MyJournal

I first read Jerry's Becoming a Technical Leader a few years ago. I did few of the exercises. One idea, journaling for self awareness, has remained consciously with me all that time but I haven't been able to use it, yet. I keep asking others if they journal, sometimes I get a yes, sometimes a no. At a recent Consultants' Workshop, I admired the Moleskine notebooks that Michael Bolton was carrying. Then at work, a series of problems brought the journaling idea back into my mind. Yesterday, I treated myself to a small Moleskine. Today, I reread chapter 7 on journaling in Jerry's book and this time wrote my first entry before continuing. I read further and it was clear that Motivation is indeed my problem. I need to find it in myself. However, I ask the willing to help me find it. How? Those of you who journal, where do you find your motivation for the small effort it takes? I probably won't find mine in the same place, but I believe you will give me ideas of where to look for me. Jerry's book has some of these, but I find them abstract, names on paper. You are all real to me, even those who chose to remain anonymous. (I ask Jerry to forgive for borrowing his idea and trying to reach further with it.) -- MikeMelendez 2006.05.12

This: "I ask Jerry to forgive for borrowing his idea and trying to reach further with it." . . . is one of the more sincere forms of flattery. Or put another way, why do you think he writes this stuff down in books? - jb
I'm trying to soften my step, jb, worried about my comment on the abstractness of the names on paper. I tend to "Tell it like it is." and wind not getting across because I have forgotten the other side of the conversation.
By the way, do you keep a journal? I'd like to hear what you have to say. MikeMelendez 2006.05.12
I journal occasionally, when the voices in my head tell me to. A somewhat less flip reply is below. - jb

I have been writing in a journal for five or six years now. I spend about ten minutes a day on this. Sometimes I spend 20 minutes, but that it rare.

My motivation is that there are some five or six times a year when I have a tough problem with no answer, but the answer comes to me while writing in the journal.

The trouble with this motivation is that when I started writing in my journal, I wrote for weeks before I hit a tough problem and the journal helped me find a solution. Somehow I had the motivation to keep writing until I found the BIG benefit.

Smaller benefits every week come from helping to orgainize my thoughts. The journal also helps me remind myself of things I know that work. Sort of helps me follow my own advice.

DwaynePhillips 13 May 2006

I have, of course, been writing in my journals for years, for reasons I've described elsewhere. Just recently, I started making some of my journal entries in my two blogs, Weinberg on Writing [http://weinbergonwriting.blogspot.com/] and The Secrets of Consulting [http://secretsofconsulting.blogspot.com/]. I've yet to see a whole lot of traffic there, so I'm not sure whether there will be advantages to the blog over journaling in private.

(Of course, I still keep a private journal. Unlike some bloggers, I do feel there are things the public wouldn't be interested in--or, even worse, would be interested in.) - JerryWeinberg 2006.05.14

I journal when the voices in my head tell me to.

Personally, I had the habit of reflection as a child - reviewing each day's events as I drifted off to sleep, for example. I lost that particular practice somewhere. I still relive, or pre-live experiences, but not as systematically. For example, I have reflective dreams about my daylight life with color, sound, smell, touch, and with characters, places and situations indistinguishable from "reality". When something important is up at the office, I'm often in the office while I sleep. The smart part(s) of my brain have never been shy about kicking my so-called consciousness in the head when there's a clue that needs having. With a bunch of reflective habits that sometime run away with me, plus my profound distaste for anything I am told to do, journaling is somewhat of a challenge for me.

During workshop-y things like AYE & similar I am, so far, way too overwhelmed, and / or distracted to journal. So carrying around the notebooks at such things so far only annoys me, of the "Yeah, yeah, one more thing to get perfect about - thanks a lot." flavor.

My solution so far has three parts. I carry around something to write on all the time, and have for years. All kinds of stuff goes into those notebooks. Sometimes it's time spent reflecting. The problem for me has been getting stuff out of those notebooks. At the moment I'm playing around with cards, and some kind of filing system vs. the several linear feet of assorted notes gathering dust on a shelf right now.

A few years ago, I got myself some gorgeous hand-bound "journals" and an outrageously expensive Mount Blanc pen. I leave the journal and pen where I can see them, but not "in my face." I like nice things, probably more than a good Calvinist should. I also have a cheapness gene. Seeing the book and pen becomes an offer to do something I enjoy in handling the books and pen, or a payoff in using something I've already paid for. So, I sit down and "journal" sporadically. I've learned to notice when I haven't journaled in a while. I see the toys, and the question comes up - What's so distracting, and is it really that important?

Third I have been responding more personally to an expanding circle of colleagues and correspondents. So, questions prompt reflection which often ends up written down. I still have the problem of mining this stuff later, just as with observations prompted on my own.

The payoffs of journaling for me are three. One is reflecting, which I also do several other ways. It's valuable, although can itself be a distraction for me. The second is having something to look back on. For me, what I remember I thought was going on at the time never quite tracks with what some experience looks like later. If I don't write things down I am left with only memory of my impression then of my fantasies at that time. Three levels of indirection, at least. By writing something down, I can look at my then-delusions without the mask of memory, and maybe capture the way it looks now as well. The simple fact that my memory now doesn't track to what I've written down is good to know.

The third payoff for me is deciding to make some time to take care of myself. That's a good practice, as it is easy to screw up and fall into oblivion or self-indulgence.

But that's just me. What do I know? I'm sure it will seem different when next I look at it.

