How I Journal
How to start your daily journaling practice and keep going.
Good Morning and Happy Friday!
Instead of the usual five bullets format this week I’ve written about something which has improved my life and my writing: the simple practice of keeping a daily journal, or diary.
Maybe you want to start a diary this year and included it in your New Year’s resolutions. Well, we’re near the end of January which is when our resolutions either sink or swim.
When I’m practicing something, whether it’s writing or music, I have to do it everyday until it becomes a part of my daily routine. This is the only way I can make any progress. Small steps day after day.
Journaling is the bedrock of my writing practice and the cornerstone of how I understand myself and the world around me. I journal in the morning with pen and paper. I jot down whatever comes to mind about the previous day’s events, my thoughts, comments and plans for the upcoming day, in sort of a stream of consciousness.
Journaling is a way to record your life by sitting with and paying attention to the smaller details we miss as we go about our day. I hold myself accountable through daily journaling. I know what I did yesterday and what I must do today. My journal is a safe space where I can write however and about whatever I want without judgment since I’m the only reader.
I had to practice journaling. To sit down and find the time to write wasn’t easy at first. Now I can’t a miss a day otherwise my mind is scattered. Journaling focuses and order my thoughts. I also have a daily record of who I am at that moment in time or who I want to be. Starting with the simple act of sitting down with pen and paper every morning, I began writing fiction, blogging, and this newsletter. I’ve grown both as a person and as a writer through journaling.
Many notable writers and creatives kept a journal, diary or notebook:
Joan Didion on keeping a notebook:
“So the point of my keeping a notebook has never been, nor is it now, to have an accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking…How it felt to me: that is getting closer to the truth about a notebook.”
Austin Kleon writes that his diaries are a snapshot of himself:
“I find that my diaries often remind me not who I used to be, but who I am and who I still am.”
Julia Cameron guides creatives to get those messy pages out first:
“Once we get those muddy, maddening, confusing thoughts [nebulous worries, jitters, and preoccupations] on the page, we face our day with clearer eyes.”
Benjamin Franklin kept a diary of his progress toward ‘moral perfection’:
“I made a little book in which I allotted a page for each of the virtues.”
John Steinbeck kept a journal while writing The Grapes of Wrath:
“I shall try simply to keep a record of working days and the amount done in each and the success (as far as I can know it) of the day. Just now the work goes well.”
Maybe journaling or keeping a diary can help you reach your goals too. Here’s five bullets to start journaling:
Just write.
When you’re starting out the best thing to do is just write! However, whenever, wherever you can, it doesn’t matter. Journaling can be whatever you want it to be: a written or typed entry, a voice memo or vlog, a scrap of paper or a new notebook.
Do it everyday.
To get into the habit of journaling, it’s helpful to write everyday, at the same time, for a set period of time. No distractions. Set a timer. Make it part of your daily routine and soon you’ll be journaling consistently.
Record everything (or nothing).
Just get it all out and later a pattern or useful way of journaling will emerge. In the beginning I found that my journaling was mostly about the day’s events - this happened, then that happened - but over time it became a space for self-reflection. I do a ‘brain dump’ of all the silly, odd, or (sometimes) useful things floating around in my head.
To read or not to read.
Sometimes I thumb through my journal reading random entries, not with a critical eye but just to get a sense of where my head was at on any particular day or month. Mostly I don’t read my entries. It’s up to you.
Keep it up.
Write everyday. Find out what method works best for you. Stick with it and I’m sure you’ll see results. If not then at least you gave it a shot.
“The best time to start was yesterday. The next best time is now.”
If you want to start journaling, now’s the time! Set aside time everyday even if its 5 minutes. Set a timer and write. Treat it as sacred - no distractions. Keep doing it everyday. Find out what method works best for you.
Journaling can be whatever you want. It doesn’t need to sound or look a certain way. It can be lists, notes, brainstorming, goal planning and a whole lot more.
Some other forms of journaling:
All you have to do is write! Keep that up and you’ll cultivate your journaling practice into your daily routine.
Do you journal, keep a diary, notebook or commonplace book?
That’s all for this week! I really enjoy writing this weekly newsletter. I explore my interests, learn more, and share it with you. Get five bullets in your inbox every Friday.
Until next time,
Keith.
These are great tips. I stopped for a while but find myself needing to make time to get started again. In the past it was mostly a page or two of just stream of consciousness. I think now it may take the form of just bullets. What I'm noticing now is that it really helped with my memory! I forget things more easily now that I don't record them in some way.
Great tips! I like Steinbeck's first line in the journal entry pictured above. 'Here is a diary of a book and it will be interesting to see how it turns out.' Whether it be a diary of a book, or a diary of personal thoughts or goals, it's great to be able to look back and see the progression of one's life.