Blank leather journals spark the imagination. They can be more than simple day-to-day thoughts, they can be the beginning (or continuation of) legacies. With a few sheets of paper and a way to write, your journal becomes the doorway to brand new worlds, thoughts, and ideas.
Here are just some of the ways you can use your leather notebooks:
1. Make up your own set of writing prompts
We’ve given you some ideas for writing prompts to get you started writing in your journal. Why not come up with a few of your own? Whether it’s snippets of dialogue you’ve overheard , an inspiring song on the radio, a photograph in a magazine, or a random word you are dying to use in a story, the possibilities for creating your own writing prompts are endless!
2. Keep track of your finances
Even though technology has changed our lives, there are still those who believe that some things are best kept on paper rather than in the cloud. Keep track of your purchases, record your income, and balance the two in your journal. Pull out your journal when tax time rolls around.
3. Write down your favorite quotes
Quotes are great motivators for when you need a little bit of inspiration. Others can be so clever that they simply must be written down. Author Robert Byrne got so adept at collecting clever quotes that his collection ended up as the bestselling book series “The Best Things Anybody Ever Said”.
4. Keep track of your daily astrological horoscope or tarot readings
For some, both astrology and tarot are excellent tools to get in touch with their inner self. Like a dream journal, keeping track of the cards or the stars can help you spot trends and how they relate to what’s going on in your life.
5. Create a Bucket List
Everyone has a list of things they want to do before they ‘kick the bucket’. Success coach Jack Canfield suggests starting your own bucket list in your journal by writing down 100 things you want to see, be, do, or places you want to travel to in your lifetime.
6. List everything you are grateful for
Keeping a gratitude journal is a great way to count your blessings. Making it a daily habit helps you to realize just how fortunate you are.
7. Write down every unusual name you have ever encountered
You can do this for people or for businesses. One writer worked in a call center making several hundred calls in a day. Whenever an unusual name popped up, he would make note of it in his journal. Whenever he needed a smile or needed to create a character in a story, he would look to his journal for inspiration.
8. Keep a list of story, article, or book ideas
Your leather journal is your passport to anywhere your imagination wants to go. Use it to create characters and worlds to generate stories in print or film. If non-fiction is your love, your journal is the perfect place to write down your research (http://top10leatherjournals.com/create-keep-research-journal/ ) notes.
9. Start a language journal
Whether you want to learn French, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, Elvish as created by J.R.R. Tolkien or any other language, write down vocabulary and grammar as a way to help you learn. Some of the best loved and useful dictionaries and vocabulary guides began inside someone’s journal.
10. Make an inventory of all the things in your house
Go from room to room, making note of all of the things in each one. Keeping track of all of your stuff could end up being very useful for insurance purposes.
11. Start a food diary
If you are a bit of a foodie, using a journal to keep track of the dishes you’ve cooked, recipes from friends or family that you’ve enjoyed or restaurants you’ve gone to is a great way to help you remember and recreate them.
12. Keep a fitness journal
Your journal can be the ultimate fitness tracker! Use it to keep track of your fitness goals and your progress in attaining them.
13. Create a guided meditation journal
Like journaling, meditation has long been a great way to improve your health and outlook on life. Make a daily entry of meditations that you used; now long you meditated for and how you felt afterwards. You can even write out a script and record it to help you get into a deep state of relaxation.
14. Write down bits of wisdom you’ve learned
A journal is the perfect venue to gather up all the helpful hints and best advice you have received in your lifetime. Write these down alongside your own insights you’ve gained through hands-on experience.
15. Take an inventory of your talents & possible businesses opportunities
Everybody’s good at something. Why not write down the skills that you have? During your brainstorming session in your journal, you just might come up with a killer idea that will launch your own business.
16. Make a Wish List
A wish list can be similar to a bucket list. A wish list can be the things you want to own or things you want to create or be. It can be similar to an art journal or a Zibaldone book.
17. Create a household helpful hints book
These guides were very popular for newlywed brides and women who managed a household from the 18th Century till the middle 20th Century. Who couldn’t use a few helpful hints on making the home run smoothly? If you’ve got tips and tricks, and recipes for cleaning products from botanicals that you make yourself, having that written down is invaluable. You may also want to hand that knowledge down as an heirloom to others.
18. Make a brag book about your kids
Keep track of all the important things in your child’s life. Write down the day they got their first tooth, read their first storybook and all of the little things that make parenting so wonderful!
19. Make a list of self-nurturing things to delight your senses
Does a Qi Gong session or getting a massage with sweet scented oils make you feel complete? Or is it something even simpler like a walk in the park barefoot in the grass? Really think about the things that you do just for YOU and write them down in your journal.
20. Research your ancestry
Everyone wants to find out who their ancestors were and where they came from. Your leather journal can be the perfect place to document what you find out about them and yourself through their history.
We’ve only scratched the surface with the potential uses for your leather journals. How do you use yours?