I have been absent from my blog for over a month, principally because the shift from face-to-face teaching to online instruction sapped so much of my time. I’m sure we all have stories to tell about how The China Virus has impacted our lives. Here in Wyoming, the impact has been what you might expect: minimal. While stores were closed (except for Walmart, of course) and we could not get our hair cut (Cindy did mine after a time), life pretty much carried on as normal. The cold winter turned to spring and, like someone threw a switch, we had clear skies and warm temperatures. Time for gardening.
But also a time to reflect upon the importance of journaling. This “crisis” (and it seems we go from crisis to crisis, don’t we?) reminds us that history is not over. Not by a long shot. And history is often best told by individuals writing in their dairies and journals.
Perhaps more than that, is the idea that success is often the result of “documented failure.”
By this I mean that failure, once properly understood and documented in your notes is likely not to be repeated.
If we define success as the absence of failure (and I am not signing up for that just yet), then your notes, your diary, your journal entries, can be the perfect place to set down a reminder of what went wrong. Later, in quieter times, you will learn then to document all that went right and why.
Are you able to sit quietly and reflect?
The French philosopher Blaise Pascal pointed out that, “all of humanity’s problems come from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” He did not mean sitting quietly in front of a laptop responding to emails, by the way. No, he meant sitting alone, in a quiet place, and making room for “structured reflection.”
The very best way to engage in structured reflection is by keeping a journal.
I have kept journals for most of my life. Even as a child I was encouraged to keep notes. For example, I still have the journals I kept about my first car, a 1966 Ford Mustang. I wrote about what went wrong, what was going right, the mileage, the oil changes, the little things I did to prolong its life. For example, I know that it turned 100,000 miles during a cross-country road trip in the Canadian Rockies. I kept journals in my undergraduate years (sadly, many of those were lost) and then in various management roles. I can look back on them, with the fulness of time, and wonder “what was I so worried about? It all turned out ok.”
To that end, consider the research that is showing how replaying events in our minds is essential to learning. While the brain record and holds what takes place in the moment, the learning from what one has gone through happens after the fact during periods of quiet reflection. And in those times you can ask yourself, “what was important and what lessons can I draw?”
Management 101
When we slow things down and reflect, we can be more creative about solving seemingly inscrutable problems. In the management literature, there is something call the “second solution method.” Here’s what it entails: If a group of employees is struggling to come up with solutions to a tough problem, brainstorm with them and identify a list of possible solutions (no matter how “far out there” they may be). Then, take a break. A quiet break.
Upon returning ask, “what else occurs to you?” Inevitably, this simple question results in 50% more solutions, often of even higher quality!
A journal, ladies and gentlemen, is an effective, efficient, private way to take a similar break.
Some thoughts about how and what to record:
- Your journal should be a record not only of what happened, but how you reacted emotionally. Writing things down brings clarity, and puts everything into perspective.
- I highly recommend using a writing prompt. For example, I will often prompt myself into journaling by asking, “what things happened today that will matter in 100 years?” Often the answer is “nothing,” and I will say so, but then go on to talk about everything else.
- Think of journaling as a kind of “mental rehearsal” for what is about to happen in your life. Script out what you might say and what might be said to you. Diaries are great places to think through those BHAGs of life (big and hairy, audacious goals). Test your logic.
- Journal as quickly as you can. Capture those “in the moment” emotions and logic. Waiting more than 24 hours will mean lost details and fuzzy emotions.
- In each entry, ask “why” five times. Answer each why and think of the next why as a kind of Socratic peeling of the onion.
- Be sure to record the lessons learned. Always. What would you do again, not do again, and why?
- Avoid using an iPad or a PC-based journaling application. Why? Because they don’t slow you down. Besides which, we know that handwriting results in far better comprehension and clarity. Remember what Paul Theroux has said: “The speed with which I write with pen and paper seems to be the speed with which my imagination finds the best words.” Research seems to confirm this: Brain scans show that handwriting engages more sections of the brain than typing and it’s easier to remember something once you’re written it down on paper.” If you must use an app, then be sure to slow down.
- Never be afraid to relive something you’d rather just forget. It may be unpleasant, but I guarantee it will bring clarity.
Journaling during this COVID Crisis creates a contemporary record. It will be something that outlives you. It will become, in a word, history.
Try it.
