Maintaining a Journal – Not Your Regular One

No. We aren’t going back to, ‘Dear Diary, today was a normal day. I got up, brushed, pooped, ate, loafed around…’. No! Nor is this going to be something artistic. You don’t have to be a writer to make this. Think of this as a book to account your life. Something where your dreams and thoughts take a form and you make a record of them as the first step to fulfilling them.

 

Image Courtesy: Rossifox.com

 

We are going to make a Handbook of life. Nothing too complex. It is basically the things you want to do and the things you feel about strongly. Just a few lines will suffice. But in 10 years’ time, it must remind you of important things in your life. If you are really into it, work on it in such a way that you have enough points to write your autobiography someday. J

Here are 7 pointers to help you –

1. Invest in a Journal

Invest your time or money. This is a journal meant to store a significant part of your life. It should be majestic and inviting, shouldn’t it? I have always wanted one of those moleskin journals or the huge heavy leather ones. Their size, smell and classy looks give a sense of pride and you’ll feel like doing justice to the journal. Or convert an old Diary into a tempting one by redoing the covers. You will find enough and more DIYs on the same.

 

Source – Here

 

2. Places You Want to Visit

Travel bug bites most of us at some point of time or the other. Make a list of places you want to visit and write down the reasons too. If you are on the artistic side, you could fill it up with pictures and doodles. If not, plain words would do.

Another way to utilize this section is challenge yourself – 5 historical places, 5 hill stations and so on. The places I want to visit are related to phenomenon and activities – Beaches with Bioluminescence, Aurora Borealis, Star gazing areas etc. This is another category you could go for.

You see it now? Get innovative, get quirky, get it exciting.

3. Your Wishlist

I have e-commerce store wishlists boasting of so many things I want. Yet in a few days time, I lose interest in some of them. But there are those things I have always wanted to own. The more time it takes, the surer I am of what I want. All of us have such wishes right? Don’t let it evaporate. Write it down. Seeing it again and again will make you work for it. One day, gradually, you will check things off the list.

Do you know what the first thing in my list will be? Harry Potter Books – Hardbound ❤

4. Your Bucketlist

Sugar, Spice and Everything Nice. Those things you have wanted to do apart from purchasing and traveling. Food related? How about this? Learn something you have always wanted to learn. Start something you were scared to begin – making Videos, starting a blog, an art form, something that involves getting out of your comfort zone.

Mine will have; getting a tattoo, starting a youtube channel and moving to a self-hosted platform.

5. Things You have done

What about all those things you have done until now? Record them. Attach a picture, write a few words and the date if you aren’t much into writing. Else, elaborate. Either way, you have a record of a remarkable thing you did in your life.

 

Courtesy: Here

 

6. Your Ideas

I think one common thing we humans have is, the generation of ideas while we take a shower. All of us get ideas. Some of us process it and ruminate over it and later on forget it. Some of us shrug it off the same moment. Only a few act on it.

Act on it. Write it down. Don’t let doubts hold you back! It is too ambitious. I am not that talented or rich to do it. I can’t do it. Not an excuse. Write it down. People don’t get an idea and be rich overnight. We will have to work.

Dhinchak Pooja got an idea, she decided to work on it. No matter what we think of her talents, she is out there minting money. What if she thought she isn’t good at singing and slumped back?

7. Random Thoughts

An explicable feeling. You helped someone cross the street. You gave your seat to an old woman in the bus. You saw a sad sight and it weighed you down. You saw a rainbow. Your friend said something nice. Your mother wore a lovely saree today. Your father said something touching. You had a thought. Something about office. You had a nice moment of eye contact with a stranger.

No. Don’t elaborate if you aren’t so fond of elaborating. Just write a line or two. Maybe like couplets or paragraphs. You never know what you will have there in 10 years.

Remember. Your thoughts, ideas, dreams, and ambitions are abstract things as long as they are in your head. They could vanish at any moment and never come back. 80% of our thoughts don’t take shape because we do not act on them. Give them a shape and you are halfway there. You read it another three times and you will know if that is what you really want. If it is so, you will work for it and succeed. Do not let your success die in your head.