Micro Journaling: Bite-Sized Thoughts

Oct 11

I know, I know. Another article about journaling? Sorry, I just can’t help myself. There are so many ways to benefit from the act of journaling, that when something new comes along, I immediately want to share it. Micro journaling isn’t really new though. It’s probably been around just as long as regular journaling has. But, in the last few months, I’ve seen an uptick in the ways in which micro journaling can be helpful and beneficial, especially for those who can’t devote a ton of time to long-form journaling. So let’s dive right into what it is and how you can benefit from it.

What is it?

The easiest way to describe micro journaling is this: smaller and more concise chunks of thoughts or feelings. It stands in contrast to morning pages, for example, where three pages are the minimum. It may also seem to bump up against your other journaling practices. But it doesn’t have to be. It can be in addition to. Maybe, some days, it replaces your practice. There are no “right” or “wrong” ways to journal — no matter the technique you go with.

The biggest difference, in my opinion, between everyday journaling and micro journaling is how much you capture and how you decide to capture it. For me, it’s often more representative of the emotions/day I’m having rather than an introspective practice. I find myself micro journaling on busy days where I know setting aside more than fifteen minutes isn’t going to be possible. So I will usually jot down a couple of things in between calls or meetings. It’s also my go-to method when I’m traveling as again, I’m not in a space or environment to really dig deep like I prefer to do in my everyday journaling. But I still want to capture the important bits from the day. How I’m feeling, what I’m doing, what’s energizing me, what’s draining me, etc.

So, just like everyday journaling, micro journaling can look a lot of different ways. With this article, I hope to give you some resources and ways that you can begin micro journaling, but I want you to know that it can look however you want it to, and can be used any way that feels important or beneficial to you. Some people get more out of a longer journaling session… some get more out of short but concise snapshots of their day. Just like everything I write about, take what works and leave the rest.

How to Micro Journal

This is the fun part! Because it has no limitations — you can turn nearly everything into a micro journaling experience. Here are some quick examples (and totally not exhaustive):

Post-it notes — if you write in a physical journal, you can add the post-it to your existing page or heck — cover the page with post-it notes.
If you are a fan of digital journaling, you can add a “call out” box or a different font/color to separate your micro journaling.
Use an app like Journalistic (literally a micro journaling app!), or other apps like Daylio, Grid Diary, Day One, etc. These are quick and easy ways to capture those micro-journaling moments.
Facebook Messages to yourself — this is one of my FAVORITE ways to micro journal, believe it or not. Unfortunately, I have to use Facebook Messenger for some of the work I do, and there’s nothing I hate more than seeing a list of unread messages… until I discovered that I could essentially message myself. (See below for example).
Index Cards are easy, affordable, and accessible for this kind of micro journaling.
Texts to yourself — believe it or not, it’s a pretty reliable way to track your micro journaling
Native “Notes” app on your phone
Dictate it using the “memo” or “voice record” functionality on your device
Any word processing program

As you can see, there are a ton of ways you can micro journal and about as many ways to keep them organized. I usually use a combination of the above list unless I’m specifically experimenting with something like I have been this month with the Journalistic App. But the most important takeaway is to only use this method if it feels right for you. I’ll be super transparent and say that micro journaling is really beneficial in with the small bits, but it doesn’t hold a candle to working out issues/problems/stray thoughts as other journaling methods can. But used in tandem — they create a really symbiotic journaling relationship. Give it a try if you’re curious about its ease of use and benefits! Here are a few of my actual examples to show you how easy and diverse it can be.