Some reasons why you should probably keep a journal

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Monkey Brain

One of the main reasons I advocate for everyone to write regularly in a journal is that it calms the monkey brain.

No matter who you are, you know what I’m talking about here. The incessant chatter in your head when you are trying to process something, and you find yourself going round and round in circles. It’s the voice in your head that keeps you awake at night going over that thing that happened, what she said, what he should have done, why this or that went wrong and so on.

Instead of trying to ‘think’ your way out of a problem, talk about it openly in your journal. Write it all down. Get it all out of your head and onto the page. Talk about it with someone you trust — yourself. Tell the story how you see it. Studies show that even if you don’t ‘solve’ the issue, just writing about it can help people to process and move on.

Too-many-things-to-do-list

Related to the monkey brain is that too-many-things-on-your-to-do-list voice. This voice is usually the one that keeps me up at night if I don’t write it all down every day. I find that once you have more than seven things to remember, you don’t remember anything at all.

The solution is to write them all down. Everything. This process will take a while, longer than you might imagine, which is presumably why people don’t do it often enough. Once you have written all the tasks down, drill down into the list to make even longer lists of bite-size tasks. Then you need to prioritise your list and go to bed. It will all be waiting there for you in the morning. The simple act of writing it all down and seeing it on paper will calm you.

Focus

Leading on from the to-do list is what I like to call the to-be list. Who are you and what do you want to achieve? These questions can all be answered in your journal. Once you have recorded the bigger WHY questions, you can keep yourself accountable and on track.

A way to help prioritise to-do lists into to-be list is to write your WHY at the front of your journal. That way, when it comes to prioritising your I-have-too-many-things-to-do-list, you can refer to your WHY to help you focus on achieving the important rather than the urgent.

If you are not yet clear on your WHY, read this book and watch this video.
No time? Here is the five-minute version of Simon Sinek’s groundbreaking talk.

Subconscious

Once you get into the habit of writing in your journal every day, you can build up to stream-of-consciousness writing. If you are new to journaling, this can be quite tiring, and you need to strengthen a degree of writing fitness to get the most out of it.

Readers of The Artists Way may recognise this continuous stream of writing longhand as Morning Pages. Author Julia Cameron advocates three A4 pages, without stopping. Every day.

As horrible and torturous as this sounds to novice journalers, I would say it has been life-changing for me and I love doing it. I have been writing morning pages now religiously for 16 years, and the benefits of being able to tap into your subconscious at will are like uncovering miracle creative superpowers. If you are not writing stream-of-consciousness regularly, there is a powerhouse of stored magic in your subconscious that you are missing out on.

Like any athletic pursuit, I would recommend warming up to this one. It is a marathon, not a sprint. Try the previous exercises for a few weeks to develop the habit. You don’t want to pull a psychic hamstring the first time you do it.

How do I start?

Look for an A4 spiral-bound visual diary and a pen that is smooth-writing. Pilots are the best in my experience and your journal should have no lines. Dumping your brain on paper is a chaotic and messy affair, and pesky lines will only slow you down. Think furniture in your way when you are busting for the toilet — you can get there okay, but you would probably prefer they weren’t there all the same. I like the spiral binding for the same reason, especially as I am a lefty. I want the other page to be tucked out of my way as I push across the page in a frenzy.

The next step is to find somewhere you can work undisturbed for the next 20 minutes. Some suggestions: a public toilet (don’t laugh), a coffee shop or pub, your car (while parked, duh!), the library, your back deck, a couch at a shopping centre, public park, aeroplane and so on.

Set yourself a timer to prevent ‘boketto’ (staring mindlessly into space) and a goal to finish three full pages of writing without stopping. Don’t worry if what you are writing is utter gobbledygook at first. Like clearing out any closet, you have to make a mess before you can clean and tidy everything.

As with any exercise, the first few days and weeks are going to be awkward, painful and embarrassing. Don’t sweat it. Literally. Just focus on writing three pages, close the journal, repeat tomorrow.

The key with effective journaling is to keep the process hidden. You have to steal the time to do it. If you are continually worried about people talking to you during the process or snooping a look at what you are writing, it will defeat the purpose. Your stream-of-consciousness must be authentic and uninterrupted. Which means no children, husbands or iPhones. The simple answer is to do it in private and keep the journal secret.

Give it a try over the next month. What ways can you steal time and write in your journal every day?