How I Journal

Three short, subjective tips on how I put thoughts in my journal.

A part of being human is wanting to leave a record — mostly written, but today, we prefer digitized — of ourselves for others to discover in the future. Face it, we’re big narcissistic vain egomaniacs. And that’s perfectly okay; in fact, the greatest writers in history had egos bigger than the entire human race combined. Look at Nietzsche, for crying out loud!

I don’t consider myself an avid writer. I’m not one of those guys that can write a lot of blog posts or even journal entries in one day . Usually it’s just 1–2 posts per day and that’s it. Sometimes I totally forget. Sometimes I wait until my head is bursting with profound insights after a couple of toilet trips before I write something. I prefer writing long posts over short ones. I view writing as a therapeutic way to say “screw you” to the world without getting punched in the gut and being reprimanded by my boss.

So without further ado, here I give you my own, biased tips on the art of journaling.

1. Physical is better than electronic

Yes, call me a hipster. But there’s a charm to writing with pen and paper. My thoughts flow more fluidly when I’m writing than when I’m typing. Usually when I type, I often take minute stops to correct either my grammar and diction. I also find that I get more easily distracted when I’m typing and it’s harder to enter that “flow” state. Also, bringing a laptop everywhere is a pain on my back. Having a physical journal feels much nicer; it’s smaller and easily accessible. With a laptop, I would need specialized software to write (I hate Word; I usually use OneNote) and not to mention it takes some time to boot up. And when connected to Wi-Fi for blogging, I usually get distracted and open so many tabs.

I used my first paycheck to buy myself a nice Moleskine journal, because those are the only good ones available in Indonesian bookstores — I envy the people who have access to other better brands abroad. And I’ve found myself writing almost every day in my journal. In fact, after a long day at work, I enter my “man cave” just to write in my journal or read a book.

I would also recommend not using blogs (sorry, WordPress and Medium) as places for journaling. I’m a paranoid son-of-a-bitch and don’t like sharing my utmost personal thoughts with the internet. I doubt if Anne Frank were still alive now she would be blogging her diary on the internet. Having a physical journal invokes a feeling of privacy and intimacy. It’s like having a close friend just for you.

Books are also better in physical form, by the way. To paraphrase a wise one man on the internet, “Books are like boobs. On screen, they’re great; but they’re more awesome when you can actually touch them”.

2. Write to an imaginary friend

When I first bought my journal, I thought of using it only to write deep, profound thoughts. Turns out, those ideas only come once in a while, like after two long sessions in the toilet. Besides, my personal journal should be used to record any kind of thought I have, not just the extraordinary. I felt burnout only after two days writing.

But then, I discovered a new approach after reading Anne Frank’s diary. She wrote to an imaginary friend by the name of Kitty. Maybe I should do that too. I rummaged through my childhood memories and rediscovered my imaginary friends. I then began writing in my journal as if I were writing to an imaginary friend. My ideas started to flow more fluidly and pretty soon, each entry in my journal was 3–4 pages long. Whoa!

3. Write when you’re the most emotional… or whenever you feel like it

As I said, I’m not a regular writer; I’m a sporadic and lazy writer. Maybe my last tip would be counterintuitive to productivity, but screw you, it’s my journal and I’m not writing for popularity.

I don’t plan out my journaling sessions. Sometimes after work, I feel so tired I just want to sleep and get the day over with. I often forget to write during a normal weekday. But if I experience something at the office, the minute I get home — well, after a good meal and a shower — I immediately start furiously writing down what happened. “Screw you, Bob, you totally screwed up and I was the one who took a bullet for you. You grade-A asshole.” In red ink. It feels really good, and afterwards, I feel all the anger dissipate and I get better sleep. You should really try it. The idea is, you don’t have to have a rigid schedule on when to write. It’s your private journal. You’re not writing for a publisher nor are you on a deadline. You have all the freedom to choose when to write. Don’t feel intimidated by those cocksuckers who brag about how they manage to write all the time like clockwork; it could be social media exaggeration. Just be you.

So those are my tips for journaling. I hope you liked them and can benefit from them!

From,

A lazy-ass writer