Five Bullets on Journaling
Six years of journals.
Friends -
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 wanted to start a diary this year and even included it on your New Year’s resolutions. Well, we’re nearing the end of January which is right around the time when our resolutions are either sinking or swimming.
Whether it’s writing, reading or practicing music, I have to do it everyday until it becomes part of my daily routine. This is the only way I can make any progress. Small steps day after day.
If you’re struggling to get started journaling this year (or maybe you’re doing so well you don’t need my help at all!), I figured I’d give some tips which have helped me keep a journal over the last seven years.
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; sort of a stream of consciousness. My journal is a safe space where I can write about anything without judgment since I’m the only one who will be reading.
Journaling is 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.
I had to practice journaling. It wasn’t easy at first, to sit down and find the time to write. Now, I can’t think of not journaling! Journaling focuses and order my thoughts. On the rare day that I don’t journal I feel ‘off’. Spending time with myself and my thoughts helps to work out personal issues. I also have a daily record of who I am at that moment in time - or who I want to be. Beginning with the simple act of sitting down with pen and paper every morning, I began writing fiction, blogging, and I started this newsletter. I’ve grown both as a person and as a writer through journaling.
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 you can 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, even a voice memo or vlog.
Do it everyday.
Once you get into the habit of sitting down to write, 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. Every little bit helps and soon you’ll be journaling consistently.
Record everything and anything.
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. Just get it all out and later a pattern or useful way of journaling will emerge.
To read or not to read.
Sometimes I thumb through my journal reading at random. I don’t read 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.
Find out what method works best for you. Write everyday. I know you’ll see results and if you don’t then at least you gave it a shot!
Many noteable 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.”
“The best time to start was yesterday.
The next best time is now.”
If you’ve always wanted to start journaling, now’s the time! Set time aside everyday, even if its 5 minutes. Treat it as sacred - no distractions. Set a timer and write. Keep doing it everyday. Find out what method works best for you. Some other forms of journaling which may be helpful are:
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. To get started all you have to do is write! Keep that up everyday as you cultivate your journaling practice into part of your daily routine.
I wish you Happy Journaling!
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Until next time,
Keith.
