Follow These Famous People into Journalling and Reap the Rewards

Could your daily journal habit influence the world?

Journalling is one of my favourite subjects to both read and write about. It is hard to express in words what a source of comfort it has been to me over the years. 

A journal is a place where you can be yourself. None of this writing needs to be viewed by anyone but you. Your spelling, grammar and handwriting can be appalling; no one else is viewing them. This is an essential element of journalling; this is for you, no one else.

I have tried all types of journals, bullet journalling, reading logs, dream logs and gratitude journals. I have a mixture, but my writing is close to a commonplace journal. I record information, quotes and personal thoughts all in one place. 

If you like me keep a journal, you are in good company, as many people in history have been avid journal writers.

Samuel Pepys

Pepys is one of history's most prolific journal keepers. His first entry was written on 1 January 1660; he then went on to fill another 3102 pages over the next nine years. Throughout his time of writing, he only missed fourteen days. 

His diaries have become a record of great historical value as he wrote about incidents such as the plague in London in 1665 and the Great Fire in 1666. His accounts have provided us with a unique record of these events from a person that lived through them. 

Many of you may ask what historical value your journals may hold. If you wrote during the lockdown, then you have a first-person account of living through the pandemic, which could be used years from now to study the event. 

It struck me very deep this afternoon going with a hackney coach from my Lord Treasurer's down Holborne, the coachman I found to drive easily and easily, at last stood still, and came down hardly able to stand, and told me that he was suddenly stuck very sick, and almost blind, he could not see. So I 'light and went into another coach with a sad heart for the poor man and trouble for myself lest he should have been struck with the plague, being at the end of town that I took him up; But God have mercy upon us all!

Anne Frank

When Anne Frank started writing her diary, it was a way to alleviate boredom and help her survive the most horrific circumstances she was in. Improving your mental health is one of the best uses of journaling. 

However, Anne must have realised what historical significance her diary may have become at some point because she went back and started editing it. After hearing a Dutch government member say on the radio he was interested in publishing firsthand accounts of the war, she wanted to improve her diaries. 

Throughout her time hiding, she wrote new entries but also edited two-thirds of her earlier entries. The changes that she made ensured that she provided context for future audiences. When she was arrested in August 1944, her diaries stayed in the flat she had been living in. On his release, her father returned to find the diaries and publish them. 

Many generations have read her diary, which is a lasting memorial to her plight and other Jews during the Holocaust. 

I see the world being slowly transformed into a wilderness, I hear the approaching thunder that, one day, will destroy us too, I feel the suffering of millions. And yet, when I look up at the sky, I somehow feel that everything will change for the better, that this cruelty too shall end, that peace and tranquillity will return once more.

John Steinbeck 

As a writer, this is the one diary I would recommend as it demonstrates how difficult writing is for all of us. Steinbeck believed his diary writing was his most essential tool for self-discipline. 

Having stopped his current project, Steinbeck started writing Grapes of Wrath. Alongside the novel, he started keeping a diary that was eventually published. 

The journal shows the remarkable creative journey of a writer with tremendous self-doubt. In this, his journal became a tool of self-discipline and accountability. 

Within its pages is a treasure trove of writing advice, including how to deal with imposter syndrome and how to 'fake it to you make it.'

Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy was not the only journal keeper in his house; he and his wife kept a journal of their thoughts and days. They would then sit and share the entries throughout their thirty-two years of marriage. 

Tolstoy used this practice not only to learn about his wife but also to inspire his writing. It is suggested that on one occasion, he read a short story his wife Sonya had written in her diary about three sisters in love with the same man. 

Taking this story, he used it as the base for the Rostov family in his novel War and Peace. It is unclear how many other ideas came from his wife's writing. 

His writings not only cover his development as a writer and a thinker but also include details on the political landscape of the time, dealing with issues of religion and industrialisation, amongst many others.

I've fallen in love or imagine I have; went to a party and lost my head. Bought a horse which I don't need at all.

Virginia Woolf's

Virginia Woolf was famous for novels including Mrs Dalloway and Orlando, which had reached high praise; she was also a prolific journal keeper. 

Woolf kept a journal of her thoughts, what she had read, and her process of writing some of her best sellers. Her family have shared these thoughts with us, providing a unique look into the life of a very talented writer.

Within her journals, you will find reviews of the work of others as well as a unique walk-through of a woman publishing books in a man's world. Virginia Woolfe praised her diary writing for not only helping her emotional state of mind but also helping her to develop her writing skills.

Many writers keep creativity journals to help them develop their writing, but few can boast that they have created masterpieces as Woolf did. 

I should like (my diary) to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all... I should like to come back... and find that the collection has sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced.

Other famous journal keepers

These are five journals that I have consumed; there are others that I have read that I did not mention here, such as Marcus Aurelius, who wrote his Meditations but never wanted them to be published. Yet, still, they are considered one of the most essential texts in Stoic Philosophy.

Charles Darwin wrote his theory of evolution in his diary, with beautifully drawn pictures, before transferring this knowledge to a published work. 

Most successful people have kept a journal or commonplace book to record their thoughts. These personal accounts have given us some unique knowledge we could not have received elsewhere—genuine first-person commentaries on some of the most significant events in history. 

Let me know if you have read another journal you think would interest me below in the comments. I will leave you with one of my favourite quotes from Anne Frank.

Paper has more patience than people