If you’re a beginner when it comes to daily journaling, you may have found it difficult to keep up the daily habit of pulling out a notebook and pen and begin writing. Even if you aren’t a beginner, it can be challenging to sit down and stare at a blank piece of paper, trying to come up with a journal prompt or something to write about.
Since journaling is more of a honed skill, I thought it might be beneficial to share some of my favorite 5-minute journals with you. Whether you want to pick up this new habit or find your groove when it comes to journaling, this is a great place to start!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post may include affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
The benefits of 5-minute journals
There are a few reasons 5-minute journaling is such a great starting place for many beginners in the personal development world.
Fast
First, 5-minute journals don’t require a lot of time. Whether you’re a college student or someone working a full-time job, it can be tiresome to try to fit in twenty minutes of journaling a day. The five-minute journal allows you the opportunity to sit down for just five minutes or less every morning and evening to work on your personal growth and self-reflection skills.
Since it’s such a quick activity to do, nearly anyone can find time for a five-minute journal, and it brings you one step closer to becoming an expert journaler in the future.
Easy
Five-minute journals are designed to be easy and straight-forward. The prompts aren’t meant to challenge you. Instead, the prompts focus on helping you adapt to a new mindset (more on that below) and encourage you to let out your thoughts briefly and concisely.
Shape your mindset
Overall, most 5-minute journals help you to shape your mindset. They teach you how to live happier, stress-free, productively, intentionally, or even slowly. (Slow-living is my new favorite thing, by the way!).
I encourage you to look at these journals below as a way to shape your mindset to live a happier and more fulfilling life. Invite positivity and joy to yourself and work on your affirmations, gratitude, and daily intentions. It may sound like a lot of work, but the 5-minute journal makes it easy to take one step at a time in the right direction.
The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day by Intelligent Change Inc.
This 5-minute journal is, by far, my favorite. While the price can be a bit steep for some, I cannot stress enough how life-changing this journal is. It’s filled with several daily prompts meant to last you at least six months if you participate with them daily. This is more than enough to establish a journaling habit and provides ample opportunities to enter this new space.
The binding and cover are soft and made of a material that kind of reminds me of linen. It’s such a clean and authentic feel for a journal. The quality distinguishes it amongst cheaper journals, and I think that has a large impact on mindset.
Of course, the best thing about this journal is the intro. The intro discusses the brain science behind forming daily journaling habits and includes exercises to establish a personal commitment and create an action plan for the future.
Every prompt has a purpose to help you find happiness and curate a life you love. Some of the prompts you can expect are:
- Morning and evening prompts
- Affirmation lists
- Gratitude lists
- How to make today great
- Reflection
- Plans for tomorrow
If you’re looking to invite positivity and happiness into your life, this is a great journal to use.
The 5-Minute Gratitude Journal by Sophia Godkin PhD
If you want a journal with a little more variety and unique prompts for each day, I recommend this 5-minute journal by Sophia Godkin. If I’m honest, I prefer journals that switch things up and ask me thought-provoking questions. This journal does exactly that!
(Note: There is a look-inside feature for this journal, and I highly recommend that you check it out if you’re unsure about it!)
Dr. Sophia Godkin establishes some key concepts regarding gratitude in the early pages of the book. Her thoughts explain why it’s important and how taking an active approach to our thoughts can boost overall happiness.
The prompts in this book focus on giving thanks, seeking positivity, and finding joy in our daily lives. I especially loved the slight challenge of some of the prompts in this journal. They were thought-provoking and really set the tone for the day. Speaking of which, each page hosts a unique motivational quote at the top to inspire you and set the stage for whatever is to come.
Some prompts you can expect in this book include:
- “One reason my life is already great…”
- “Something I get to do today that I’ve always wanted to do…”
- “An unforgettable memory I treasure…”
- “A new door that opened for me recently…”
There are plenty more, but you get the idea! If you want a journal with plenty of room for variety and growth, I recommend this one.
The 6-minute Diary by the UrBestSelf Store
If you’re looking for a journal with a little more functionality and a bit of a challenge, I’d recommend the 6-minute diary by UrBestSelf. This diary is a bit dense in all honesty and includes a 70-page intro on productivity, gratitude, and positive thinking. If you’re a beginner who has done little research on the topic of journaling for happiness, I would suggest this diary for its informative research in the intro.
