Everyone says that journaling is powerful. I have tried various versions of it in the past. From morning pages, to physically writing in a journal, to writing posts on this blog. But with the advancements in artificial intelligence and writing programs like ChatGPT, I sometimes wonder if traditional journaling is becoming obsolete.

I can’t, at least, at this stage guarantee I won’t sometimes or even always run my text through ChatGPT or the equivalent software of the day to improve what I write, but I think that a daily journal can be a really powerful tool.

I asked ChatGPT for five benefits of journaling and this is what it came up with:

  1. Improved Mental Health: Writing down your thoughts and feelings can help you process emotions, decrease stress and anxiety, and promote overall well-being.
  2. Increased Self-Awareness: Journaling provides a platform for introspection and reflection, allowing you to gain insight into your thoughts, beliefs, and patterns of behaviour.
  3. Better Memory: Keeping a journal can help you recall important events, memories, and details that you might otherwise forget.
  4. Increased Creativity: Journaling can help you explore new ideas, solve problems, and foster a more creative and imaginative mindset.
  5. Improved Writing Skills: Writing in a journal regularly can help you improve your writing skills, as well as your ability to articulate your thoughts and ideas in a clear and concise manner.

My friend, Quentin Pain, inspired me to start journaling again in his course on copy writing. According to Quentin, writing a daily journal has proved enormously valuable. He started in 2013, and has been doing it ever since. He argues that the mere act of doing it consistently has changed his life. Let’s see what impact it has on me.

There are countless examples in my family of the power of consistent action. The most recent is probably my talented, beautiful and dedicated niece. For as long as I can remember she has wanted to be a pop-star. At 15, she started recording a daily song during the pandemic and uploading it to TikTok. She has now, at 18 reached 1 million TikTok followers and just signed with a major record label.

So let us see what kind of difference it makes to me. I somehow doubt that it will lead to a record label though! In the past tried doing this and normally last a week or two. This year I seem to have better will power. I am losing weight, running again, and becoming more productive, so I have high hopes that this will become a habit that will last me the rest of my life. There again it could just be another good intention that drops by the wayside!

I think I should be able to commit to at least one word every day for a month and then let’s see if it sticks. Although if my videos have more self created thumbnails like this one, maybe never again! Anyway hope you will follow along with my adventures in jouraling and see where we get to!