Journaling
Susan wrote:
Scott, could you describe Journaling in a little more detail? It sounds like it might be a very productive activity, but I haven't heard alot about it before. Thanks! Susan
Susan,
I (try to) keep a journal as I work. Basically, I write down information about what I am doing as I am doing it, or as soon afterward as is practical. The main reason you don't hear about it here is that it is not part of GTD, per se. I have just found it to be tremendously supportive of it. David Allen does talk about taking notes and processing them. This is just that process taken a bit further.
Why I Journal
Journaling takes advantage of something David talks about in the GTD book, and that is the power of writing to support sustained, focused thinking over a long period of time. For me it also supports sustained, focused
action over a long period of time. When I'm not "working from my journal," I have noticed that I am much more susceptible to wandering attention and aimless effort.
The downside to journaling is the amount of time and mental effort it takes. Because of this, I tend to let go of it when I am in a hurry (or just being lazy). However, while it does slow down the pace of action, it greatly improves the quality of action.
1. Taking the time to write allows me to remember and/or capture key information. It also allows me to think through and capture next actions.
2. Writing forces me to think more clearly about what is going on and what I am doing.
3. Journaling allows me to capture "mental interruptions" for later processing. This enables me to resist being side-tracked and stay focused on the current action. Mental interruptions can include questions that need to be answered or ideas that pop into my head.
4. If I am journaling as I work, digressions become excruciatingly obvious. Therefore, I am prone to make fewer of them.
In other words, I get improved clarity, improved focus, improved follow-through, and and improved follow-up.
How I Journal
Like every other part of my planner (except my calendar), the journal is paper-based. Normally, I just use an indent-outline format. What I try to capture in the journal are:
- Actions: Things I do
- Events: Things that happen, e.g. things other people do
- Information: Facts I need to capture.
- Thinking: Observations, analysis, decisions, designs, etc.
One thing I do not capture in the journal are next actions and projects. I put them straight into action and project lists.
If I am journaling as I work, I start off by picking an action from the calendar or an action list, which I write in the journal. I'll often put a start time next to it in the left margin (which helps me do daily time reporting). As I work on the task, I capture the information mentioned above. Ideally, I'll work on the action until it is done, but in reality I frequently have to stop for appointments or interruptions. When that happens, I just write down the next action and start capturing information about that. When I get back to the unfinished task, I'll again write it down with a "(Continued)" next to it and just keep going.
As I mentioned before, when I get rushed (or lazy) I don't journal as I work. When I journal after, I don't try to recreate a chronological journal. I just list all of the actions I worked on in that block of time with the information that I need to capture about them. This tends to be a bit more efficient in that I write less, but it can lead to forgetting things.
One word to the wise: If you stop journaling as you work, don't wait to catch up the journal before you start journaling as you work again. Just start a new page and fill in the missing section as you have time.
Is Journaling Right For You?
I am convinced that journaling like this is
not right for everyone. I read one person on the board saying that excessive self-reporting was "water torture." If you have a job where once something is done, you never have to worry about it again, then you shouldn't waste your time with this. On the other hand, if you have a job that is more ambiguous and information intensive, or you have to keep track of what you are doing for time and status reporting, you might want to do something like this.
Hope this is useful.