Why Great Entrepreneurs Journal

Do you journal? Why journal?

Entrepreneur Tim Ferriss journals just about every morning.

Ferriss is a bestselling author whose books have been translated into more than 30 languages. Yet when he journals, he’s not trying to create a masterpiece. He’s trying to benefit from the journaling process.

“Even if you consider yourself a terrible writer, writing can be viewed as a tool that you can and should use. There are huge benefits to writing, even if no one — yourself included — ever reads what you write. In other words, the process matters more than the product,” writes Ferriss.

The top benefit of the journaling process, according to Ferriss, is mundane but powerful.

“Morning pages don’t need to solve your problems. They simply need to get them out of your head, where they’ll otherwise bounce around all day like a bullet ricocheting inside your skull,” he says.

You can read a page from Ferriss’ journal here.

I’ve journaled since I was seven. My mom gave me my first blank journal before sending me off to summer camp. I filled the pages in a week, and I never stopped.

Now, with a trunk full of notebooks at age 32, I am a firm believer in the value of writing, especially for an entrepreneur. For me, it’s a place to dump my ideas, reflect on my mistakes, doodle inspirational quotes, document my personal history, and even hype myself up (“You got this, Mav!”).

What do you think? Do you journal? What do you think the benefits of journaling could be?