Lookie! Xs mark the spots!

Ooo, accountability works– so far!

You can see the results here– five red X marks for five successive journaling days.  So, it would appear, at least initially, that being accountable seems to work… for a week.  We’ll see what happens next week.  I’m already not wanting to write today’s ten minutes of blather.

I have to say, journaling isn’t cracking up to be everything it’s reputed to be.  Maybe it’s just me, but I find that writing things down doesn’t exactly get them out of my mind.  In fact, I find myself ruminating over the things I write about all the more.  My journal jar is full of all kinds of prompts about past mistakes, past regrets, and past annoyances.  So, I write about them, hoping for a final cleansing purge, only to find myself reliving them over and over again in all their horrid detail.  One of these days, I’ll probably spend far too long talking about the perils of my exotic personality type, but for now, let’s just say that my long-term memory is far too vivid.

I’ve also had to do a switcheroo of journaling programs.  Daily Diary was far too annoying and anal for my taste.  It protested every time I flubbed up my “password” (literally) and wouldn’t work snapped with my Metro timer app.  So, I’m now using the far less irritating 7Days.  It’s still not helping me want to journal, but at least it’s not actively discouraging me.

Keeping it quiet works too!

You see the four blue X marks.  They’re right where they’re supposed to be, on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.   I like them.  They’re so pretty!  They’re a nice tangible reminder of the fact that this goal is on track to becoming a habit too.  Blue’s also my favorite color, which is another little incentive.

I’m kind of liking that I’m keeping this particular goal quiet.  I’ve failed too many times at setting this as a habit, so aside from experiment results, I’m glad I’m not feeling any external pressure to keep with it.  The lack of stress, honestly, is making it far easier to keep on track than with journaling, even if this habit is a lot more time consuming.

Conclusions?

None yet; I think it’s a little too early.  We’ll see what happens next week.