Posts Tagged journal

How keeping a journal can help with understanding yourself

Posted by David C. Buchan in Getting Things Done, Writing on May 15th, 2009

Reading time: 2 – 4 minutes

A few days ago I wrote on the last page in my moleskine journal. It took me 10½ months to write on each of the 240 pages. The journal is a record of my internal thinking over that period and I’d like to share with you some of what I learnt about the writing process along the way.

  • The more frequently you write, the better the conversations you have with yourself. In past years I’ve been called to write in a journal infrequently; usually only when I had a particularly nasty problem on my mind. Recently I’ve found myself needing to visit my journal every two or three days because I now benefit from a regular outpouring of ideas and my associated comfort level has shifted. I typically write at the start of the day. In the evening before bed I’m too tired to delve into it yet some nights I find myself writing in the wee small hours of the morning to get an idea out of my head so that I can sleep.
  • Write what you think and feel as well as what you do. I do note important events in my journal as I consider it a historical record yet most of the benefit comes from writing what I feel and believe rather than transcribing my day’s actions (of course thinking and feeling are actions in themselves).
  • Questions are a good source of things to write about. My output really kicked off when I was given a list of 50 self-inquiry questions to consider. I committed to answer all 50 in 50 days which in itself was a lot of fun to do and a fantastic goal to achieve. Many books on self-improvement contain questions to ask of yourself and these can be a great source of inquiry. I frequently found I was surprised by my answers.
  • A journal is aplace you can be honest. When open to the process I would write a description of what was on the surface and listen for the deeper thought behind it. More often than not I would be in wonder at identifying what I was really thinking. These thoughts were the doorways to different ideas and actions.
  • Get a good pen and paper. Moleskine notebooks are nice to write in. I use a 240 page, unlined version to let me draw pictures if I need to. I also prefer to write with a fountain pen. Why? Simply because I enjoy the feel of the ink across the paper and I’m doing something special for myself so why not have special tools as well.

This morning I started a new journal with a mood of wonder at where it will take me in the coming months.

Update: Arbhay Parvate tweeted me after he recognised journalling was a way of clearing out open loops at higher levels of GTD focus. I hadn’t realised this myself and it certainly provides an explanation for why it has become such an enjoyable and useful experience.

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Little known ways to eliminate stressful thinking

Posted by David C. Buchan in Getting Things Done, Self improvement, Writing on April 28th, 2009

Reading time: 3 – 4 minutes

If your body is tense you can massage it into relaxation. What if your mind is tense? How do you relax that?

It is possible to eliminate stressful thinking and massage your mind into relaxation. This is the second in a series of articles on stress management explaining the simple and practical ways in which you can reduce stress in your life to a level that you can then do something positive about it. Yesterday we covered ways to eliminate sources of unwarranted stress. How did you go?

Journalling creates paths forward

We do not realise how accelerated the rate of our lives has become, or the speed at which we are driving ourselves. Many people are destroying their physical bodies by this pace, but what is even more tragic, they are tearing their minds and souls to shreds as well.

Norman V. Peale, The Power of Positive Thinking (Bungay, Suffolk: Richard Clay (The Chaucer Press) 1984), p.96.

I am quite capable of carrying a lot of stressful thoughts around in my head. The moment when I scream inside is that very moment when my mind and soul tear. I no longer feel as capable as I was before. These are the moments when I most need to have a conversation with myself.

A mind tearing itself to shreds is not capable of having a conversation with itself. You just can’t hear yourself think over the stressful thoughts and as thinking occurs fast there is no chance to interrupt.

Writing your thoughts down is one way of breaking this cycle. I call it journalling and others will say writing in a diary. It doesn’t matter which. What is important is your willingness to pick up a pen and start writing what you are thinking. The lag between the two i.e., the difference in speed at which you think and write, is where the magic occurs.

I frequently journal my thoughts onto paper. Daily if I can, but always when I am stressed. It acts as a pressure valve to get what I really think onto paper and out of my head. Often it doesn’t matter what I write but that I have written something. As I write I listen for the real thoughts which now have space to surface. Each and every time I do this I learn something which provides a new path forward. With that my stress is reduced.

So instead of running or going to the gym to relieve stress, take out a pen and exercise with that instead.

The three-fold nature of work

David Allen’s Getting Things Done methodology describes a three-fold nature of work. Stress can come from being imbalanced across the areas. Take a look and see where your balance lies.

  1. Doing pre-defined work: This is choosing from what is already on your to-do list and calendar
  2. Doing work as it appears: Responding to the latest, loudest and new opportunities
  3. Defining work: Working out what is important, scheduling etc.

If you are stressed it is likely you are working too much in one area or you have conflicts between areas which you are not adequately handling.

Tomorrow: If You Don’t Affirm Yourself Now, You’ll Hate Yourself Later

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