You want a journaling habit. How will it fit into your schedule?

It’s a common excuse.

I don’t have time.

If you want it bad enough, you make time. That’s the way I felt when I started my 30-day experiment on journaling gratitude.

Now I have a full-blown journaling habit. I'm really grateful for it. 

You can build a journaling habit. It doesn’t take that much time. 

Here was my beginning routine.

While my coffee was brewing each morning, I wrote two sentences of gratitude. I simply recorded the first thoughts that popped into my head. 

I ended my journaling by completing the sentence, “It will be a great day if I …” Yes, in less than four minutes, I journaled gratitude.

That was my habit for 15 months. 

Now I continue to free journal for 20 to 30 minutes. I end my journaling with a reflection on what I am reading. In 18 months, my journaling has grown to 30 or 40 minutes.

That is not the takeaway here.

The takeaway? Four minutes each day is a habit.

My original four-minute journaling habit was an investment in me. Like many investments, it grew.

You can do the same.

The key is in not spending time, but in investing it. -Stephen R. Covey