Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain. Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory. – Jack London

It made sense at the outset, but it no longer feels right. My twitter handle is @wisdomjournaler. That works for me. It goes well with the journals. So, in LinkedIn I used the same name. Why not? Why seed confusion? After all, it is a place where I announce to people what that guy (the wisdom journaler) is doing in that part-time occupation of mine.

I reasoned that if I decided to use the platform as it was designed (I’m still trying to figure out exactly what these platforms do for me, other than deprive me of my attention to stuff that matters…. But that’s another story) and promote or foster connections in my other career, I would do that under my actual name in a separate account.

Here’s the problem: I am confused. Whenever I open my account I get all sorts of messages saying ‘Hey Wisdom!’ I find myself looking over my shoulder trying to locate the person who owns that moniker.

It makes me think of the story of a young man who went to Socrates and asked him how he too could become wise. Socrates took him on a walk and they stopped at a stream. Once there Socrates grabbed him by the hair and plunged his head into the water and held it there until he was gasping for air. When he finally pulled the man out, Socrates told him that when he wants wisdom as much as he wanted air, he will then begin to become wise.

I identify most with the man who was gasping for air. Hence the Wisdom Journals. The whole point of journaling is to do one thing each day that cultivates wisdom. The harvest may be years away, but the seeds must be sown now. There must be a first step on the journey. Journey is a word that means ‘day-trip,’ from the French journée. Over time the word has come to mean a longer adventure. Journal shares the same root word, as it’s the place where one chronicles their daily progress. It is a place where we have a conversation with ourselves.

I am the person on the journey, and the journey should not be confused with the destination. Hence, my name should respect that I am the traveler, not the destination.

K. Wilkins is the author of:

Stoic Virtues Journal: Your Guide to Becoming the Person You Aspire to Be

Rules for Living Journal: Life Advice Based On the Words and Wisdom of Jordan B. Peterson