Writing a journal is one the best ways to spend your time. To me, writing about your experiences is like drinking a protein shake after an intense workout. The act of writing lets you relive your experiences from a godlike perspective as you examine your choices without emotion, allowing you to make sense of yourself, other people, and the situation. Your journal is how you can suck the marrow from life, making the most of each day.

Like a chicken or the egg debate, you have to decide what comes first: a great life or a great story? For me, the two work together like a piston.

When it comes to improving your success with women, keeping a journal is crucial. If you’re not writing about your dating adventures and misadventures, you’re severely handicapping yourself. My fastest and most intense learning spurts happened when I was journaling religiously. If you’re serious about improving your success with women (or improving any other aspect of your life), then you should get serious about getting a journal.

Whether you want to make your journal public or private is completely up to you. Although, regardless if your journal becomes the next national best seller or it’s only read by you, knowing how to write a journal will vastly enhance the fun you have as you write the episodes of your life. The more you understand about writing, the more goodness you can pack into your journal.

And if you think you’re a lousy writer, you’re probably wrong. Maybe you think writing is about crafting interesting sentences or developing some pretentious theme. At the very least, most people mistake good writing for a good plot. Most good stories do not rest on the structure of a plotline. Instead, the best stories grow out of compelling characters.

Barroom Hero

If you’re an interesting human, you can writ interesting characters.

That, in essence, is the beauty of keeping journal: it challenges you to live your life to the fullest. No one wants to be the writer who sits down and write, “Went to the bar. Drank some beer. Saw a hot girl. Went home.” What the fuck kind of story/life is that?! Instead, you want to be the guy with the epic tale of barroom heroics. You want to pen a narrative that will gleam in the annuals of amazing hookups. You want to be a hero.

Art imitates life. Like a chicken or the egg debate, you have to decide what comes first: a great life or a great story? For me, the two work together like a piston. The better my stories become, the more I want to live my life to the fullest. And that doesn’t just mean living out my own adventures. Meeting other “characters” and observing them is often equally as rewarding as living out my own exploits.

Under the context of “success with women,” you can find Inspiration in the most unlikely places. If you know what you’re looking for, you can learn lessons about pickup from the people all around you. That’s the beauty of keeping a journal that chronicles your quest to improve your love life: you are working with the greatest story arcs of all time. “Guy chases girl(s) and learns about himself in the process” has been a winning formula for literature across the ages. It’s timeless.

Here are some short stories and narratives of mine that demonstrate how I journal:

The Biology Professor Who Didn’t Give a Fuck

My Valentine’s Day Massacre

When the Internet Lied