Did you know that often it’s your own mindset that holds you back? That’s the entire purpose of a manifestation journal – to regain control over your mindset to manifest a new reality and future. From making procrastination a thing of the past to finally getting the job of your dreams, something as seemingly simple as journaling has the power to help you change and reach your goals.
Also read:7 Types of Journals that Will Help You
The Law of Attraction
Before diving into how to make your own manifestation journal, let’s talk about The Law of Attraction. This is the principle manifestation journaling is built upon. The idea is to journal in a way that brings your goals and dreams to the forefront. Gradually, you believe they’re real and attract the positives you want.
Of course, it’s far more complicated than that, with some experts saying this law doesn’t really apply in the way many believers think. Simply believing something will happen doesn’t magically make it happen. You won’t get rich just by believing and saying “I am wealthy.” This is where the journal part comes in.
The Law of Attraction isn’t enough on its own. A manifestation journal helps you harness the power of this law while inspiring you to the action necessary to attract what you want.
What Is a Manifestation Journal?
If you already journal (which is a great hobby for boosting productivity), you may not see a reason to start a manifestation journal. However, while a standard journal helps you get out your negative thoughts and document your daily life, it doesn’t always help you manifest change.
These types of journals make you dig deeper. Instead of just stress relief, you journal to literally manifest a change in yourself. From exploring what’s going wrong to seeing what your future could be, you create a road map that looks at your past, present, and future.
A common myth is that a manifestation journal is either just a bunch of affirmations or stories about a fantasy future. Yes, both can be part of your journal, but to truly manifest something, you have to document your actions, what’s going wrong, and what you plan to do about it.
In short, think of your journal as the ultimate goal-planning tool. In the process, you also create a more positive mindset, which aids in reducing stress, increasing productivity, and improving your overall health.
Manifest Your Future
First of all, there isn’t a right or wrong way to do this. You may find that the steps I’m outlining don’t work perfectly for you. Adjust the process as needed. If you search for templates, prompts, or exact steps, you’ll find numerous methods. Take the below as a general guideline and find the process that works best for you.
Step 1: In the beginning of your manifestation journal, write down your manifestation list. These are the goals, dreams, and aspirations you want for yourself now and in the future, including any bad habits you want gone. Be as specific as possible. This can easily take several pages. Or, assign a page to each thing on your list. Draw images, add pictures, use stickers, or add anything else to make it more visual if you want.
Also, include a short list (three or four items) of what you need to do to reach those goals. For instance, “I want to be wealthy” might include getting a raise, investing X amount each month, budgeting better, and consolidating debt.
Step 2: Use a page or two to write about your life so far. Talk about where you’ve failed and succeeded. Explain what you like and don’t like about your life right now. Use lists to make this easier and to visualize better. The idea is to get the negative out so you can focus on the positive. Plus, this helps you to look back and see how far you’ve come.
Step 3: Create a daily or weekly journal routine. The schedule is up to you. However, create a solid routine and stick with it. The Law of Attraction only works if you mix a positive mindset with the hard work it takes to accomplish what you want.
Practice Gratitude
If you’re into journaling, you may already have a gratitude journal. That’s totally fine, and there’s a big crossover in the gratitude and manifestation journals because they both revolve around the laws of attraction.
What’s more, gratitude is a key part of the process when writing a manifestation journal. Before you sit down to write in your manifestation journal, take a moment to be grateful for the position you’re in right now, and for all the things that are already manifested in your life. Be present in that gratitude. If nothing comes to mind right away or you’re not in the mood, be patient with yourself – something will drift into your mind eventually!
The next step may seem strange, but part of manifestation is to be grateful for the things that you’re trying to attain through your manifestation journal. So if you want a certain job, visualize yourself in that job and focus on the gratitude you will feel for having that job.
Those feelings of gratitude are a vital part of motivating yourself towards manifestation. As you begin achieving the things you write down in your manifestation journal, don’t forget to take time to be grateful for them too, and let that gratitude spur you on toward further successes.
What to Write Daily or Weekly
When you sit down to write in your manifestation journal, there are multiple things to try to include. This is where you start to change how you think and focus on making changes in your life.
The main things to include are:
- Visualize your future – Write a few sentences about how your future self is living and what you’re doing. Talk about how you’re enjoying your new job or taking care of the garden in your dream home. Make it sound real to help you visualize the future you want. Instead of negative thoughts of “I’ll never do this,” show yourself it can be real.
- Write what you’re currently doing to reach that future. List how much money you’re saving, what classes you’re taking to get a new job, or what exercises you’re doing to be healthier.
- List your progress. How well did you do today or this week? What got in your way?
Constantly look back to see your progress. Note any patterns of negative behavior and focus on changing those.
You can focus on just one or two goals or changes at a time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. As you start to feel more hopeful, you work harder. As a result, you’re more productive and get closer to your goals on a daily basis.
Pick the Right Journal
It sounds simple, but the right journal goes a long way to helping you stick with this habit. Even a simple spiral notebook works, as long as you use it. However, many people prefer something fancier, such as something with a hardcover or leather cover. Spiral-bound journals also work well. Or, pick a dotted or grid journal if you want to go with a bullet journal or image-based journal method.
Some recommendations you may want to try include:
- 100 Day Guided Manifestation Journal
- Manifest: 555 Manifestation Journal
- Leuchtturm1917 Medium A5 Dotted Hardcover Notebook
- Moleskin Classic Notebook Hardcover
- Think Classic Notebook With Pen Loop
- Spiral Hardcover Ruled Notebook Journal
Also, invest in a few good ink pens of different colors. This helps you better organize and visualize your journal.
Use a fresh journal. Trying to simply fit everything into your existing journal makes it difficult to visualize things. Plus, during the process, you need to be able to easily review your goals, progress, and future, which is difficult when it’s scattered throughout a regular journal.
Using Templates and Prompts
Does the above sound too overwhelming? It can be at first. Start smaller by using templates and prompts. These guide you and get you into a journaling habit. Pinterest is a goldmine for these, but some other places to get started include:
- The Law of Attraction Worksheets
- Manifestation Planner (download a free month)
- Humble Sunshine Manifestation Journal PDFs
- Inspiring Life Dreams – 50 Prompts
- Manifest Like Whoa – 50 Prompts
Manifest Productivity
A manifestation journal is designed to help you improve yourself while letting go of what’s holding you back. If you’re struggling with productivity, journaling can help. First of all, stress hinders productivity. Any type of journaling that helps you re-focus your energy and see a brighter future reduces your stress.
The most beneficial part is unlocking your productivity by uncovering the habits holding you back. Make productivity a goal. Write about how much future you is accomplishing. This builds excitement and confidence, even for monotonous tasks. Then, pay attention to the daily or weekly things that keep you from becoming that person. Tackle those obstacles one at a time until nothing is holding you back. It will take time, but productivity is a part of future you. You just need to envision and work toward it.
Of course, your journal also helps hold you to being more accountable. It’s a simple strategy but effective. You want to improve and impress yourself, so you work harder to reach your goals as you write in your journal.
No matter what method you use, use your manifestation journal regularly to empower yourself to push past what’s holding you back and unleash a new, productive, happier version of yourself.