-- JimBullock, 2006.05.15

Dwayne, Thanks for the reminder of the expected return from journaling. For me, it seems to fall in the continuing effort of getting past the desire for immediate gratification. As a tester, collecting data to explore the bigger picture is one of the things I do. I think I might be able to use that as motiviation though testing problems are not what I am journaling about, as least, not right now.

Jerry, Your point is well-taken. Mine is also a private journal. I'm finding immediate motivation in that fact, as the writing seems to help me let go of things I should let go of. Your example of Juan in the Technical Leader chapter suggests what might become a good technical blog, though the web did not exist in 1986 when you published. I wonder if Joel Spolsky got his short web article idea from you. His musings frequently read like a well thought out journal.

Jim, I take from you the idea that motivation is never static. I need to keep looking for it. More important, the looking itself is a good thing.

My son completed Marine boot camp a couple of years ago. He told me that one the DIs' techniques was to help a recruit (they are not Marines til they graduate) "find his motivation". The recruit would be double-timed to a large sandbox called "The Beach" behind the barracks. The recruit would then be required to dig until he "found his motivation" and convinced the DI that he had done so. I think I'll label my journal "The Beach".

MikeMelendez 2006.05.16

Well, I just got reminded that deliberately making time to journal can create chances for the quiet voices to be heard.

I sat down to journal several years ago with neither enthusiasm, nor some puzzle of the moment. Staring at a blank page for a while, I fell back to an exercise listing out: "What is happening, immediately, right here and now." I ended up with a page and a half list of nagging health, fitness and comfort items. Most were minor. Two of them could have killed me, one fast, the other slowly. Both had been there for a while.

I wasn't paying attention, or rather, I had pretty fiercely allocated my attention to some other things.

-- JimBullock 2006.05.19

Mike;

I started journaling last fall just after the conference. I did it because it was a challenge and I had decided, based on earlier chapters, that I sucked at motivating myself. Jerry usually has wise advice, so I started the journal. I thought hard about where it should go. Since (see threads on GettingUpEarlier) I felt I needed a better bedtime routine, I put it there. It fit well. I can brush my teeth, dump things in the journal, and go to sleep.
When I got to the end of the three months I kept going. It had become a habit by then. (Though I wickedly skipped a day recently. I did, however, write in the journal that I was doing it.) A recent conference was not even enough to stop me. I thinking finding the write (right) home is important.
I still do not know what I expect to get. Once a month or so something energizes me. I think the larger picture of what else you are doing matters. The journal has gotten me five minutes of discipline a day. I know more is possible. I recently started following the discipline steps linked from these articles on getting up earlier. That has gotten me up to good fifteen minute spurts. More is possible. I guess I keep plugging away. The five minutes of the journal started it all. (Okay, Jerry, continued it all.)
P.S. And if I get to do any of my own horn tooting (can I put it on my personal page?): The five minutes of journaling led to fifteen minutes of discipline. A couple weeks of the fifteen minutes led to solving some technical problems for a web site. That led to me finally getting a structure for what is now chocolateadventures.com. If I keep doing that weekly I will get to some other place that I think I should be.
2P.S. Also I differentiate between journaling and note-taking. I used to have lots of thoughts and ideas in little notebooks. I used the little spiral bound cheapies because I took so many notes. What I found was that thoughts got bound up in the binders. I switched to the tear off sheet notepads you can get in bulk at office supply stores. Now I only keep one idea per page. I tear the ideas off and store them in a binder. Now, if I want all my ideas on education, for example, they are all in one place.

-- KurtSimmons 2006.5.20

I tried to journal for years before I figured out that I had thrown up an impediment for myself. I had the idea that my journal needed to be cogent prose. I'd sit there, pen in hand, and no cogent prose would flow. So I dediced I couln't journal.

Eventually, I figured out that it didn't have to be that way. Now I make lists, jot down ideas, write about events, cogitate when I'm stuck, doodle, and take notes in my journal.

Removing the impediment was all the motivation I needed.

Every few months, I look back over my journals. Sometimes I find an idea that is just what I need at the moment. I make little check box and check off ideas that have turned into articles. I remind myself of what I've accomplished.

EstherDerby 2006.05.22

My journaling wobbled until recently. I use standard college notebooks, and use fountain pens shifting the color every time a cartridge runs out. Don't know why, but it works for me.

The previous notebook lasted from 2000.11.14 to 2006.1.14 indicating more NOT journaling than journaling. Then last fall, I started journalling, about a page a day. I usually journal everyday, but don't have a rule about it.

Being a morning person, I initially found I wrote best in the morning. If it didn't happen before the daily distractions started, it wouldn't happen. Lately, I find myself journaling whenever. Yesterday started early on (I'm getting up at 0530 without an alarm ... I have NO idea why) and finished just before bed.

The topics I journal about have changed over the years. I started with recapping events. I now keep three questions in mind when I journal:

What did I learn about myself today?
What shall I continue working on?
How am I moving closer to my visions?

Like Jim, I don't go back and re-read my entries. May try that someday ... --DonGray 2006.05.23

Don's questions remind me of something. Maybe someone can tell me where I stole this from. Somewhere between reviewing each day as a child and reading BATL, I discovered three questions that I carried around with me every day

What have you done today

. . . to make your world better?
. . . to make your life better?
. . . to make your self better?

It was useful to look at from time to time. Still is.

--- JimBullock, 2006.05.23 (Not great, yet as "better" as I can make it.)

I've discovered handy uses for the margins in my journal (notebook). The items I'd like to keep daily information on go in the left margin. If I happen to write something on the page I think I may want to re-visit some day, I jot a note in the margin at the top of the page. --DonGray 2006.05.29

Updated: Tuesday, May 30, 2006