
Ask HN: Do you keep a personal journal? - pawelwentpawel
Hey all,<p>I have been keeping a personal journal for a bit more than 2 years now. Mostly for the purpose of retrospective analysis, tracking my goals, challenges and general mood. For now I was just dropping my thoughts into a simple text file with timestamps. I&#x27;m looking to improve in this area through tracking things more systematically and developing a stronger habit. I have some general questions to the community here :<p>Do you keep a personal journal?<p>If yes, do you find it useful?<p>What tools would you recommend?<p>Is there any specific methodology that you follow?<p>When journaling, do you try to track any specific aspects of your life or just write about anything that is currently occupying your mind?<p>Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?<p>Thanks for the answers!<p>tl;dr : I&#x27;m looking for your advice on journaling.
======
wikibob
Yes.

I tried to for many years with paper and pen. It never worked for me until I
started using DayOne [0] on iOS and Mac. Simply superb design and one of my
favorite pieces of software to use because it does (almost) exactly what I
want it to _.

When I type, I'm able to render my thoughts directly into text, whereas when I
write with a pen I have to think about the physical process of writing. I
imagine I'm not the only one here who feels this way.

_ A valid criticism of DayOne is that they don't currently support strong
encryption, and their (optional) sync service stores your entries on their
server. Their blog said that they are working on a good client side encryption
implementation [1], however the last update was some time around the middle of
last year [2].

[0] [http://dayoneapp.com/](http://dayoneapp.com/)

[1] [http://dayoneapp.com/2016/05/end-to-end-encryption-for-
day-o...](http://dayoneapp.com/2016/05/end-to-end-encryption-for-day-one-
sync/)

[2] [http://dayoneapp.com/2016/08/encryption-
update/](http://dayoneapp.com/2016/08/encryption-update/)

~~~
freehunter
Their site doesn't seem to have a lot of info about its features, but from the
screenshots it doesn't seem to do much that the built-in Apple Notes doesn't
do. Weather and geotagging are unique, of course, but I'm not sure those are
worth $45 (for the iOS and macOS app together) to me.

What in particular do you think DayOne offers that can't be offered by Notes
on iOS or macOS?

~~~
hallman76
The current price tag is a little surprising. I picked it up years ago on iOS
for like $3. The version I have has been rebranded to Day One Classic.

~~~
reitanqild
I had one back when I used a Mac. It is one of very few programs I miss from
my Mac and I still look from time to time to see if they have poeted it yet.

The other was "Alarms" which was discontinued even on Mac.

------
agentultra
_Do you keep a personal journal?_

Yes.

 _If yes, do you find it useful?_

Yes

 _What tools would you recommend?_

A well-crafted acid-free paper notebook, comfortable pens.

 _Is there any specific methodology that you follow?_

Yes.

 _When journaling, do you try to track any specific aspects of your life or
just write about anything that is currently occupying your mind?_

I keep a system of journals. One series for personal thoughts, current life
events, moods, reflections. One series for my mathematical explorations.
Another for ruminating on the literature and polemic I consume. One for
musical notes and development.

 _Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?_

Develop a process. A habit. Have a plan. Journalling for me is about making my
thoughts concrete and objectifying my beliefs, opinions, and self. Writing is
thinking.

 _Thanks for the answers!_

Hope that helps.

~~~
stinkytaco
What is your specific methodology? Or is that what you mean by your next
answer?

Also, do you revisit your journals?

~~~
agentultra
_What is your specific methodology? Or is that what you mean by your next
answer?_

To answer both at once: the methodology used is specific to my goals. They're
specified by me and probably only work with how I approach each topic.

For example, my mathematical journals are rather structured. I move between
branches over time but I tend to stay focused in a single area for quite some
time working on problems, derivations, and occasionally formulating simple
proofs from theorems I've built up as I ask questions. Often re-inventing much
of what has been discovered but the purpose of the journals is to learn the
process and to make maths a habit as much as it is to document the journey.

My personal journals are much more free-form. I just write stream-of-
consciousness what I'm thinking as I look at the page.

 _Also, do you revisit your journals?_

Often. The point of objectifying myself is to examine why I think the way I
do, how opinions and habits entered my life, etc. The result of such
examinations is that I can choose to change these qualities over time.

 _The unexamined life is not worth living._ The significance came to me late
in life but began as child when my mortality and that of those I loved came to
me in the night. Life is a horizon of filth, gore, tears, laughter...
_surviving_. On the shores of death I do not wish to go without leaving some
evidence of my journey. The pursuit of wisdom, to me, is the joy of being
human.

