I have long thought that journaling is a great idea, but it has never really worked out for me. There are various reasons for this;

  • With a traditional paper diary with pre-dated pages there is pressure to fill that space. And if I lack inspiration it is easy to give up.
  • I have tended to think that ideas should be fully formed before committing them to record. This is an approach guaranteed to fail – who ever has a new idea or train of thought that is fully formed the moment it occurs?
  • I have tried to have a working system of note-taking and journaling in place before I start. Again, this is set up to fail from the outset.

Up until recently I’ve used various digital platforms for recording information such as Evernote and the native IOS Notes app, very much with mixed success. Alongside this I have tried blogging on WordPress and my efforts there have faltered as well.Last year I came across bullet journaling – late to the party, I know. This system has worked much better for me – it removes much of the friction from other systems I’ve tried, combined with that whole tactile pen and paper thing. I’ve adapted Ryder Carroll’s method to suit my needs, and I’m sure it will evolve more. I have not eschewed digital methods in favour of paper completely and this is where some refining of my method is needed. For now I am making notes on a much more regular basis, and given that this has been the aim all along, I guess I am heading in the right direction.