“Write On! How Journaling Fuels Your Learning Journey”

By Imane Terrab

As a child, journaling was more than just a habit—it was an emotional outlet and a way to process the world around me. Through writing, I vented my frustrations, captured my dreams, and—though I had not rationalized this as a child—reflected on what I was learning about myself and my environment. As a young adult, I realized that my journal entries provided emotional clarity and allowed me to anchor personal insights and lessons that I might have otherwise overlooked.

However, as I entered professional life, journaling fell to the wayside. Between building my career and managing the demands of everyday life, I lost touch with this practice. It wasn’t until my colleagues and I integrated journal writing into WDHB’s learning and development (L&D) programs that I rediscovered its power for both personal growth and as a key learning tool for professionals everywhere.

Now that I am re-establishing this habit in my own life, I am more convinced than ever that journaling is essential for anyone serious about their personal development—especially in the context of experiential learning.

The Learning Benefits of Journaling

At its core, journaling is about structured reflection. It provides a space to process experiences and extract deeper insights through reflective observation—a key element of David Kolb’s experiential learning cycle. Research consistently supports the effectiveness of journaling for learning and growth. Some examples include:

• Reflective journaling helps improve self-awareness and emotional regulation, as well as increase resilience and creativity​ (Springer Link).
  
• According to studies in educational psychology, students who engage in reflective journaling better retain and apply new knowledge they gained, leading to lifelong learning skills​ (Frontiers).
  
• Journaling also strengthens cognitive function and rewires the brain to improve performance, as it encourages deliberate focus and clarity around goals​ (WellmanPsych).

Benefits like the above illustrate why journaling is such a powerful tool in learning and development programs. Contemplative writing allows individuals to process complex experiences and transform them into actionable insights.

In conversation with my fellow WDHB colleague, Kailah Seymour, she shares personal experiences in daily journaling that support this. “I’ve found that unless I create intentional space for reflection, each work day begins to blend into one another,” she says. “I’m too bogged down in the work to notice what I’ve learned.”

Kailah also expressed that journaling “lets you become the master of your own education, helping you to synthesize and draw connections between sources.”

Why Journaling Enhances Reflective Learning

Recently, I attended an immersion focused on regenerative leadership in the forests of Surrey, UK. The environment encouraged stillness and deep reflection—and we were guided through journaling exercises to capture our thoughts. I found that journaling in nature added another layer of depth to my reflections. The simplicity of writing in such a serene setting helped me process not only the session’s insights, but new growth in my leadership journey.

This experience confirmed what I already believed: journaling plays a key role in immersive learning experiences. During these moments of personal introspection, we process more than just skills or knowledge—we gain clarity on our values, leadership style and direction.

In experiential learning, reflection is critical. Without it, lessons from hands-on experiences can fade quickly. This is where journaling becomes essential: it deliberately slows down the learning process and ensures that participants can not only recall key insights, but also integrate them into their day-to-day practices.

Through reflective observation in journaling, we take in the information we gain from experiences, with special attention placed on contradictory information—how did your experience challenge what you once believed was true?

From there, journaling gives rise to new ideas—ideas which can change your beliefs or inspire action to change the world around you.

“Journaling helps create intentional pause, and gives my brain an opportunity to actually do something with the information I’ve picked up over the last few days,” says Kailah. “I’ve always found that my learnings and insights are the most useful when I can see the connection between information. I can better understand how this applies beyond its initial use case.”

In this way, writing reflectively is a proven method for fostering conceptual change, encouraging individuals to adapt their thought processes and behaviors based on new information ​(Springer Link).

At WDHB, we often incorporate journaling into our L&D programs, especially during immersive experiences. As participants reflect on their personal learning journey, journaling offers a way to solidify new takeaways from their experiences. 

For Kailah Seymour, “Journaling became the answer to, How can I consistently prioritize my professional growth, while challenging and addressing the limiting beliefs that hold me back?” 

These reflections also serve learners in powerful ways: people who journal are better equipped to identify their strengths and weaknesses, enabling constant growth and development.

Our Personal Commitments and Practical Tips

I have recommitted to journaling as part of my daily routine, and while I sometimes struggle to keep the pace (which is okay), I encourage everyone to try and do the same. 

If you are new to journaling or looking to integrate daily writing into your professional development, here are some tips:

1. Start small: Commit to journaling for just 5-10 minutes each day, reflecting on the key events, challenges or insights.
2. Use prompts: Some questions I find useful include:
   • What surprised me today?
   • What assumptions were challenged?
   • How can I apply what I learned to my professional and personal life?
3. Be honest: Do not worry about writing perfectly. The more genuine and unfiltered your reflections, the more valuable the process will be. Kailah recommends a “Done is better than perfect” approach.
4. Share selectively: While journaling is a deeply personal practice, sharing select reflections with colleagues or mentors can spark collaborative learning and provide new perspectives.

“I firmly believe that your journaling practice needs to be uniquely yours,” Kailah mentioned. “It will likely take some experimenting—and trial and error—until you find the format and frequency that works for you.”

Now, Write On!

Journaling is a simple but powerful tool to anchor your learning, foster growth, and help navigate the complexities of growth and leadership. I am proud to have rediscovered journaling, and recommend this habit to everyone advancing their personal and professional development.

For those joining us in journal writing, Kailah Seymour offers these words of encouragement:

“I challenge you to let your journal be a more accurate reflection of life: imperfect and unpredictable, but chock-full of lessons—if you’re willing to make the space to capture them.”