~~~
throwanem
> the methodology used is specific to my goals

I strongly recommend this attitude. A tool off the shelf rarely fits the hand
well; when the tool in question serves to help investigate the self, a
prepackaged methodology poses the risk of shaping oneself to fit the tool,
rather than the other way around.

~~~
stinkytaco
You are right, of course, but it's easier said than done. The blank page is
intimidating and frustrating, so structure is often the best way to get going.
It brings to mind fitness trackers, actually.

~~~
throwanem
True, but you don't necessarily need a whole lot of structure to get started.
Or at least I don't; in my personal journal, I just use a headline and a
timestamp, generated by means of snippet expansion, and come back later to add
a proper title. My work log uses dated headlines.

On the other hand, my personal journal is very freeform, and my work log is
mainly a list of tasks and actions taken toward them, so I'm not sure how well
that generalizes. Perhaps a useful recommendation for someone struggling to
start might be this:

\- Spend a few minutes thinking about what you want to accomplish by
journaling.

\- Spend a few minutes more laying out minimal structure that might help you
work toward that goal. If you're working in a text or org-mode file, for
example, perhaps put togther a few lines of boilerplate that you can copy and
paste to start an entry.

\- Spend a few days working with that structure, and see how well it suits
your purpose. Where it does this well, preserve and perhaps expand; where it
fails, rework it.

...and iterate from there.

------
zafiro17
Yes, I've written for 27+ years now [1]. It's a significant source of my
personal serenity/peace of mind. Advice: find pens and paper that you like.
Write if you feel like writing, don't write if you don't. Be honest to
yourself: it's only for your eyes. Write down your concerns, your joys, things
for which you are grateful. Organize your life. [1]
[http://therandymon.com/index.php?/archives/332-Twenty-
Seven-...](http://therandymon.com/index.php?/archives/332-Twenty-Seven-Years-
of-Pen-and-Ink.html)

------
chollida1
Yes, I use two things, no affiliation to either.

1) Five minute journal. Used to keep track of mental state and review day
mostly.

[https://www.amazon.ca/Five-Minute-Journal-Happier-
Minutes/dp...](https://www.amazon.ca/Five-Minute-Journal-Happier-
Minutes/dp/0991846206)

2) Way of Life app for iPhone

[http://wayoflifeapp.com/](http://wayoflifeapp.com/)

I track about 40 things from floss, to running, to meditation, etc. It's a
very easy way to, in under a minute, run through and check off the things you
did, or didn't do if the task is something like "eat fast food".

It's great for reviewing over time like a month or quarter to see how you are
making out.

I really think these guys have nailed simple task tracking.

~~~
mrtimo
Thanks for the recommendation. They also have an Android app:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wayoflife....](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wayoflife.app&rdid=com.wayoflife.app)

------
mkasu
Since I began my PhD I started writing a personal journal about my research.

I write down all things in my mind, things I tried out, things that did not
work, etc. Every time I get new results or evaluate something, I also try to
include a table or graph with intermediate results.

The journal helps me to see my progress over time. I can grep through it and
see if I already tried something. I can go back and see how my results get
better over time or whether I hit a dead end somewhere.

I also write a small summary directly after meetings and talks and note
feedback from supervisors.

I use org-mode (emacs) for this and can recommend it. All my entries are
sorted by year and week number, so I try to write a summary at least once a
week. As I use Emacs for all my programming related tasks, the org-mode file
is open all day anyhow, so I usually add things more often than that.

------
tarentel
If yes, do you find it useful?

Yes. I mostly do it to unwind/relax. I think it's a good way to get your brain
to slow down and collect your thoughts.

What tools would you recommend?

I use pen and paper. I stare at a computer all day and it's nice to take a
break. Obviously, there are a ton of upsides to doing things digitally but for
my particular use case I wouldn't benefit.

Is there any specific methodology that you follow?

I used to keep several notebooks for various purposes. I found it to be a
burden. I'm way less organized now but it's easier to just put everything in
one notebook.

When journaling, do you try to track any specific aspects of your life or just
write about anything that is currently occupying your mind?

A lot of what I write about are problems I'm working on. I also write a lot of
reviews, movies, restaurants, things I drank, etc. If I can't think of
anything I'll usually write a short story from some writing prompts. I have no
aspirations of being a writer, it's just fun sometimes.

Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?

Try to do it everyday. My life isn't exactly full of excitement so sometimes
it's hard to get motivated to write about it but there's always something I
could be writing.

------
Emc2fma
I tried keeping a journal (to track what I did each day...otherwise it felt
like the days were just blending together) but kept failing over and over
because I just couldn't get into the habit.

For people who have the same issue, I came up with
[https://www.60secondseveryday.com](https://www.60secondseveryday.com)

It's the fastest way of daily journaling - you make a 60 second phone call
every night to answer the question "What do you want to remember about
today?". From there, it gets transcribed, archived, and it's all searchable as
well.

Disclaimer: I came up with the service after having a need for it myself

~~~
jstanley
The general idea sounds good to me (just spend 60 seconds on it, and no more).