However, not everyone wants a diary that includes a lot of preliminary reading. You can skip the intro if you’d like and move onto the other content. Although, I actually found the intro to be quite helpful!
Aside from the small novella in the front, this diary offers a few unique perks, which put it on my list. First, it includes monthly check-ins where you can rank areas on your life from a 1-10. If you’ve seen my video on the Level 10 life diagram by Hal Elrod, this is essentially the same thing except with more areas of focus.
Additionally, this diary comes with monthly habit trackers. As you may know, I LOVE to track my habits. Since I make my own trackers, I didn’t really find a use for this one. However, I think it could be valuable to someone wanting to save time when it comes to making a habit tracker.
As for the writing, I did think the journal prompts were interesting. While it’s hard to say whether they were life-changing, I enjoyed how in-depth the prompts were. Unlike the first journal on this list, the prompts do not repeat and are not entirely generic. They’re interesting and provide a small challenge.
Some of the prompts you can expect in this journal include:
- “What are currently the three thoughts you have most frequently?”
- “When was the last time you cried tears of joy?”
- “What is currently your biggest worry?”
- “What advice would you give a friend experiencing your current struggle?”
If you like a good challenge and want a journal that offers more than journal prompts, you should check out this one. I will say that this journal is a bit more intermediate than beginner so keep that in mind when making your decision.
642 Things to Write About
Okay, this one isn’t technically a five-minute journal, but I think you could use it as such all the same. A friend gifted this journal to me years ago, and while I’ve tackled quite a few prompts in it, I have yet to complete them all!
This journal is less about productivity and happiness and more about getting your creative juices flowing. This journal aims to get you inspired, think outside the box, and improve your mental playing field. I think it’s a great exercise for aspiring writers, students, or people who want to hone their written or communication skills.
Some of the prompts you can expect in this journal are:
- “Describe your best friend.”
- “An unexpected gift.”
- “Five things you see out the nearest window.”
- “You are Frankenstein. Write a letter to Mary Shelley thanking her for making your story known.”
As you can see, they can get a bit bizarre, but they’re loads of fun to write! I recommend this journal to anyone who wants to play around more with their journaling or desires to find new inspiration.
Soul Therapy: 365-day journal by Positive Soul
Soul Therapy is a sweet little journal perfect for beginners either in the personal development phase or looking to get into positive journaling. This journal offers ample space for prompts that can take five minutes or more to answer, depending on your choice. For people looking to increase their journaling time slowly over the course of a year, I’d recommend they use this journal as a guide.
You can start by timing yourself for five minutes and move up slowly from there. The prompts are simple, sweet, and allow room for various answers, whether short or long. What I like most about this journal is that above many of the prompts, the author notes why this particular prompt is useful.
For example, on a prompt where you are asked to list ten positive thoughts you had today, there is an explanation stating that humans have on average 60,000 thoughts a day and that the happiest people tend to have a majority of positive thoughts.
While the prompts and lessons are far from revolutionary, I did find them insanely helpful.
Some of the prompts in this journal include:
- Five senses grounding exercise
- “When’s the last time you discovered something lovely by chance?”
- List kind gestures you’ve performed today.
- “List 10 positive thoughts.”
- Reflect on what you’re grateful for
For people looking to establish longer and more valuable journaling habits and routines, I recommend this journal as a gateway to your goals.
- Agnosticism and soul-searching: Tips to help you define your spiritual belief system
- 23 Things to Help You Navigate a Quarter Life Crisis
- How to live with intention & why it’s so important to have an intentional mindset
- Why slowing down could change your life: How to live simply
- How to Improve Yourself if you Hate Journaling
If you like this post, check out some similar posts of mine below!
Feel free to leave a comment below and let me which journal was your favorite!
You can also email me with questions or concerns you may have at info.amelia.wilson@gmail.com
My new book, Witch in the Water, is available on Amazon!
Also, check out my poetry book, The Lights are on but Nobody’s Home, available now on amazon for $6.99!
Disclaimer: All of the views and opinions in this post are solely my own and are not sponsored. This post includes affiliate links, meaning I earn a commission through links at no cost to you.
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