#6 – Start a Journal

I started a personal journal in 1998. Then in 2000, the year I left my corporate CIO position to start my company, MDE Enterprises, Inc (also known as the IT Manager Institute), I created a 2nd journal that focused strictly on my company. For many years, I kept 2 journals – a personal journal and a company journal.

“So what?”, you might ask.

I guess my point is that I wish I had started journaling at the beginning of my career. From time to time, I will look back through an early journal and it always strikes me about things that happened that I had essentially forgotten. Many of these memories are special and I’m so thankful I took the time to put them on paper.

My company journal chronicles the events of my young company, , , growth, strategies, and many memorable experiences that would be lost had I not put them in the journal. So glad I did because it puts me “right there” when I read about them. I can literally feel the excitement and anxious moments when I launched a new book or training class or developed a new year strategy.

I know there are some great experiences early in my career that I wish I could remember, but they are probably lost forever. Likewise, there are people I have met along my long journey that I don’t remember, , , experiences and events that would be nice, even interesting, to read about now.

I’ve given hundreds of journals to people in the last 20 years or so.

• Every Christmas I give a journal to a few of my family members
• Dozens of MDE journals to  IT Manager Institute class members
• Journal gifts to people I’ve worked with in consulting roles
• Journals and fountain pens to special friends and family

In doing this, many have taken up the hobby of journaling. My sister-in-law takes it to new heights, , , her journals are amazing. My brother journals in a more basic manner but he is an excellent writer. He and I enjoy the experience of using fountain pens and that’s the pen of choice when journaling.

Me, I add photos, graphics, and even try to draw some to try and make my journal pages more interesting to look through. As you might expect, there are lots of photos of Dorine (my late wife) and Eddie (our son). GREAT MEMORIES are worth documenting, I think. Private thoughts, dreams, documenting special events that happen, and just putting ideas down are all part of what I do. There is no exact method, , , you simply write down what you want to record, , , or put in an image that makes you feel good, , , or at least, that’s what I do.

GREAT MEMORIES are worth documenting!

What caused me to write this article?

Good question and a memory that I’ll be writing about in my current journal this weekend, , , because it means something to me. I received a letter this week from Matt Branigan, a CEO who hired me as an “interim CIO” for a company in 2014-2015. He needed me to fix the IT support organization and ultimately help them find a permanent CIO, which I did. Matt became a good friend, so when my time came to an end I gave Matt a journal with a personal note inscribed inside. In his letter, he mentioned the journaling caption I wrote about in my annual Sisco Christmas Letter this past December; and he said he had started journaling in a leather bound journal with handmade paper given to him by a good friend, , , ME !!!!

WHAT A SPECIAL TREAT IT WAS TO RECEIVE MATT’s LETTER AND COMMENT!

Believe me when I tell you that looking back in your journal will be rewarding and fun later in life. Again, I wish I had started earlier in my career; but I’m grateful to have started when I did in 1998. Lots of great content in my journals, , , even a few dollars hidden in some of the pages for a reader to find, , , JUST FOR FUN!!

The perfect time to start a new journal is anytime, , , but the beginning of a year works really well.

GOOD LUCK, , , and enjoy the experience!

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