But I wouldn't use it on principle because a journal is private, and having it
handled by a third-party doesn't sound like a good idea at all. Especially
when you explicitly state that it is transcribed, archived, and searchable.

~~~
Emc2fma
Why would it being transcribed and searchable mean it's not private?
Everything is automated and encrypted along the way, so I won't be able to
look at it even if I wanted to.

I realize that privacy is an important concern which is why I've taken it
extremely seriously. So rest assured, this journal is private.

~~~
throwanem
That's nice to say and all, but there would seem of necessity to exist a point
at which the incoming audio data is present on a server you control but has
yet to be encrypted. In any case, since all the encryption and decryption
necessarily takes place on hosts you control with keys you hold, your claim of
privacy comes with a whole constellation of caveats which you choose not to
mention. This fails to inspire confidence.

Perhaps I've misunderstood how your service works, and these concerns have no
basis in fact. If so, it would be awesome to know that! Such information might
make a very good fit for a privacy policy, which I'm having a very hard time
finding any mention of on your site. (Yes, I saw the brief, breezy dismissal
of such concerns in the FAQ section of your pricing page. That doesn't count.
And, no, I haven't tried it. I shouldn't _need_ to try it to get some idea of
what you actually do to mitigate these risks.)

I hate to seem overly harsh on this point, but these are uncertain times, and
your service is one which invites people to trust it with the sort of deeply
personal information which, in the wrong hands, could be misused to ends from
embarrassment to social and professional annihilation. Perhaps you have given
this hazard the degree of concern it merits, and engineered your service to
minimize it to the maximum possible extent. If so, you might do well to
present the appearance of having done so, too.

------
akbrouwer
"Journaling" seems like a broad term for everything that you want to do. Some
people journal about their day, others jot down ideas, some people use it to
bookend their day.

Goal setting, Mood Tracking, Habit Tracking, Reflection Etc. is hard to lump
into one system, but I have seen it done by a few people.

I personally (and know hundreds of others) spent years writing in a blank
notebook with a structure that I created for myself.

Something that would allow me to write my goals, map out my day, write what
I'm grateful for, track my important tasks, etc.

I saw this as a problem, asked some friends if they had the same issue, and
decided to create something that would have everything above.

You can check it out here: [https://bestself.co/products/self-
journal](https://bestself.co/products/self-journal)

This is not a "plug"

You can download the PDF on this page and check it out first.

I believe in it that much that I want everyone to have access to this.

Cheers!

-Allen Co-Founder | BestSelf Co.

------
Starwatcher2001
I've been keeping one since 4th Feb 2008. It's simply a Word document stored
on an encrypted drive. Currently 153 pages, with my last entry 5 days ago.

It's intended for my eyes only. I record my moods, personal battles, health
and weight information, self-development. I record snippets from good books,
attempts to implement changes in my life, what happened and why.

It's a real eye-opener to look back over the years and see myself hitting the
same problems over and over, such as overeating and procrastination.

Occasionally I distill all the positive, uplifting and useful bits into a
"Highlights" document, which is really good to dip into when I need self-
motivation. Whilst reading books and articles by others can be useful, there's
nothing like reading your own advice from years ago, and re-living your
victories, to get yourself back on track.

I recommend it, making it private, and being totally honest in what you write.

Good luck.

------
scrapcode
I've just recently within the past couple of weeks started bullet
journaling[0]. I have already noticed huge benefits in my productivity and
organization. I was never that good of a note-taker so having this "method" to
follow gave me the boost that I think I needed.

[0]: [http://bulletjournal.com/](http://bulletjournal.com/)

~~~
papul1993
Can you please recommend an easy to get started guide. I have checked out some
written ones and even some videos but I always become confused.

