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Journaling
Dan Grover | Mar 21 2006
Here's my thinking When I'm developing software, and there's some glitch, what I'll sometimes do is go back into the source where I suspect there might be a problem, and try to figure it out. When in regular life, though, I'm thinking what I should do is start keeping a journal. Then when I ask myself "What was I thinking!?" I can go and find out exactly. Then remind myself "Oh yeah, don't think that." Also sometimes I vent online when I shouldn't. And in some cases it may be seen by people I might not, and sometimes it's googlable and everything. So I downloaded a journal program for the Mac that looked pretty spiffy. But then I realized why I make my to-do lists by hand -- there are certain things that just look stupid typed. And if I kept it in a digital format, there's always that risk of anyone who finds it reproducing it quite easily. I went and ordered a Moleskine ruled large notbook thing, 'cause they seemed nice (and the descriptions of reminded me a little bit, for some reason, of the journal Winston purchases in 1984). I can't wait to get it -- I ordered it with cheapo Media Mail shipping which takes forever. I figure what I should do is set aside a small amount of time every day, probably before bed, to write in it. I could put down thoughts, ideas, reflections, etc, and probably start to develop some conventions for doing so to make it easy to go back and see (e.g. the 'meta data' notebook hacks on here). Does anyone here journal? Is it a useful activity? Any journaling hacks? 41 Comments
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 I used to write for...Submitted by Chrome47 on March 21, 2006 - 7:37am.
I used to write for half an hour every morning, and not read it again for about 6 weeks. You call this Morning Pages. It's a practice encouraged by The Artists Way. I don't have time in the mornings for this now, but I do try to journal on the weekends and during my lunch break if I have time. Writing longhand is very expressive, and you somehow get more out of it than by typing. I mean, you can scribble your letters or underline underline underline things, or write something really flowy describing something that made you really happy. It really is therapeutic. Let yourself rant, rave, throw a tantrum, sing the praises of something. Then in six weeks or so, go back and read it carefully. Don't get thrown by the mood swings (they happen to us all, and it's OK.) But take two highlighters and note the things that call for some kind of action needed, and things that mark your progress. (I think those are the two things to highlight -- it's been about 2 years since I read The Artists Way.) The book is good, albiet a bit "hippie-ish" and "New Agey" but there are a lot of really good points to it. But the CAPTURING principle is the same as it is in GTD: capture everything you can, get it down on paper, get it down on SOMETHING, so you don't lose it. The more you empty your head, the better you'll feel, since you don't have something pulling you down and causing unneccessary, un-dealt-with weight. (The other tool of The Artists Way is to have a weekly "Date" with yourself, where you and you alone go do something fun and perhaps silly and most likely inexpensive, like go to an inspiring antiques shop or used bookstore or even a toy store, or maybe the park and just fly a kite. The idea is to generate creativity by letting your austere adult self go.) Oh yeah, and like emory said, this is all WAY cheaper than therapy. :) (Although there are some things therapists can do for you that your own journal can't.) I'll say though, that reading my journals from a few years ago, that 20/20 hindsight really kicked in, and I was just kind of like, "Wow, why didn't I see THAT coming?" Journaling definitely gives one perspective. Again, though, the main purpose of journaling isn't so much to document your day, but to capture your thoughts, feelings, reactions, and ideas. It's a sort of Trusted System, really, or a major component of one. Sorry, I didn't mean to write a novel. ;-) » POSTED IN:
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