Dr. Jordan B. Peterson’s 10 Step Guide to Clearer Thinking Through Essay Writing

I used to journal every night in a spiral bound notebook, and while I occasionally had long entries of two or three pages, I eventually got tired of writing, or my thoughts began to dissipate before I could get them all on paper.

I started journaling again last year, but in a Word document, and with a keyboard that was extremely comfortable to use. Just by doing that I was writing one or two full page pages in size 10 font, almost every night. Sometimes three. And I noticed that the day after I did so, my mind was clearer, and I felt more at-ease with both myself and the world. Even though I'm no longer doing it every night, despite thinking I should, I'm up to over 19,000 words and twenty-eight pages since starting last November. I construct each entry sort of like an essay, but each paragraph can stand on its own as a unique train of thought while tying into the rest. I find it incredibly cathartic to do it that way, since that's how my internal monologues (And external, since I talk to myself damn near constantly) tend to flow.

The few times I've basically just done monologuing and getting my thoughts out in front of somebody (My old teachers, my therapist, a newspaper reporter doing a story on me for my job) I've always been described as highly articulate, so there is definite validity to just Writing Shit Down in some sort of structured format. Hell, look at professional writers. Charles Bukowski, a sort of favorite around here, wrote poetry and stories in much of his spare time. Stephen King says he writes at least 2,000 words a day, and like him or not, he's pretty damn articulate.

However, just writing stuff down alone isn't going to reshape your modes of thinking. You have to do it in a style and structure that makes sense to both you AND someone else, even if it's never meant to be shared. I try to always consider how my writing would appear to someone if they managed to find and read my journals. Would it make sense? Would it flow? Would the ideas be easily understood? And would they enjoy reading it? By doing this, I also reinforce that style into my daily life and way of thinking, and hopefully improve my general communication skills. This is what you have to always keep in mind and strive for, even when just writing for yourself. The way I do it is by imagining how it would sound if spoken aloud. I find a lot of writing boring, and a lot of speech boring, simply because it doesn't sound good. If you can make it sound interesting, people will listen, regardless of what you're saying. And that's what gets you heard.

You might even hear yourself when you do it.