~~~
nbm
At the core, it's really a simple iterative process - I wrote this in mine to
remind me/cement it -
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BOflnzggBbc/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BOflnzggBbc/)

Basically, every day, write down anything that comes to mind that you should
do on that day (possibly by fetching it from a page of a less granular time
period, like a weekly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly list of tasks/events), as
well as anything that you discover you need to do in the future (put the date
of the event, or a rough time period you want it done next to the item, so
it's clear you don't have to do it today). Don't feel the need to schedule it
on some other page - just write it onto the current day and defer that
scheduling work to later.

As you do the things in your list, mark them as completed. At the end of the
day, make a place to write down stuff for tomorrow. Move all the stuff you
wanted to do today that you didn't to the next day. Move all the stuff you
marked for the future to a place where you store tasks for the future - this
is called a "future log", and there are all sorts of variations. I'd start
with a page for all tasks you want to do in the future, and "migrate" to a new
page with those tasks monthly.

Generally you want a book with two (or three) bookmarks - one will be on a
"future log" or "monthly spread" page where tasks you want to do soon, but not
necessarily right now, in case you want to pull additional stuff to do today,
and the other will be on the page with the current day where you'll do almost
all your reading and writing.

In order to save migration to a weekly process, I use a layout where I put all
days of one week on a single spread -
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BPUIKR1Am3o/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BPUIKR1Am3o/)

Then I can put stuff for later in the week onto that specific day, and I only
need to migrate to future log, or rewrite the weekly-level tasks every week.
And I don't need to do any per-day setup work, just draw the page leisurely on
a Sunday night and do the migration work.

There are a ton of youtube examples of people doing planning, and a few
tutorials on how the system works. Don't be put off by some of the more
complex/artful/&c. stuff - you can do it in a minimalist fashion too.

* Bullet Journal 101 series by Boho Berry - [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeTUR5GAuQfupOv-_l16G...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLeTUR5GAuQfupOv-_l16GyPwNTtFOrr-R)

* Engineer Dude's Simple, Minimalist Bullet Journal - [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1HerzvUph3FtUsXqsGL9...](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1HerzvUph3FtUsXqsGL9LEAgn1UQpD0O)

There is also a really active set of bullet journalists (as they like to call
themselves) on Pinterest and Instagram - just search for "#bulletjournal" and
"#bujo" for example future logs, "spreads", trackers, collections, and so
forth.

Remember - all you _really_ need is the tasks/goals/planning part. You don't
need daily/weekly/... water/exercise/mood/... trackers, weather icons,
calligraphy, colours, and so forth. And it's your system, so adjust as you
find it works for you. I started off trying to do morning/afternoon/evening
mood tracking, but that didn't work out. I also tried a daily timeline thing,
and that didn't work out. So they were gone after three weeks.

------
SuperPaintMan
I keep a few cheap notebooks by my workspace. Ones for paintings/planning,
another for programming ideas/in progress developments, one for
personal/venting and another for poetry and jazz. I find them useful as a way
to organize my thoughts that just plain text can't match. I kind of use them
as a break from my screens when I'm trying to think.

As far as tools. A pen and paper, that's it. If you want to get fancy flip a
notebook over and write from the backside in for a simple two topic book.
Earmark pages. No methodolgy. I prefer to keep it messy, then I don't have to
deal with constraints. Learning cursive helps

To get the most out of it I keep a extra notebook and pen folded in my
breastpocket of my jacket. When I'm commuting, need a quick scratch, out for a
dart it's right there. I prefer loose stream of consciousness writing to just
codify the damn ideas.

For me using paper for note taking is relaxing and more natural then trying to
fill a text box or fighting software to make a graph. I refuse to use some
service for this on the same grounds that I refuse to work with digital
painting programs. Physicality matters

------
charris0
I keep a written personal journal where I write whatever I'm concerned with,
mostly along the same areas as you mentioned too. And I preform a weekly
review and rating every Sunday. Have been doing so for about 3 years.

I started to aid my sleep, putting all the racing thoughts in my head down on
paper and closing the book on them was very calming, I can then forget them
for a while.

I also love the act of translating your nebulous thoughts into (semi) clear
language of written words, to me it's a focusing lens on your life, and allows
associations, perspective and ideas that may not come about otherwise. Even if
just because it forces you to reflect for more than some fleeting seconds.

I never see myself changing the primary method of writing these down freeform.
But every time I finish a journal I do read back through and write up in
google docs some bullet point style wisdoms and take-aways to remember for the
future .

Glad to know there's others that get benefit from journaling too.

------
krrishd
I've been keeping a journal for a while (mainly for therapeutic purposes).

