Over the last several days I’ve done a number of things with my journal that have led me to say something about how important a journal can be to your writing and speaking … in fact to everything that you do. I’m going to use the next several posts to discuss my journal and how important it is to me and the many ways I use it.

My journal is a notebook, roughly the same size as the composition books you may have used in school. I stick to a size around 6 X 9 inches. Some years ago, I purchased a leather cover in that size to make it more acceptable in high-level meetings. I keep the journal in ink and use multiple color pens.

Some of the things that I do in my journal include:

• Writing letters that will never be sent - in order to help me decide how to vote, I wrote a letter to John McCain which will never be sent. In it I expressed my thoughts, frustrations, and the issues as I saw them. it helped me to decide on my vote. I’ve done the same thing in the past with letters to bosses and others to get all my ideas out and review them before I actually try to communicate. If I don’t take the time to do this, it’s easy for me to literally trip over my words and miscommunicate what I really mean.
• Organizing Impressions - I’ve been working on a case study about HP Printers. I took a 2 page spread in my journal and started mind mapping everything I knew and then started filling in holes that I found in the mind map by researching additional material
• Mapping Concepts - when you are writing or speaking, you need to be very clear on the concepts you’re using, not just for yourself but for your audience. Mapping the concepts and their definitions in my journal helps me to be clear and communicate well
• Meeting Notes - When I’m in a meeting, I normally take notes in my journal. This gives me a record, taken during the meeting and carefully preserved in my journal, that I can go back to to make sure I’ve got things right. The 6 X 9 inch page size gives me enough space to record what’s important.
• Organizing Notes - After a meeting, I’ll take a different color pen and add to the meeting notes as I gather information on important points. I’ll use a highlighter to mark commitments made during the meeting.
• Planning Projects - One of my first steps in organizing a project is to create a list of what needs to be done. I do that in a mind map in my journal.
• Laying out Lesson Plans - I’m working on course notes for an online course. I’ve mapped the important points in my journal as the basis for additional research
• Blog Post Notes - The start of this post is a mind map that started with the central idea ‘Keeping a Journal’. Several other blog posts are in various stages of development in my journal as well.
• Notes on Books I’m Reading - One of the most powerful ways I know to learn is to take notes on the material, ask yourself questions to answer during your reading, and relate the material to things you already know. I’m doing this now on a technical book I’m working through right now.

Seems like a lot doesn’t it? It does, but each of these are taken from pages in my journal starting on the 1st of November, just a few days ago. Some of these pages were written in the middle of the night when I woke up and couldn’t sleep without dumping something out of my mind. Others were written while reading or in meetings. I find that I need to get ideas out on paper when they come to me, so my journal is always with me for just that purpose.

Over the next several posts, I plan to discuss my journal, the mechanics of how I make it work for me, and why I think a journal is an important tool for making your ideas clear. Tentatively I plan to split the discussion as follows:

• Journal Mechanics - how I make my journal work for me
• Journal Tools - notebooks, pens, and other tools I find useful in journaling
• Alternate Journal Formats - keeping it on your computer, online, in your day planner, or in other ways that are convenient for you
• The Journal Process - my journaling is integrated into a daily process I’ve tried to make into a habit so it happens automatically
• Practical Journaling - ways to use a journal
• Thoughts on Journaling - other thoughts about journaling and its benefits

Categories: Practical Applications, The Basics, Tools