On Wednesday, for the first time in my life, I started keeping a daily journal.

I guess you could consider this blog a form of journal but I think it's quite different, at least in content.

I started writing a journal the old fashioned way: pen and paper. It's actually in a sweet, sweet fake-leather bound book that my mom gave me for my birthday. At the time I was thinking "what you doin'? what am I supposed to do with this?" but time has proven me wrong.

Not to be confused with a diary, I've been writing more about things I'd like to accomplish, things I did accomplish, ideas I've had, and writing down thoughts on various things.

I'm a techie to the core and yet ironically it seems much easier to keep a journal on paper. I think it has to do with worth. I guess I feel there's more worth to something tangible, something that I can hold in my hand, and probably sometime in the far future something that can be found and read. Contrast that to a text file that can be constantly revised, that gets buried and lost deep in a bunch of digital folders. It feels good to be creating such worth.

Unlike this blog, I also find the flow from my thoughts to the paper much less restricted. I find it interesting that as much as my perfectionism holds me back from writing something on this blog, it doesn't interfere at all when it comes to writing trivial thoughts in the journal. I attribute that to the fact that while the blog is public for the world to judge, the journal really isn't up on display so I'm not concerned with it being "perfect."

I'm hoping that by keeping this journal it will let me organize my thoughts better, help me reflect on things, and ultimately keep me focused on my goals.

Maybe it will help me write more blog posts as well.