
Ask HN: What do you want your journaling habits to be? - banjodeluxe
I&#x27;ve been trying to journal for some time now, never quite stuck with the habit. I&#x27;m trying to make a tool that will work for me and I think its interesting to know what other people would like from something like this, maybe add some of the suggestions. Thank you!
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Antoninus
Each morning, I make a new .md file in my Notes directory and start writing my
thoughts from the previous evening until that moment. I'll leave the file open
the for the rest of the day and jot down what I'm working on, problems I run
into, things I need to do, general thoughts, quotes. It ends up being endless
stream of incoherence. I guess its not really journal journal-ling in the
traditional sense but act of writing almost everything into one repository
helps me progress through revision.

~~~
yesenadam
I do a very similar thing, but into a single text file using a simple bash
script so writing to the file takes 1 keypress to start and 2 ENTERs to end.
Then every week or 3 I sort the contents of that file into the appropriate
chapter/section in the half dozen LaTeX books I'm writing. For decades I
filled notebooks and never looked at them again. Now it's beautifully
organized and easy to locate. I just wish I'd started doing this 30 years ago!
Well, 30 years ago started a diary, which I kept going for 25+ years. But
that's very different to notes on everything you think about, links, pictures,
quotes, programs, things learnt, etc.

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krrishd
Posted this here a few times in response to this q: I use an app that I made
myself ([http://write.itskrish.co](http://write.itskrish.co)), its defining
features being:

1\. you choose a fixed duration of time within which to journal (i choose 15
minutes even though it is initially tough to spend all of)

2\. if you stop typing for more than a few seconds within the duration, you
lose your writing

These constraints basically force me to dump anything and everything on my
mind for the sake of continuous typing (to not lose what i've written), and
I've been successfully doing it at least 1-2 times a week for a few years now.
All your entries are also saved locally in-browser only, with the option to
export a savefile. Source code:
[https://github.com/krrishd/write](https://github.com/krrishd/write)

~~~
yesenadam
Haha nice idea..Don't think I could do that - wouldn't want to lose what I
wrote, but I like it. Sounds like "morning pages", the idea from the _Artist
's Way_ books. The idea is to write 3 pages quickly (by hand) every morning -
exactly as you say, just dumping from your mind, writing anything without
editing or censoring. You do that every morning without rereading. I tried
that years ago for a few weeks, it's definitely worth trying. Especially good
if you're stressed or have to unload emotions somewhere.

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jborichevskiy
I've been keeping a journal for about 4 years now. I try to write every 2-3
about anything and everything: ideas, habits, my feelings, events that
happened, things that come to mind. I find it's an amazing tool for
introspection and has made me much more aware of what I'm worried about.

I've written about this in more detail here:
[https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/journaling/](https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/journaling/)

When I try to imagine my ideal journaling tool, I think it would be a desktop
(and mobile) app with two distinct modes:

1\. Distraction-free, focused entry. A blank entry and a blinking cursor. This
is great for very open-ended writing where I have no idea where it will go -
just stream of consciousness and following it. Usually in this mode I'm in a
comfortable, quiet environment (my room at night, coffee shop, hotel).

2\. Ideation/connection/writing mode. This is a hypothesis I've been meaning
to test in more detail but I'd be curious to have a mode where as soon as I
type a word or a phrase, I __instantly __see previous references to this top
float up from below, links and references I 've saved to the right, email
discussions I've mentioned it in, tweets I've liked about it. Basically,
frictionless access to other thoughts and formulations of the idea I'm
thinking about to make writing about it easier. I don't know if this would
actually help matters, but I am curious to try (or build) something like it.

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grep_name
I've been thinking about journaling a lot lately, but haven't done it
regularly in years. I'm going to crosspost my response to another currently
active HN thread to provide different perspective from the ones posted here:

"Funny, I just ordered a pocket notebook for the first time in years today.
I'm curious to see what contingent of people on HN still use a physical
notebook. I also use orgmode extensively to keep track of my intentions, media
preferences, notes, and stray ideas, but it doesn't really scratch the same
itch as a physical notebook.

The reason I had to order a physical notebook online is because I wanted a
pocket notebook with no lines, dots, or grids on the pages, which is
surprisingly hard to find. I'm attracted to the non-linear approach to
notebooking, and plan to fill this one with content in a random page-order as
things strike me. Sometimes I just have a cool thought or sentence, or just
want to slowly fill a page with something, and it can really help your
creativity solidify to have a trailing log of your weird random inspirations.
Sometimes I just transcribe lines from a song or book I like, or write down
something someone said. Some pages are just geometric shapes. Rarely, I'll
make a simple "today this happened and this is how I felt about it" page. By
the time you fill it up you have a really organic document that can help you
understand what makes you unique and what you like / care about in your daily
life, without the stress of writing a cohesive or linear work."

The reason I shared this here is because I'm not entirely sure that software
can replicate what I'm looking for from journaling. I'm just not likely to
look back through entries in a software format, or treat it as anything other
than a log. The most flexible solution I know of is probably TiddlyWiki,
although even with TW you can't get that direct-to-brain connection you get
from pen and paper. I may be an edge case though, good luck!

~~~
banjodeluxe
Thanks for your answer. I actually have been carrying a physical notebook for
years. It keeps me organised and helps me remember things, but I've found it
difficult to be disciplined with journaling - I'm currently thinking software
might help in solving that, in sending me a reminder to journal and a quick
way to put down a few thoughts everyday. I'll report back on how it goes!

