The "J" in IFJM Is for Journal, Isn't It?

In my last post I suggested that the key reason for my failure to carry out my two previous ideas for IFJM was that both ideas were really designed to get me started on an exercise habit, not a journaling habit. Of course, a close second as a reason for failure was that I had been thinking of using IFJM as a means of resolving several "issues" (including not exercising enough) I was feeling guilty about.

Yesterday on the IFJM blog Roz posted a wonderful piece that talks about how to deal with issues. She advocates dealing with them directly, not wallowing in them. She also talks about the value of skills-based projects. Her whole piece is definitely worth reading and thinking about.

Much of the specific advice on the IFJM blog is, of course, directly related to journaling: choice of physical journal, choice of media, choice of character, etc. But there's also a lot of excellent advice that's relevant to other aspects of life.

I haven't given up on developing a better exercise habit. Who knows, IFJM may end up helping after all.

P.S. I was thinking about the question as why would one want to develop a journaling habit and it reminded me of the kinds of questions students often ask.

Student. Why do I need to study trigonometry? Teacher. You need it for calculus. Student. But I'm never going to study calculus.

There really are things that are worth learning or doing that you can't appreciate or understand the reasons for until you've learned them or done them so you often have no choice but to follow the advice of people you trust.