I Despised Journalling So Much, I Forced Myself to Journal Even More
3 experiments I tried that made journalling and diary-writing a little more bearable
The worst part of my day is sitting on my bed, notebook propped on my lap, black pen spinning in my hand and my mind going:
What the hell am I supposed to write today?
I teach creative writing and English to both children and teenagers. My weeks are inundated with essays, marking and figurative language. Cultivating an interest in reading and writing is a goal monumental to my teaching. So I write short stories, for myself and for my students. For their interest, for their learning, for my creativity. Fiction writing was a piece of cake.
Journalling? Oh boy, that was a whole new minefield that terrified me.
For me, journalling meant processing my thoughts and noting down introspections from my day, and to continue this habit on a daily basis. I wanted my journalling to seem insightful. Deep. Profound.
The pressure I placed on myself to journal something amazing each time I opened that empty notebook made me freeze. It made me hate journalling.
I was aware of the positive impacts of journalling. I wanted to journal. I wanted to see my thoughts in front of me and dissect the reflections to create new thought processes.
However, I needed a guide.
A guide to journalling.
So I decided on a three-month-long experiment to learn how to journal more easily, with one experiment each month.
Experiment 1: Set a timer for five minutes
When I encourage my students to read, I tell them to start with one page every day. It is easy, it is achievable and it shows progress.
Journal one page a day? Not so much.
Setting a timer helps to shift your mindset from needing to fill at least one page of thoughts, to instead, keeping it within a time limit.
On some days, five minutes yielded two lines. On other days, five minutes would create half a page.
When the five minutes were up, a rush of dopamine would hit me for achieving that goal.
You start to equate journal writing with positive experiences and intrinsic rewards. The perfect recipe for maintaining a daily habit.
Did my liking for journalling increase after this? Definitely.
Experiment 2: Have only one question to answer every day
The most difficult part of journalling is finding a piece of thought, event or observation to write about.
Remove that hurdle by choosing the same question to answer every day.
My question: did today bring me closer to my goals?
I loved that question. Focusing on one aspect helps. It provides structure, clarity and conciseness.
Here are more question that you can try:
- Rate my day from 1–10. What could have made it better/worse?
- One new fact that I learned.
- Would I do a do-over of today? Why or why not?
Experiment 3: Write a line from a book/article I was reading and comment on it
By far, this was my favourite experiment.
I keep a resonance list; lines from all forms of media that resonated with me. That evoked some form of thought or reflection from me.
So for this experiment, I would write down those thoughts and reflections based on one line I had encountered that day.
Here’s an example:
“Plug that hole in your face — that one, right in the middle of your face, and watch how much better you get.” — Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday. I keep attributing my mistakes and failures to my lack of ‘specialness’. I should find ways to fortitude my mental resilience and to stop the complaining and just do the work.
It was fun, it was easy, it was thought-provoking.
I can safely say that the process of journalling became easier — or dare I say, enjoyable — through these little trials and errors.
And so, I encourage you to give one of them a shot for at least two weeks.
What other experiments have you tried to make journalling and diary-writing a more bearable experience for yourself?