(2019-01-29) Sivers Benefits Of A Daily Diary And Topic Journals

Derek Sivers: Benefits of a daily diary (DailyWriting) and topic journals. You know those people whose lives are transformed by meditation or yoga or something like that? For me, it’s writing in my diary and journals

Keep one file

Every day at some point, just open up this file, write today’s date, then start writing. Even if it seems boring, write what you did today, and how you are feeling.

It works best as a nightly routine. Just take a minute and write at least a few sentences. If you have time, write down everything on your mind. Clear it all out

Your past self is your best indicator of how you actually felt in similar situations. So it helps to have an accurate picture of your past.

“Thoughts On” journals

There are certain subjects in your life you think about a lot. People, places, hobbies, health, plans, finances. For each subject that you might have ongoing thoughts about, start a separate “Thoughts On” journal. (I disagree, everything is Intertwingled.)

To give you an example, here are my “Thoughts On” journals as of today:

Sometimes I think I have a new thought on a subject, so I open up the file and write it down, then afterwards I see I had that same thought a year ago and had forgotten about it. If you care about your thoughts, keep them

I especially like my “Regrets” journal. Whenever I do something I regret, I write it down there, noting why I regret it, what I wish I would have done instead, and how I hope to prevent this in the future

Ask yourself questions, then question your answers.

I always write down my initial thought first, but then question it afterwards with slight detachment, and consider different perspectives

Whether in your daily diary, or the “Thoughts On” journals

Almost all the thoughts I have on any subject are the result of writing in my diary and journals, then questioning myself and working through alternate ways of thinking about it, and finally returning to the subject days or months later.