Journal regularly

I am now getting into the habit of writing more entries about my goals. This is because I have realized that my goal list has been a little way too stagnant. So instead of adding more to my list, I’ve decided to write about the mini-tasks I do to mantain or complete my goals.

For a while I tried not to do this, because giving the minutae of my mundane life will make me seem extremely boring and neurotic to anyone who cares to read about my goal list. But I gotta get control of my life and not care what people think.

Oh in case anyone was wondering, I’ve been sidetracking myself with other stuff that was not officially on my goals list. I need to discipline myself so I can whittle off as many of these mundane goals as possible. In that way I can make room to focus on bigger things.

A lot has changed about my online writing habits since my first entry about this goal. I had written back then that I rarely did a lot of online writing. But then I got addicted to posting on The Police messageboards. It has occured to me that I’ve now gotten into a more regular writing habit.

Yay.

Currently I am taking a break from that site and 43Things is now where I mainly express myself. I also let my thoughts be known on Yahoo Mail and MySpace.

Now, I know alot of people have the “Confess and Rant About Your Darkest Secrets” journal. I know I did when I was a teen.

I have mixed feelings about this. Sometimes expressing negative thoughts does not cathartically release them. Instead they grow bigger.

And what if somebody your really don’t want to have access to your darkest thoughts comes across it? (Especially those in authority.) It is human nature to want to open a Pandora’s box—boundaries and privacy be damned.

Still, I am considering keeping a small notebook in my purse for inspired ideas.

At this point this is just a thought. I’m not commited yet to making this a habit.

In my first post about this goal, I mentioned that I practically never write and communicate on the computer. Well, I’ve changed. I got addicted to posting on The Police messageboards. This has gotten me into the habit of expressing myself online. Currently I am expressing myself mainly on 43 Things. This site is now my default journal.

Since I was eight years old I have dabbled in keeping a diary, but I have never stuck with it. Maybe because I would put my entries into blank books. There would be alot of messy cross-outs. This can be a turn off. Even though I have four blank books (one quite handsome with homemade paper), I prefer composing online. Maybe because its the way my mind works. I am a natural editor and I like things tidy. It’s not censorship of the nasty. With the computer I feel that I can express myself better because I don’t get frustrated looking at every other new phrase sloppily marked out with pen. (Even pencil erasures look untidy.)

Can’t sleep. Dang the caffeine!

I’m sure there are more than the seven types of journals I mused about in my last post about this goal, but I can’t think of more at this moment. Sometimes they are not defined by hard edges but bleed and blend into each other.

I think that some people have separate journals for each separate type, while others keep one multi-purpose diary. There are probably pros and cons for each approach.

Seems like there are several styles of journaling that I am aware of.

• The confess and rant about your deepest secrets and
  innermost darkest feelings jounal
• The dream journal
• The capture the inspired idea for current or future
  creative projects journal
• The gratitude journal
• The excercise/diary journal
• The “such and such” happened journal
• The goals journal

Obviously, 43 Things falls into the last category.

I’m gonna fudge on the definition of journal. . .I’m gonna include writing long e-mail letters and 43things entries. The whole point of journaling is to excercise my writing brain, so any writing counts. Sometimes I don’t need to do a lot of real world e-communication. During those times I can do some writing in my cheapo journal books.