Journaling Isn’t Supposed To Be Perfect
Having trouble keeping a journal? Make the process your own.
For years I’ve tried journaling. All of it. Bullet journaling. Regular journaling in a college ruled notebook. In a special leather journal. In journals people have gifted me. Journaling like famous people. Journaling like less famous YouTubers. Nothing seemed to stick. The results was always the same. A dozen or so entries (sometimes less) hopefully fill the first few pages before falling into the white depths of blank, unwritten pages.
Until the last couple years, I felt like I never understood how I should be journaling. I always had this feeling that I was doing it “wrong”. I felt the presence of someone looking over my shoulder reading and judging. I kept trying to cultivate a freedom to feel like I could put whatever I needed onto paper, but an invisible resistance always stopped me short.
The biggest lesson I learned over the years that got me over the mountain of resistance and failure was that there are no rules. No one is watching (well, you should still make sure 😬). Instead, I focus on getting the thoughts swirling around in my head out onto paper. No matter how messy. No matter how incoherent. Just put words onto the page. And if there is any anxiety associated with these words, the quicker you do this the better.
You shouldn’t necessarily limit the ways you journal either. In fact, I’ve found that the more avenues you have can be beneficial for extraction. It might make reviewing a little more difficult if that’s something that’s important. But, I believe the extraction phase has more value, for me anyways.
Here are all of the flavors of journaling I’ve been using
Traditional Paper Journal
I use a spiral notebook for handwritten journaling. It’s cathartic and I use the slow, handwritten form to slow my racing mind down. There are other times when I will not write about anything specific and often it’s incoherent. Sometimes I’ll write a daily account of events here, though I find it really boring and painful (in my hand) to physically write this material.
Computer-based Journal
This format has a number of advantages for me. Typing a daily log is quicker to type on a keyboard so I keep accounts of the day digitally. I’m using Notion for my daily log. It’s conveniently co-located with my planning and review system. I can use formatting to highlight particular moments in my week which makes it easier to get a sense for how my week went
Songwriting Journal
Songwriting is another way to journal, in a way. Conscious and subconscious thoughts permeate the creative process whether we are aware of it or not. My songwriting journal is a basic spiral notebook. In addition to using it for lyric writing I also do exercises like Jeff Tweedy’s word ladders or Pat Pattison’s object writing. Sometimes I’ll have a story or a scene in my head that might be a seed for a song and I’ll capture it here.
Hook Book
A specialized version of the songwriting journal, this is simply a list of “hooks”. Catchy or intriguing words, phrases or ideas that I write down when I come across them or them occur to me. This could be book titles that I come across. Interesting combinations of words that might make a good song title or a phrase that might sound good repeated. Usually these ideas are fleeting so speed of capture is important. I also use Notion for this because it runs on my phone which I always have with me. I have a database devoted solely to hooks of records with multiple fields for sorting, labeling, and searching. I revisit this journal when I need inspiration.
How you journal is a very personal journey. There is no right or wrong way to do it. If you’re someone who has struggled with it I hope these ideas give you some motivation to make it a process that does what you need. Make it personal. Make it your own.
I’d like to hear what methods you use and how they have helped you. Let me know in the comments!