Saturday, July 16, 2011

Keeping a Log


When I was in my early twenties, I fell in love with a beautifully bound, gilt-edged book. I had to have it, to keep a journal! Then a funny thing happened; I was intimidated by the beauty of the book and worried that my journaling might seem trite with time, and essentially ruin the book. And while I wouldn't entertain such thoughts today, I never did use that book.


That notwithstanding, I've always had an urge to keep track of time, and so began 32 years ago to keep a daily log. Long before personal computers, it started out hand-typed and richly illustrated. As you can imagine, that was cumbersome and too time-consuming, and only lasted several months.


The log-keeping of the next 20 years was on sheets of legal paper. Entries were short, detailing in abbreviated form, events of the day, places of the day, meetings, projects and phone numbers. That's all. No bits of conversation, no emoting or introspection, just a synopsis of each day. It would take about five minutes out of every evening and was easy.


Eventually, about twelve years ago, my logging became computerized, and as you can see from this screen-save of the past month, each day is a maximum of only about seven lines. At the end of the year, I make a hard copy of the log and add a title page.


The benefits of keeping a daily log are many. It's a good idea in any event to review one's day, and to contemplate how you've lived it. A daily log is also a tremendous reference book for remembering names, reconstructing events (when talking to customer service, for example), and checking against (telephone) billing or credit card debits. I regularly consult my logs when filling out forms that require job histories, and I use my log as a reference at tax time. Interestingly, friends have consulted me when they needed to remember their own information for form-filling. Beyond that, logs can be a sort of scrapbook, and occasionally I'm simply curious to know what I was doing a year ago.



I like to use an appointment book, one which allows me to see the whole month at a glance. I keep them all, especially since they sometimes hold information the daily logs do not.




Of course I have some sketchbooks, and I update other books as well. Above, in respective order, is a dream log that resides bedside, a book of family history to which I add yearly chapters, a book of home renovation, a book of collected quotations, a little black book of holiday lists, and a small book of designs. As a lover of paper, I haven't yet succumbed to the lure of the iPad, though I certainly wouldn't discount that possibility for future logging.

How about you? Blogging aside, do you journal or keep logs in this Information Age?
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24 comments:

  1. Mark I really admire your efficiency. Too many people do not keep records and that often results in difficulties when trying to remember what has happened at various stages in their life. I am nothing like as methodical as you, but I do use a daily diary, keep a continuous account of financial transactions, and attend as soon as possible to communications.

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  2. Hi, Rosemary - Thank you. I have found, as you doubtlessly have, that attending to communications as soon as possible results in less paperwork and eventual sorting.

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  3. I keep a daily telephone log at my office, in which I jot down numbers and notes, and occasionally doodle in when on conference calls. I used to buy expensive, leatherbound ones, with gilt edges, but several years ago succumbed to inexpensive, but still handsome ones from Staples. I regret that I tossed a dozen years of collected logs (leatherbound ones) when moving offices several years ago. Not so much do I regret no longer having access to their contents, but rather because the bindings were so handsome. What was I thinking?

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  4. Hello Mark, Amazing! I admire your skills in keeping your life so organized. I have never kept a diary of any kind...but wish I had. Now, my computer knows more about me than I do.

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  5. Very efficient Mark. I did start keeping a journal after I lost my late husband, and many times had entries filled with emotion pouring off the pages.

    xoxo
    Karena

    Art by Karena

    Come and join my Giveaway of a very special painting!

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  6. Hi, Reggie - I feel the same way when throwing away older address books (now I just use a rolodex). There's something unsettling about disposing of items that chronicle parts of your life, as though you're negating bits and pieces of it. Unless, of course, you're really ready for a new beginning!

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  7. Hi, Gina - It's interesting that you say that. What's in our computer — which is to say what we put in — now has a life of its own. Some time back I was reading an article about companies that tidy up one's computer files and trails for heirs. Sort of like the "Computer Executor."

