As I’ve said several times, my journal is important to me. I think of it as an intellectual toolkit that helps me think thins through. I’m not always good about keeping it up, but I know I should.

I ran across this article about journal writing and decided that while I apply it’s basic points differently, they still are meaningful even in my context.

My journal is an important part of my work and a lasting record of my thoughts. I’ll draw in the book, do mind maps, diagrams, notes, snippets of code, design patterns, use cases, UML diagrams, or whatever. I’ll also take notes there when interviewing and notes when I’m studying a problem I’m trying to solve. I have journals that go back as far as the early 1960s. There are plenty of gaps, but I always come back to using a journal because it’s so useful to me.

• Get the Right Tools - Working in a journal needs to be about what you’re thinking and not the tools. You need tools you’ll be comfortable with. I don’t use top-of-the-line quality, but I work on good paper and with writing instruments that feel good in my hand. Currently, I’m using notebooks I picked up at an Office Max with pretty good quality paper. I splurged some years back and purchased a leather cover for my journals that the notebooks fit in nicely.
  

  Along with it, I purchased a leather pen holder which can hold 6 pens. In it, I keep a Black, Blue, Red, and Green pen (currently Pilot G2) and my pen & pencil set. I do my initial work in Black and use Blue, Red, & Green to annotate and add to the basic entry.

• Make it a Habit - I spend time writing in my journal daily. As a minimum, I try to capture major events during the day. There are days where I’m so involved in something that I completely forget the time and everything else. I’ve slipped into a Flow state and am oblivious to everything. When that happens, I’ll probably not get a journal entry that day because I usually don’t snap out until someone gets ready to turn out the lights and say it’s time for bed. I realize I’m so tired that I just can’t think and off I go. I may have a bunch of notes in my journal or my popup wiki, but they’re associated with whatever I’m working on and nothing else. I DO try to make it a habit though and put an item daily on my task list for the journal.
• Fire Your Inner Critic - Once you start putting things in, turn off your inner critic for a while. Let yourself go and just start dumping. Go free form whether you’re using a mindmap, doing a freewriting exercise, or whatever. Sometimes the best, most creative stuff comes out when the inner critic is off. There’s a time for being critical, certainly before anyone sees what you’re doing. But the journal is private and just for you. What you put there is yours alone, so open up and get it down.
• Use your Journal for Mental Food - the article actually said ‘article food’, but I use it for food for all of my mental & intellectual pursuits. It’s my notebook when I’m learning something. It’s my dumping ground when I’m trying to test what I know. It’s my source for what I’m doing whether I’m writing my blog, a program, or a proposal. My journal is my source, my playground, and the place where I keep everything I want to think about. When I’m on my laptop working like this, it’s inconvenient to write in my paper journal, so I use a popup wiki that I can add thoughts to easily to capture what I want to remember.

Journal writing on a regular basis gives you fodder for all the things you do. Right now, I’m working on a Ruby/Rails project, reviewing some material and testing things. I’m doing rough notes and diagrams in my journal, getting things out of my head. When I see my rough notes on paper, I find I can think about them better and my journal never forgets.

I’d extend the list a bit too

• Keep it or something to write on with you all the time - I always have some way to take notes with me. Even when I’m driving, I have a small portable recorder near by because sometimes I get good ideas when I can’t stop and can’t take my eyes off the road. So I speak it into my recorder. At night and whenever my journal can’t be near, I have a ‘Shirt Pocket Briefcase‘ always at hand with a small pen or pencil. I have two, one which I carry with me and another which has a pen loop on it that stays by my bed.
  

  I have specially printed cards that I keep in them which include the normal stuff on a business card. I can write a note and hand it to someone or keep it for myself. Later, I can transfer the notes to my journal and throw away the 3X5 cards.

Categories: The Basics, Tools