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Great Men Keep Journals

artofmanliness.com

11–20 of 73 posts

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#11
I just wrote myself a little script. Let's see, if it sticks ...

  $ cat bin/journal 
  #!/bin/bash
  FILE=${HOME}/Dropbox/journal.txt
  echo >>${FILE}
  date >>${FILE}
  echo >>${FILE}
  vim + ${FILE}

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#12
post #11

I just wrote myself a little script. Let's see, if it sticks ... $ cat bin/journal #!/bin/bash FILE=${HOME}/Dropbox/journal.txt echo >>${FILE} date >>${FILE} echo >>${FILE} vim + ${FILE}

I've been using this zsh function for a year or two:

        jr () {
            echo "---"
            echo "\n##"`date +" %a %D %l:%M%P"` >> ~/journal.txt 
            cat >> ~/journal.txt
        }
It usually emits 72 dashes, so that I can stay within that margin (manually, heh). Edited to not break HN. The '##' is because I habitually markdown format everything.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#13
This is obvious selection bias, on several axes. Here are two of them:

- There is more/richer information available on people who keep journals, so it's easier to make the case for their greatness.

- If someone does great things but no record is kept, they are not acknowledged.

I enjoyed the stories of his grandfather, but the flawed reasoning in the argument annoyed me.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#14
post #10

Now it's called blogging. Xanga -> LiveJournal -> Tumblr.

Did you read the article? Blogging is mentioned.

Personally, while I do blog periodically, my journal is entirely different than what I publish online. My journal is for my own consumption. Some things that are written down there (I prefer pen and paper) may end up online or in an essay, but others won't see the light of day (often for good reasons).

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#15
post #9
post #3

I used to keep a journal and found it very therapeutic writing my innermost thoughts and then as I got older I'd laugh at the things that stressed me out when I was younger. Then my mum found it one day and started reading it and that put an end to it... I've tried doing it online but it's just not the same as writing it in a beautifully bound journal and flicking through the pages.

I've wanted to keep a journal for several years. But I just didn't stick to the habit. But now http://ohlife.com has changed that. The fact that they send you an email daily And in the same email they also put a random memory from your past has really helped me stick with the habit. I'm into 4 months... I think it works. Maybe you would enjoy it too...

It's a neat interface and very compelling.

I just signed up since I've been wanting to keep a journal, just never gotten around to it.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#16
post #5

I used to journal for years and stopped. Then I messed with OhLife (a YC startup) and kept going with it. I'm not connected with them other than being a user, but if you're online anyway, it's a pretty handy tool to keep a journal. http://ohlife.com/ It's also a good example of a clean design and user experience.

I have never really kept a journal, but when OhLife came along I thought it was a great idea, for about 3 days (the idea is still good). OhLife is great, my wanning self discipline however, is not so great.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#17
post #11

I just wrote myself a little script. Let's see, if it sticks ... $ cat bin/journal #!/bin/bash FILE=${HOME}/Dropbox/journal.txt echo >>${FILE} date >>${FILE} echo >>${FILE} vim + ${FILE}

I wrote something similar just the other day :)

I don't write daily though, only when I feel like it.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#18
I've kept a journal off and on since my junior year in high school (20 years) and while I'd never claim to be a great man, it certainly is fascinating to look back over time at the things I was going through, the things I chose to write about, the times I wasn't writing, etc. I've found patterns (like I don't write in the summer much which corresponds to pretty much everything else - summers in Texas are brutal), worked through personal issues and of late, I've started working on convincing myself to do something completely different with my life by examining my meditations in the journal.

I tend to find writing easy but I think even jotting down what you did in a day could be useful on all kinds of levels. I recommitted myself this year to journal regularly every morning when I wake up and so far, it's been a fun and enlightening experience.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#19
post #14
post #10

Now it's called blogging. Xanga -> LiveJournal -> Tumblr.

Did you read the article? Blogging is mentioned. Personally, while I do blog periodically, my journal is entirely different than what I publish online. My journal is for my own consumption. Some things that are written down there (I prefer pen and paper) may end up online or in an essay, but others won't see the light of day (often for good reasons).

I write the same way in my blog as I do in a diary and leave it open with my name attached. I prefer it.

Other than that I'm not sure what we're arguing about. Though it is interesting you have things to hide.

Re: Great Men Keep Journals

#20
I keep a Moleskine journal in my rear jeans pocket. It's small, and contours to the curve after a day or two so you don't even notice it's there. I keep it with me like I keep my keys and wallet, without exception.

I write on it on a semi-regular basis. The purpose of keeping with me is so I have something to write on as ideas come up, as girls give phone numbers, or ifI have free time to write down the thoughts of the day. That last part is the most important: I never liked sitting down and braindumping my day in a blog or a big book; I write a lot more when I can do it at any moment, sentences at a time.

I've been doing this since September 2007. 3 years, 3 months later, I'm on journal 14.

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