I've given it a shot several times but have failed in the past, but what has
made it easy to keep up as a routine this time around is a finite duration to
write within + the requirement of continuously typing w/o breaks; to achieve
those two things (shameless plug), I built
[http://write.surge.sh](http://write.surge.sh): it basically allows you to set
a duration within which you journal, and if you stop typing for more than a
few seconds within that duration, your current session is completely reset.

It's also open source at
[http://github.com/krrishd/write](http://github.com/krrishd/write) for those
who are interested in how I built it :)

------
diegoprzl
Do you keep a personal journal?

Yes. Org-Mode+Org-Capture

If yes, do you find it useful?

Yes. There are many advantages to keeping a personal journal. It allows you to
have better recollections about what actually happened in the past, which is
important taking into account that memory is constructive and prone to
distortion. Many ideas and insights are forgotten, recording them is a way to
fight that.

What tools would you recommend?

Emacs and Org-Mode. Git. Markdown and any other editor is a good option also.

Is there any specific methodology that you follow?

I use some ideas from GTD. Explaining my whole methodology would take more
time than I have right now.

When journaling, do you try to track any specific aspects of your life or just
write about anything that is currently occupying your mind?

Both.

Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?

Make it an habit. Put a time or word limit and just let the words flow. Make
it seamless, for me capturing an entry is pressing 3 keys.

~~~
raamdev
I've been keeping a journal with Org-Mode for nearly three years now. I also
have an easy system of adding entries via my mobile devices, which was a huge
thing I missed at first. Here's what I finally came up with as a solution that
works really well for writing Org-Mode journal entries from my iPhone and iPad
and getting those entries back into my main Org-Mode journal file:

\- I use the Drafts app [1], which has a incredibly powerful feature that lets
you create custom commands that include a series of steps, such as "Append to
/refile.org file in Dropbox", which I have setup as a "Save to Journal"
command

\- I have a TextExpander snippet that includes the proper Org-Mode format for
an entry, complete with a the date and tags and even a default entry title all
filled in. All I do is type "Jjj" inside Drafts and I'm ready to start typing
my journal entry.

To write a journal entry from my mobile device:

\- I launch Drafts, type my TextExpander abbreviation ("Jjj") to fill in the
Org-Mode template, then just start typing my journal entry.

\- When I'm done writing my journal entry, I hit the "Save to Journal" action
in Drafts, which appends that entry to my refile.org file on Dropbox.

\- Once a week or so I open the refile.org inside Emacs and for each entry I
run a custom function [2] that refiles that entry into my main
journal-2017.org file. The function properly files the entry into the right
spot in the datetree. Processing my refile.org file literally takes a few
seconds, as I have that function bound to a key that I just run with the
cursor over each entry.

I've been using this process for a few years now and it's incredibly easy and
reliable, not to mention completely free of any proprietary data formats,
which is exactly what I wanted for journaling. I'm using a similar process
(Drafts app + TextExpander + Dropbox) to make Ledger CLI [3] entries from my
iPhone very easy, so that I can keep my financial ledger up-to-date when I'm
out.

[1] [http://agiletortoise.com/drafts/](http://agiletortoise.com/drafts/)

[2]
[https://github.com/raamdev/dotfiles/blob/master/emacs.d/conf...](https://github.com/raamdev/dotfiles/blob/master/emacs.d/config/custom-
functions.el#L77-L98)

[3] [http://www.ledger-cli.org/](http://www.ledger-cli.org/)

------
temp246810
For years I've tried to keep something like a journal, but I've never quite
found an app that ticked all my requirements.

Funny you should post this now - the solution that is working for now - is a
google form for which I have a shortcut on my phone.

I did as much as a could to minimize typing - lots of multiple choice, linear
scales, checkboxes, etc. Then one open text field at the end for notes.

I've actually been sticking with this - before I go to sleep I open the
shortcut and fill out the form. If I feel up to it I elaborate on the notes,
but at the very least I fill out everything else.

Been working so far - quick, easy, and the fact that it's in a spreadsheet
makes it useful.

~~~
esyechka
Same! I've been trying to journal since middle school and never stuck with it.
Now I also use a google form to record life experiences, track certain goals
like weight, exercise, learning goals, etc. and this is finally working for
me. At some point I want to upgrade to something where I can add photos,
location, etc. Each evening I get a calendar reminder to fill out the form,
and I have a "quarterly review" style assessment to see if my goals should be
modified, or my lifestyle changed to accomplish what I set out to. This method
motivates me to accomplish much more over the course of the day than before I
started journaling.

