How to journal your day's adventures
and win the girl and a country
Sunday is sometimes movie day. And in the course of one day, I saw Young Washington and some of the Martian.
Young Washington shows in an entertaining way the makings of the great general and President. The Martian details how one man survives the harsh reality of Mars.
The one glue that both these heroes have is that they keep a journal.
Young Washington writes often to the British government in Virginia for an appointment, while he also writes to the girl he is attempting to woo
To focus his effort and talk to someone, Matt Damon’s character does a daily Video blog on his attempts to survive on Mars.
While one was fiction, the other was strikingly true. I had no idea that Washington was a writer, a romantic, and explored and surveyed the Ohio Valley.
So, if there is any advice I would give, it is to imagine you are on the frontier or on a lonely island, and to write for posterity your hopes, dreams, vision, and daily results.
There is something magical in it. You will quickly discover what is on your mind and your strengths and weaknesses.
Here’s the catch and why I mention these two characters: you have to care enough to do it.
You have to be motivated.
So when you are not writing, you know why. And when you are, no shame, no judgment. You are writing to an audience of 1. With my kids really being distracted, a big motivator for me is to journal about my life and challenges, which I hope will inspire them to handle whatever issues they encounter.
It also helps to measure risk in your day to day life.
It also shows you value yourself. In Washington, many characters were saying how opportunistic he was. But was he?
It’s more than he thought things through, valued and believed in his thoughts, and went for it, while the others did what was told to them or what society said they should behave.
So today…have a cup of coffee, write out one thought, and observe…
I prefer a yellow notepad and finish it to the end. One page a day.
I’m not good at staying consistent with that (I do write daily on my Substack), but as my journey keeps going, these two movies have helped motivate me.
As they should you.
Make it a thoughtful day.
Eric
Most do not, but the ones that are attempting how did you get in the habit of monitoring the day-day? Have you noticed anything different?
