Paper or App?

On the surface, this will seem one of the most trivial questions you might ponder. I promise there’s something more meaningful just below that surface. :)

As I stumbled into the practice of mindfulness last year, one of the things that I started doing was a light form of journaling that mostly focused on the things for which I was grateful. This was a particularly challenging time for me. Identifying and writing down the things for which I was grateful was very helpful in shifting my perspective about my situation.

I’d also used Moleskine notebooks for years, which meant that it was the natural recipient for my journaling.

When I then discovered The Five Minute Journal (after hearing Tim Ferris speak about it on his podcast often), I made the leap straight into a 5-pack order. My new journals took a while to arrive (shipping costs, as well as import taxes later), but I was excited to kick start a new habit.

The first couple of weeks went mostly well and I probably only missed a handful of entries. After that, though my journaling seemed to succumb to the age-old rhythm of habits: it dropped off my radar for weeks, and then I would diligently journal again for a couple of days before I would skip two entries, only for it to drop off my radar completely.

Great new practice. Shitty habitual practice.

I then realised that my challenge in forming a new habit around daily journal entries was one of logistics:

When it was time for my morning entry, I was downstairs in our lounge or my study. But for my evening entry, I was already in bed. This meant that my journal was never where it was supposed to be and the friction of getting up to find it, meant that forming the (new) habit became impossible.

So I did something which I had initially resisted: instead of pen and paper, I switched to using their app instead.

The reason I had previously opposed this, was because it felt more wholesome and pure to be writing with pen and paper. It was also something that had worked for me until that point.

I was also reluctant to do anything on my phone just before bed (something that I had been diligently practising too recently) because it always presented that temptation of quickly checking in on work.

What it ended up doing though is that it helped me form a habit, purely because I had my phone with me in both the morning and the evening. By switching the medium or means, I had reduced the friction to create a habitual practice.

The proof has been in the pudding too: since 1 May 2017, I have not missed any entries. :)

This isn’t only about journaling or habit forming though. And much less about whether paper or app is better.

I learnt that the means don’t always matter, but that there is more than one option available in pursuing the thing we’re seeking. Those options will have different considerations (and pros and cons) depending on their context, and sometimes it might even make sense to go with the seemingly inferior option if that means securing your goal.

I would’ve for example preferred using the actual journal; everything about that experience was better than the app. But the app has helped me reach my goal: to have a daily practice of gratitude. This, in turn, has had a significant positive effect in my life.

If I had been narrow-minded in this decision, I might have still been stuck using the actual journal sporadically only.

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