------
kalid
I keep it simple: a feelgood.txt file with dated entries whenever some event,
project, feedback, etc. makes me feel alive.

Over time, you notice patterns about what really energizes you. For me, this
is the high-order bit, more important than any specific time or life hack.

(Examples and analysis here: [https://betterexplained.com/articles/life-
lessons-10-years/](https://betterexplained.com/articles/life-
lessons-10-years/) )

------
cableshaft
I've tried many times to do it digitally over the years, tried many apps, none
really stuck more than a few days.

Last November I started keeping a physical Design Diary, though, and I've
managed to keep it up since. I come up with tons of ideas for games, stories,
websites, etc, and I tend to lose the ones I don't actively pursue over time,
so now I just write it in there. It's nice because with pen and paper I can
actually draw the designs of things too, although it's still mostly text. I
also put notes from lectures on design I listen to in there also. I also just
record whenever I work on those projects and some of the decisions I made
while doing so.

I also put some personal things in there as well to provide some context and
help aid my memory of when things happen (I have a terrible memory), but I do
write this with the idea that somebody might read it or I might want to share
it someday, so I try to fully explain the ideas as well as I can.

In fact, I don't just take notes in there or anything. I take notes on scrap
paper first, since my natural notetaking style is pretty messy and filled with
gaps, and then I sit down later and take those scraps and expand on them in
the diary, sometimes days later.

It's already become one of my favorite physical artifacts (that's not an
actual game I've made), and I'm trying to start a second one that
retroactively goes back to previous games and stuff I've worked on.

The only structure I have in there is I keep things segregated by the day it
happened on, more or less. Sometimes I have lecture takeaways put in there
weeks after I actually watched it though.

------
projektir
I've started to keep a journal last year. I find it very useful and important
to my life now. I've started it as a way to record how I felt about things and
what my thoughts are since my mood used to very unstable and vary a lot, and
journaling is considered helpful for mental health since you can dump your
thoughts out and review them. I also wanted to practice handwriting and I
enjoy writing as a process. I always write in cursive.

I don't use any computer tools at this time. I use a Black and Red notebook,
because I didn't like the ratios of paper quality, sizes, or lining of others
that I tried. Writing on the computer doesn't seem to have the same effect
(and this is confirmed by various studies, from the looks of it).

There's no particular methodology. I try to write often, but don't find it
necessary to write every day. If I don't feel like writing, I don't, usually,
I do. I put the date down, and that's it.

Pretty much anything goes there. Events that happened, predictions and
outcomes, personal concerns, dark thoughts, quotes, prayers, litany, ideas for
projects, mini-stories about fictional worlds, notes about topics, insights,
poems, math problems, diagrams, doodles.

------
TheGRS
Funny you ask this, my girlfriend was reading a biography about Lincoln and
noted that it seemed like everyone kept a diary in those days. I said that I
should start keeping one in case I ever become famous.

But seriously, I've thought about doing journaling for a long time and have
never really done it in earnest. I keep copious work notes on a combination of
a pen and paper notebook and a digital notebook. I've developed my own system
for tracking tasks and notes over the years that works for me. Its not too
unlike Bullet Journal except I don't do all of the monthly tracking stuff.

I started a personal notes journal on my PC, but I only put goals and
important ideas that I have in it. I haven't made a good habit of writing
daily. I believe that a honest journal would consist of daily freewriting and
recalling/reflecting on the events of the day.

For my digital journals I wrote a couple of scripts for automatically entering
in the dates. Used to use Evernote, but I dropped it after I started realizing
it was a kind of shitty walled garden and it would be hard to get some of my
notes out of it down the road. Plus they began restricting the amount of
device for the free tier.

------
nickjj
If simple text has been working for you for 2 years, why make the switch?

I have over 100,000+ words sprawled across 15 years of plain text notes and it
works wonderfully.

------
cocktailpeanuts
I use notational velocity for logging. Every day I create an entry with
today's date. For example, today I am writing on "20170126".

I use it primarily as a todo-list.

Each morning I write down what I plan to do today.

I also try to plan each task in terms of time, so for example:

\---

9am - 10am: work on task A

10am - 11am: look into task B

...

\---

Then as the day progresses I mark down things as [DONE] when I finish them.

What's cool is at the end of the day you're left with a journal of:

1\. What you intended to do 2\. What you actually did 3\. What you didn't do

~~~
g3houdini
Have you tried to nvALT? Its an update to Notational Velocity.

