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40 Stoic journal prompts for morning, evening and hard days

A blank page is the fastest way to quit journaling. A good prompt does the opposite: it gives your mind one clear question to work on, and the Stoics were masters at asking those questions.

These forty prompts are grouped by when you will use them. You do not need all of them. Pick one or two, write three honest sentences, and stop. If you are new to the practice, start with our guide on how to start a Stoic journal.

Morning prompts: prepare for the day

Marcus Aurelius began his days by rehearsing what might go wrong and how he wanted to respond. These prompts do the same.

  1. What is the one thing that matters most today?
  2. Which part of today is fully up to me, and which part is not?
  3. Who might test my patience today, and how do I want to treat them?
  4. What could go wrong today, and what would a calm response look like?
  5. Which virtue do I want to practice today: wisdom, courage, justice or moderation?
  6. What would I do today if I knew it was one of my last?
  7. What am I tempted to avoid today that I should face instead?
  8. How can I be useful to someone else today?
  9. What story am I already telling myself about today, and is it true?
  10. What would the best version of me do in the first hour of the day?

Evening prompts: review the day

Seneca reviewed his whole day every night before sleep, without excuses and without cruelty. Use these the same way.

  1. What did I do well today?
  2. Where did I fall short, and what was the cause?
  3. When did I react instead of choosing my response?
  4. What upset me today, and was it the event or my judgment of it?
  5. Did I spend my time on what I said mattered this morning?
  6. Who did I help today, and who did I let down?
  7. What did I learn today that I want to remember?
  8. What am I still holding on to that I can let go of tonight?
  9. What will I do differently tomorrow?
  10. If today were the last entry in this journal, would I be at peace with it?

Prompts for hard days

These are for the days when something has gone wrong. The Stoics did not pretend hardship away. They looked straight at it and asked what it was asking of them.

  1. What exactly happened, described only in facts?
  2. What am I adding to the facts with my own judgments?
  3. What part of this situation is in my control right now?
  4. What is the next small action I can take?
  5. How would I advise a friend in exactly this situation?
  6. Will this matter in a week, a year, ten years?
  7. What is this obstacle teaching me, or training in me?
  8. Which fear here is real, and which one lives only in my imagination?
  9. What would Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Epictetus notice that I am missing?
  10. What can I accept today, even if I cannot like it?

Prompts for gratitude and perspective

The Stoics practiced seeing life from above and remembering that nothing we have is permanent. These prompts build that habit.

  1. What do I have today that I once hoped for?
  2. Which person in my life would I miss most, and have I told them so?
  3. What ordinary thing today would I miss if it were gone?
  4. How small does today’s problem look from the height of a mountain, or from space?
  5. What am I treating as mine that is really only borrowed?
  6. What did someone else do today that made my life easier?
  7. What would I stop worrying about if I truly accepted that life is short?
  8. What is going right that I have not noticed?
  9. Which of my desires would make me freer if I let it go?
  10. What kind of person do I want to be remembered as, and did I act like that person today?

How to use these prompts

  • One prompt is enough. Depth beats volume. Three honest sentences on one question are worth more than a page of half answers.
  • Pair a prompt with a quote. Read one line from Marcus Aurelius, Seneca or Epictetus first, then answer the prompt with that line in mind.
  • Keep the same time. Morning prompts work best before you check your phone. Evening prompts work best just before bed.
  • Reread on Sundays. A weekly skim of your answers shows patterns you cannot see day to day.

Stoxia gives you a morning and evening prompt like these every day, next to a Stoic quote, and keeps every entry encrypted on your phone. But a notebook and a pen work too. What matters is that you answer.