Too busy to journal? Try this! It worked for me.
Too busy to journal? Try this! It worked for me.
How constraints breed creativity, even when it comes to journaling.
Hello there beautiful people! My name is Ash Lamb, and this is The Visual Growth Letter. An illustrated newsletter about life and creativity.
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Journaling is truly amazing.
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I've always loved the idea of documenting my personal and professional journey.
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There's nothing like having an archive of entries to look back on as time passes.
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You can more easily leverage your past experiences to help you understand and tackle the new challenges you're facing.
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Sometimes you have to keep track of your progress in order to realize how far you've come.
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You can also use your entries to spot positive and negative patterns. That way you'll get to know yourself much better.
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Here's the reality of the situation though.
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You're busy. You have many things to be on top of already, including your studies, job, finances, family, friends, hobbies, etc. And the last thing you want is to add another lengthy task to complete each day.
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The truth is that journaling is too time-consuming for most people. You may be able to sit down for an hour to write down your thoughts once, but doing it consistently is a completely different ball game.
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I come with good news though. There's a fabulous solution to the time-consuming aspect of journaling, and it's called micro-journaling.
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Not only is micro-journaling convenient but it's also really fun and easy to look back on.
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It basically consists of limiting your entries to just 3 or 4 lines or even fewer. That's it. Like a tweet almost. That way you can realistically increase your consistency, focus on the highlights of your day or week and make it much more enjoyable to read in the future.
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I mean, think about it, If you managed to write two full pages for every day of your life you would never dare to even try looking back on your entries because you would have to go through an extremely dense novel filled with fluff. If you simplify your approach and just document the most interesting parts you'll be much more prone to have a look every now and then.
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Here are a few suggestions that have served me well!
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Don't overcomplicate the technical aspect of things: If you don't want to download any fancy apps you can just use your favorite notes app like Apple notes or the default app that comes with Android.
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Feel free to keep things barebones: If you're a complete nerd like I am feel free to just use a plain Markdown/txt document with the date above each short entry.
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Micro-journaling apps: If you fancy a new app I would recommend this beautiful app that has been specifically designed for micro-journaling. My Twitter friend Jarek built it in his spare time and he has really polished every little detail to make it as beautiful and intuitive as possible. If you want something more general that can be used on every platform I recommend Day One.
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Feel free to go old school: If you just want to use a physical notebook, which is always a great idea, remember that you can use an OCR to transcribe your writings digitally. It’s basically a technology that can read your handwriting and turn it into plain text. There are many free and premium options in the form of websites and apps for all operating systems.
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Embrace freewriting: Don't worry about grammar, structure, or making it perfect. Allow your thoughts to flow freely and unfiltered. This can lead to surprising insights and creative breakthroughs. A good technique to let your thoughts flow is to give yourself a time constraint of 2-5 minutes, that way you won’t have the time to perfect every word and sentence.
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Capture small moments too: Big doesn't always equal better, so don't just focus on big events; capture the small, everyday meaningful moments too. These can often hold hidden gems of insight and happiness.
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Forget about streaks: This one is especially important. Only write when you feel like it. That way your entries will be much more authentic. Life will take care of filtering the fluff for you if you let it.
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Use prompts often: If you feel like journaling but have writer's block you can use prompts or affirmations. I personally really enjoy writing a short list of things I’m grateful for.
What are you avoiding?
What has been holding you back lately?
What is something you’re grateful for today?
What blessing in your life are you taking for granted?
If this was your last week on earth, what would you change?
Feel free to create your own prompts, you can make them as vague or as specific as you want to.
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Writing is therapeutic, so burn or delete the journal if you want to. Sometimes you just want to put your thoughts, fears, and traumas on a piece of paper so you can get them out of your system to let them go.
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Write Letters: Address entries to your future self, your younger self, or even someone you have unresolved feelings toward. This can provide perspective and a unique outlet for emotions. Lincoln used to write letters he would never send just to pour out his innermost thoughts and feelings, finding solace in the act of putting pen to paper.
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I personally spotted quite a few interesting patterns after a good year of journaling. One of them was that every 3 months I got sidetracked by a new idea trend or project, just because I needed a rest from my priorities. Now, instead of distracting myself from work with more work, I try to fill those gaps with casual hobbies. They are a much better approach to resetting my brain.
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Happy journaling my friends! Your life is a story that deserves to be documented.
Thank you so much for reading!
I truly appreciate your readership and support. Without you, this project wouldn't be the same. :)
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Feel free to reply to this email, and I'll respond!
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Great love and respect,
Ash Lamb
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