~~~
cocktailpeanuts
yup in fact that's what i use

------
thesagan
Just went back to paper and pen this last December. I like the immediate
access to pen/paper and I use it to get "salient" thoughts out of my brain and
onto something safe. I always keep it nearby. (As long as I remember!)
Meanwhile, at home, I use a nice fountain pen that makes it a pleasure to
write and practice good/fast penmanship.

I've already filled up one notebook in a month's time, and it has served as a
very low-stress way to keep my stream of thinking clean and unburdened from
previous thoughts. I know that they're safe on paper, and I can move on from
them. When it's time to pull all my thoughts together (for example, I just
finished a lengthy proposal) all I have to do is refer to my notes, which were
put down when they occurred naturally, and not in a "forced" deadline
environment.

The paper/pen comes in most useful at night – at bedtime – when my mind throws
up two or three ideas that I'd like to keep. (But not get out of bed or stare
at a screen.) After I jot down my two or three intrusive thoughts, I sleep
more soundly.

------
Dacy
I am using DayOne to journal. To me the most important feature DayOne has and
Note does not have is the searching ability. In addition to regular search
which Notes also has, in DayOne you could filter by years, look for journals
from the same day from past years, filter by activities (DayOne can also read
your activity data like running or walking), and also you can tag your notes
and filter with tags.

Some other differentiating factors - you could password protect your journal
with a DayOne. DayOne makes it really easy to find and add photos (Activity
feed), and it shows thumbnails of the photos when you edit your journal, which
makes it easier to edit the text. In notes, photos are displayed in full size
all the time. One very useful feature of DayOne is that you could add a photo
and quickly set the location and date of the journal to the photo's.

I have been using Awesome Notes to journal for about 3 years. Only until
recently I started using DayOne. Awesome Notes is great, but DayOne is so much
better.

------
howeyc
I've been doing it for close to a year. I basically just have a bunch of text
files in a folder. A text file for each day I make an entry.

Usually when I think a thought of note, or I'm experiencing a particularly
strong emotional response, or just general dilemma running through my mind
I'll write down what it is I'm experiencing or thinking.

Some days are quite long with multiple entries, some times I go a few days
without writing a thing. I've thought about littering my entries with "tags"
for easier searching, but I haven't done it yet. I don't really review what
I've written very often. Plus the entries don't take long to review whenever
I'm in the mood.

I use it more as a therapeutic tool, a way to discuss my thoughts with myself.

As for an application, I use Writely pro. But any text editor for Android that
can open/save text files to a folder will work for what I do. Plain text
synchronized across all my devices is the main thing. Future proof, plus it's
my data.

------
lancer
I began journaling in my 20's by quickly recapping the day's itinerary in a
Sierra Club day calendar given to me on every birthday. (Sadly, those somehow
went missing during a move years ago. I'm hoping they're just buried in the
bottom of a box somewhere!)

Since 1999, I've been using DailyDiary [1] to journal and track specific
topics such as my personal day-to-day activities, weight, exercise, health
issues, kid's day-to-day, specific projects, etc. The key for me is to be
consistent, and the email nature of DailyDiary tries to reduce that friction
as much as possible.

Having so much (searchable) written history has proven immensely helpful on
occasion. And it's fun to reminisce when reminded of an event in the past. The
kids get a kick out of hearing stories of their past too.

[1] [https://www.dailydiary.com/](https://www.dailydiary.com/)

Disclosure: I'm the founder.

------
vitaminbandit
I've kept a digital journal for the last five years (I have a chronic illness,
so I look over my logs whenever I get sick to try and identify the trigger).

I tried a bunch of different programs, but I ultimately ended up writing a
python script that creates a new .txt file with the datetime as the
name("2017-01-20-22-02-50.txt"), launches vim, appends the day, date, and time
to the top of the file ("Friday, January 20, 2017, 22:02 PM"), and then I just
write my thoughts down inside vim.

I'm fairly disciplined about writing an entry everyday, but if I weren't, I'd
just have it run as a daily cron job.

Having each entry as its own file is nice since you can just grep a term and
find all the dates + times that the term was mentioned.

It's been incredibly useful - just this week I realized that my daily headache
started when I began taking a new supplement, so I cut it out and sure enough,
no more headaches.

------
aith
Surprised [https://standardnotes.org/](https://standardnotes.org/) hasn't been
mentioned. It popped up on HN a week or so ago and I've been using it ever
since. Very simple, elegant solution with a focus on longevity. It's exactly
what I was looking for.

