A couple of weeks ago I decided to start journaling. The “old fashioned way”: using pen and paper. I started writing in a simple cheap notebook, starting each day on a new page. It’s not easy to find the time every day, and it is definitely not easy to write something meaningful every day. Since January 1 I started writing in a Moleskine Daily Planner. I am of course not using it as a planner, but since you already have one page a day (with the date already written on top), I thought it would make it easier to just start writing every day.
Now why did I start journaling? I came across a post on the Asian Efficiency site (no idea how I got there btw) which describes it perfectly: I have what they call a “leaky” brain (bad memory). I have great trouble remembering facts from my past. Writing them down will help me in having a record of what happened on some specific day. Writing them down by hand also helps to remember them better, since I have to work my brain to write it down in a few words (writing “digitally” always ends up in far to many words). I am trying to journal digitally using Day One too for the more fleeting moments (see an earlier post). The Asian Efficiency post also has some templates on what to write. I still have to work those in to my ritual, but habits take time. I’ll get there.
One thing about the Moleskine: the pen I’m using (a Parker rollerball) is not the right pen for sure. The ink bleeds through to the other side of the paper. I will have to invest some time in finding a good pen!