His head hangs over a blank notebook. If it had been a mirror, he would behold a pale-faced future president through a thousand-yard stare. His walrus mustache shimmered with dammed-up tears as the cry of his newborn daughter eerily reverberated through the empty house. Everyone else is a ghost now. 

A salty teardrop breaks from his mustache and hits the blank page with a soft thud. He marks a large “X” over the teardrop and begins to write the shortest entry of his life:

February, Thursday 14. 1884.
“The light has gone out of my life.”

These were the only words that Theodore Roosevelt wrote in his diary that Valentine’s evening, only hours after his mother and his 22-year-old wife died in the same house on the same day, right before his eyes.

On a day so tragic, so exhausting, why did Teddy Roosevelt–one of the toughest man’s men in American history–take the time to journal? This was how deeply habitual his relationship with writing was. It was therapy, it was an expression of the soul, it was a form of documenting life–for better or worse. Little did Roosevelt know at the time, it was also building his legacy. 

140 years later, we continue to draw wisdom and inspiration from the ups and downs of his life–in many ways due to his lifelong writing habits. 

Teddy was not the only great man who left behind a treasure trove of stories, wisdom, and history. Through daily journalling, letter-writing, and memoirs, many great men have left similar gifts for us to glean from.

 

Why did many of the greatest men in history write?

Organization

Shortly after Thomas Edison died in 1931, it was discovered that the genius inventor had left behind 3,500 notebooks. Edison used his journals like a modern-day project management system to document his research, track his progress, and keep his to-do lists. 

“The light bulb was an invention with 1000 steps.”
—Thomas Edison

Problem Solving

Before Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize, he spent over a decade working through his theories and ideas in his journals. His famous Zurich notebook documents his years-long process as he built up to the discovery of general relativity.

To Ensure the Story is Told

Martin Luther King Jr. left behind more than 10,000 journals, diaries, sermons, letters, and notebooks when he died. Dr. King kept up the habit of writing for a majority of his life. He wrote at home, while traveling, and even in jail.

“I am in Birmingham (jail) because injustice is here”
—Martin Luther King

Captain Robert Falcon Scott is known as one of history’s bravest men and greatest explorers. In the early 1900s, Scott kept a diary as he and his team experienced a series of fatal misfortunes during an expedition to Antarctica. Scott’s diary entries detailed the bravery of the men in real-time as the tragedy unfolded. The diaries were discovered when the team’s bodies were eventually recovered.

Self-Reflection

President Ronald Reagan was the only President to keep a daily diary without missing an entry. While he used his diary to document the highlights of his day-to-day as president, he also used his diary to express his thoughts and feelings. On the day of his assassination attempt, he wrote from the hospital bed,

“Getting shot hurts. Still, my fear was growing because no matter how hard I tried to breathe it seemed I was getting less and less air. I focused on that tiled ceiling and prayed. But I realized I couldn’t ask for God’s help while at the same time, I felt hatred for the young man who had shot me…I began to pray for his soul and that he would find his way back to the fold.” 

2000 years earlier, Roman emperor and philosopher Marcus Aurelius wrote his Meditations, which many believe were words written to comfort himself while he was a general during a challenging campaign in a long and discouraging war. It is said that it is a book one “overhears, rather than reads.”

Creativity and Expression

Leonardo da Vinci‘s notebooks went way beyond rough drafts of the Mona Lisa. His notes and sketches showcased his talent for architecture, math, engineering, science and art.

 

As a Communication Tool

Historians are still archiving over one million handwritten documents by Winston Churchill. Many of the documents being letters, speeches, and memoirs describinig his thoughts and experiences. Personally, I find Churchill to be the most quoteable figure in history.

To Remember

Einstein once said,

“Paper is to write things down that we need to remember. Our brains are used to think.”

Legacy & Posterity

Lewis and Clark kept highly detailed journals of the many adventures and discoveries during their expedition. Some believe that if it had not been for the records they kept, we might not even know who they are today.

Benjamin Franklin‘s autobiography is considered the world’s first self-help book, and likely the most famous autobiography of all time. The book opens, almost like a letter, to his son, William. Franklin says,

“Dear Son: I have ever had pleasure in obtaining any little anecdotes of my ancestors…Imagining it may be equally agreeable to you to know the circumstances of my life, many of which you are yet unacquainted with…I sit down to write them for you.”

On the topic of legacy, Churchill humorously, stated,

“To secure your historical standing, be sure you are the first to write about it.”

Summary

Writing journals and diaries can be a powerful tool for personal reflection, growth, planning, and creativity. It can also be a resource for your children the generations that come after you. This is why so many great men have been personal writers, and why you will benefit too.