Recently a commentor on a video of mine said, "journaling in a notebook is a more charming experience" than using an app like DayOne or a Google doc.

I had never really considered the value of charm in the context of writing but the more I thought about it, the more I started to think this commentor was pointing at something largely missed in our modern culture.

Growing up as an older brother in an all female household I'm used to hearing the phrase, "That's so cute!" when something caught my female family member's eye. A cute cat would have my sister begging to take it home or a cute dress might get my mom to open her wallet. The few male influences in my life did the same thing but with different verbage. "That's badass" was the stand-in term for cute in their lexicon.

What cute and badass are both pointing at is the ineffible charm inherent in a thing that makes you want to own it, use it, be with it, and be seen with it.

In his video essay How Did The World Get So Ugly, cultural writer Sheehan Quirke describes something as charming when it, "makes the experiencer feel something" such as an "indirect message of love from the maker."

When I open a blank notebook I feel a lot of things:

• Nostalgia for a time when life was more embodied in the physical.
• Excitement about all the possible ideas and plans I might fill the notebook with.
• Admiration for the craftsmanship of a superbly designed notebook.
• Connection to the history of people who have used to the notebook to store their cherished memories and ideas for hundreds of years.

When you feel that many positive emotions it's hard to resist. I think the commentor on my video was right to say that journaling in a notebook is a vastly more charming experience than the digital version.

I know this to be true because I've tried both myself. My first forays into writing and journaling were exclusively digital. This made journaling feel like a chore and writing about my ideas nothing more than a task item to complete so that I might one day get some benefit that all the studies said I would feel.

This didn't work and led to a inconsistent habit that I didn't even enjoy.

When I finally made the switch to a physical notebook everything changed. I started to take pleasure in thinking on paper and journaling became an experience I looked forward to each morning.

Eventually I learned you can elevate that experience even more by tapping into a fun fact about human psychology.

There is something called the IKEA Effect where studies have shown people value furniture they assembled themselves–like everything you buy at IKEA– more highly than pre-assembled furniture. Assembling new IKEA furniture provides people with a sense of ownership. When they see their new chair in the living room, a signal of pride and care is reflected back at them.

I never understood the Pinterest-board version of Bullet Journaling until I started to appreciate the value of charm and the IKEA effect. People spend hours making their notebooks beautiful and uniquely their own because it sends an indirect message of love to themselves. Making their notebooks more charming makes them feel a certain way that keeps them coming back to write in it more.

Your notebooks can be more than a repository of personal knowledge. With a little bit of effort to make them uniquely your own, they can become charming artifacts that you bring you joy and fill you with pride.

When journaling stops feeling like a task list and starts to bring more positive feelings into your life, it becomes irresistably appealing.

So the next time you want to invest a notebook because it's "cute" or you think it looks "cool", I say go for it. That's a notebook your much more likely to use. And if you feel like spending a Sunday morning making a bespoke spread that is uniquely you, then I say that's a Sunday morning well spent.

A little charm can go a long way in bringing joy to the process.

Prompt:

How can you make journaling a more charming experience?

(I always find it charming to journal in a cafe with a cold brew and a book by my side. Too bad coffee is so expensive these days!)