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  8. Hi, Karena - I am sorry for your loss. I can imagine that keeping a diary through that period was probably one of the best things you could have done, a healing release.

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  9. Oh, I wish I could be this organized. For 25 years I've kept a daily journal, in the same handwritten format. I use soft cover student workbooks. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

    Sometimes I'll paste a tiny newsworthy clipped image or do tiny sketches, such as a full moon or when the most beautiful yellow goldfinch visited my birdbath yesterday. When I have a lot to write, I do it on the word processor and then glue it into the book.

    Interesting post, and I admire the crispness of your photos and illustrations.

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  10. I so wish I had done this very thing- I have kept calenders for years holding appointments- little consultation on that. I kept detailed entries-not daily when my father was ill and I was responsible for his health. I go back through them occasionally, why I did not continue with this is I do not know, typical of me. I admire you for doing this !

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  11. Hi, Gaye - You get a special dispensation for all the clever and prodigious postings you create!

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  12. Wow - I'm so impressed with all of you who are so ambitious and organized to keep journals and logs. I'm afraid I'm happy if I just get through the mail (in my defense I do have a lot of people to keep track of)!

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  13. Hi, Stacey - I'll just reiterate that I spend no more than about five minutes an evening on my log, simply listing the days events and phone calls. By now it comes as second nature ...

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  14. I still have a passion for paper and enjoy the ritual of writing. I carry a small address book in my purse and refer to it when needed. I only keep my yearly appt. book with client info and sometimes other major events that happen. I do love leather books with gilding! In college, we had to have a sketch book bound with our name in gold lettering. It was almost sacred to me...hard to live up to it ! Had to sketch in it daily!(of course, I still have it)

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  15. Hi, Theresa - I live by my appointment book, and I have retained at least one college project, a booklet I made penned in blackletter, or "Old English."

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  16. Hello Mark:
    What a marvellous collection of journals, diaries, ledgers and notebooks and what a wonderful record of your life and the times in which you live they must be. Rather like a time capsule, they must be so interesting to return to from time to time just to notice differences or to recall particular events, people or places.

    Whilst working, we kept meticulous diaries of appointments and lists of things to do and now enjoy the freedom of not having to do any of this record keeping. However, we still keep a daily diary and our housekeeper is always making lists in order that everything concerned with the house is organised.

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  17. Hello Jane and Lance - In reading your comment I'm stuck by how similar our routines might be. The only difference is that I am the housekeeper and maker of lists!

    I suppose that people who are not list makers think that such exercises are compulsive work, but I've always found that my lists free me of having to remember so much ...

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  18. Mark! thanks I do appreciate that compliment. pgt

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  19. I like the idea of the journals freeing you up. Yes, I like that very much. I'm not nearly, not even remotely, as organized as you Mark. But I do like the idea of being organized. I like reading about people who are organized. I can see the value of it. But whenever I try it, it just seems to make things worse, I just don't think in an organized way. :(

    I have begun keeping a 'journal' of sorts. But only to list book titles and authors of books that I might like to read down the line. I like hand writing this list. Prefer it to a computer list.

    Maybe there's hope for me. :)

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  20. Hi, Yvette - I sense from visiting your site, that you live very much in the moment, an attribute not well enough appreciated, and one to be valued above and beyond the organized mind. All too often organized people juggle the minutia of their lives, while the Yvettes of the world ... live.

    Like you, I prefer handwritten lists to a computer printout. Perhaps that's because the familiarity of our own handwriting better jogs the brain. We should get a big grant and study this further. Over lots of hazelnut coffee.

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  21. such a great idea! i really should do this but I'm not as disciplined as you!

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  22. Hi, Stefan - Discipline sounds sooo much like work! This is an exercise I enjoy!

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  23. Hazelnut coffee sounds great, Mark. Now that you mention it, a study grant sounds like a great way to spend some time. :)

    The world needs a nice balance of Yvette types living in the moment and Mark types, organizing the moments.

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