The Neuroscience Behind Writing: Handwriting vs. Typing—Who Wins the Battle? Life. 2025 Feb 22;15(3):345. doi:10.3390/life15030345

2. Clear J. How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide. James Clear [Internet]. 2014 Jul 18 [cited 2026 Mar 10]. Available from: https://jamesclear.com/habit-guide

3. Ruby Granger. how (& why) to start a commonplace book [Internet]. 2024 [cited 2026 Mar 10]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAxMbEb8i7E

4. Adachi K. The Lazy Genius Collective [Internet]. The Lazy Genius Collective; [cited 2026 Mar 10]. How to Bullet Journal: The Absolute Ultimate Guide. Available from: https://www.thelazygeniuscollective.com/blog/how-to-bullet-journal

Credits

Editor: Piper Ruth

Research Consultant: Emmerson Borthwick

Illustrator: Adri Chavez

**The Beamish Club does not offer professional medical advice, treatments, nor diagnosis. Anything written and published by The Beamish Club is not a direct replacement for medical treatment. If you have health concerns, please advise your local health and mental health professionals for treatment plans.**