RYP Stories: 365-Day Journal Your Story Project: Day 8, Calendar Journaling

Friday, February 3, 2012

365-Day Journal Your Story Project: Day 8, Calendar Journaling

Welcome to another day in this series about journaling your own life story. This is an introduction to journaling series, but can give even veteran journalkeepers ideas.

I am starting the second week of this series with a type of journaling I consider precious. It is actually probably the most meaningful journaling to me and in my life. Calender Journaling is the most basic, easiest to use, and is a daily requirement for my personal and professional journaling.

So, what is it? How do you do it? And how can it benefit everyone?

WHAT IS IT?

First of all, you can call this Planner Journaling, Schedule Journaling, or Calendar Journaling--whichever your personal favorite is... go with that term. For me, Calendar Journaling is my favorite terminology. So, I will call it this throughout today's discussion.

The Simplest Definition: It is what you think it is. It is journaling on your calendar or planner.

It is more than your To Do List, however. I make sure to write people, places, what happened, my emotions, and memories associated with each--in the time slot. Hence, this is best done digitally or with a paper calender that is a daily planner, not a monthly or weekly because you will not have nearly enough room.

Now, let me give you an example of what I mean:

03 February 2012, Friday, 11:30 a.m. Lunch with a girlfriend at Mongolian Barbeque. I am excited because it gets me out of the house, socializing with someone more than my beagle, cat, two turtles, and husband. Also, she has a seven month old daughter, so that adds to the delight. It reminds me of my family and close friends in Omaha and how I used to do this with them. So, it is a bittersweet thing. I can't wait to see what happens. Looking forward to the food, company, and discussion. I want to share with her what hubby and I are doing for Valentine's Day. It might give her an idea, wink, wink.

I will add to the description and journaling after we have lunch.

I will admit this is a much lengthier description than I normally give. It is usually about 3 sentences or so.

Now, if I do not have time to journal anything more than that today, I can come back to it later and add more to it. But, it is something at least. It is not forgotten and is recorded permanently. Now, do you see why I find this journaling such a gem?

Then, at the end of every day, I add an entry about my overall daily experience, feelings, thoughts, achievements, memories, etc.

WHY IS THIS A GOOD JOURNALING TOOL OR TYPE OF JOURNALING?

I have my calendar linked to my email, to my pc, to my cell, to my Amazon Kindle Fire. It is on everything and I can use it at any time.

HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Do this every half hour all day long ideally. It is so easy that doing it in 30 minute slots is easier than you think. Do it every hour if you cannot do every hour. Do every 2 hours if you cannot do it every hour.

Have your TO DO item on your calender listed first in the time slot. Then, add whatever your heart desires. Just make sure to include thoughts, emotions, description/summary, and conclusions.

At the end of the day, write a high and a low. What was a high point of that day? What was a low point? Then, your voerall impression of the day and what was most memorable about the day. I write all of this in the time slots in which I sleep so I have enough space to write this material.

WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF CALENDAR JOURNALING?

It is the most simple form of journaling you can do.

When you run out of time, this at least gets memories listed. You can expand upon them later. At the end of the week, I recommend doing extensive journaling on at least three items on your calendar from the previous week.

HINT

If you want to print out your planner, you will need to mess around with the properties to figure out how to get every time slot to be pritned to its entirety. It may try to cut off some of what you say if you do not figure out and adjust the settings.

Enjoy!