------
Strom
Yes I keep a journal and have done so for over 5 years now. It's interesting
to be able to go back in time and see what exactly I was thinking. However the
most useful benefit is immediate/short-term introspection. I tend to first
just dump my stream of consciousness into text form, and if it's an
interesting topic I'll take another pass and read through it and start shaping
those thoughts with critical thinking. This leads me to more balanced opinions
and also helps me deal with personal issues.

I use plain text files where I just prefix every entry with a timestamp.
Whenever some major topic starts reoccurring I create a separate file for that
topic. For example I have separate files for various project ideas, a file
with a list of things I want to teach my children, a file with a list of
things to consider when choosing a residence country.

------
wjdp
Yes, I've recently started building a system to store journal entries among
other types. They're markdown files in a Git repo which can then be processed
(using Hugo) to make a browsable static site.

I'm storing four types of content:

\- J, journal entries, one file per day with a summary of what I've done that
day. Already proving useful, I forget what I did three days ago.

\- N, notes, working notes on a topic. I treat this like a half neat half
messy notebook. I write things in topic files while working through a problem.

\- T, thoughts, similar to notes but much neater. Often longer form and
drafted and rewritten a few times these are small 'articles' on my thoughts on
a particular topic. One or two may get converted into blog posts.

\- Q, quotes, if I find a quote in a book or online I find interesting it gets
a file in here.

The output is a linear weblog style currently.

I've only had this running for a few weeks and it's rather cumbersome at the
moment. What I hope to improve on:

\- Improve onboarding, hugo has a nice tool which sets up new documents and
opens the editor: `hugo new n/topic.md`. I want to build on top of this to
reduce friction when writing.

\- Away from PC. This system works very well when I'm in front of a computer.
When I'm not I have read-only view on mobile. I take notes on paper, the best
of these get transcribed into the system. I'd like a way to write on mobile
and have that automagically get added into the system. The backend would
probably be an AWS lambda function, frontend, perhaps a web app?

\- Frontend, I want search and better browsing, tagging &c. But this will come
later, when I have more content.

I'm trying to stay detached from any 'app' and maintain control of my data.
The 'solution' I'm building will hopefully serve me for a long long time.

~~~
ausjke
Doing same thing here, all notes are in markdown and stored in a git, then I
use mkdocs to generate them for html view. the pros is that mkdocs can
generate htmls without any special requirements(just run it on all your
markdown files recursively, unlike jekyll hugo etc requires you set something
first), however mkdocs has some issues on its theme, still looking for the
best and simplest way to present a markdown cluster.

for the moment I use drupal's book module to take notes, it's hard to
"extract" them and the support for markdown is not the best I expected.

I wish there is a CMS that can render flat markdown files ..

~~~
wjdp
What features from a CMS would you want? Web editor: Github edit button,
prose.io?

~~~
ausjke
basically a drupal book module like function with user authentication,
markdown first, flat-file(no database) support. that way I can import/export
markdown files easily and can render them into browsers for viewing on the web
with CMS-like protection, no such thing exist anywhere as far as I know.

~~~
wjdp
I'd still always recommend a text editor on your device. In my static setup I
use gulp, calling gulp deploy builds the entire site and rsync's it to a
server (password protected and all that)

Though if you really want a web ui have a look at Jekyll's new admin ui
(google summer of code project). Caddy (a golang web server) has a Hugo add-on
that has a web ui. Lastly github and prose.io is pretty good.

------
Derbasti
I have been keeping a work/science journal for a few years now. I keep it
simple: One text file per day in a single directory. Ever significant thing I
do gets a new headline in the file. The text file is written in org-mode using
org-journal, but any other formatting convention would work just as well. I
find that writing the journal entries focuses my thoughts, sort of like
explaining them to another person would. Also, it helps me focus on the
important things, and it helps me remember.

Last year though, I made a significant improvement that changed the way I keep
my journal: I added a bit of magic that moves all journal entries marked as
"todo" from the previous day to the current day when a new daily file is
created. This allows me to keep a persistent to-do list that I slowly work
through, where finished steps end up in the journal.

------
hkhall
Yes. I keep a five year journal [1] after it was given to me as a gift at a
wedding I attended two years ago.

I had tried journaling before but a full, blank page was too much in terms of
time commitment and stress I put on myself around it. This format gives 6
lines per day and feels easily doable.

Each page has 5 entries on it so you can read what you were doing on that day
in previous years. Its nice to have a direct comparison to remember what you
were doing last year and see how you have improved, fallen short, or stayed
the same as well as remembering what you were doing then. More than once I
have been reminded of a friend's wedding anniversary through this.

Totally recommend it, but keep it short and don't judge yourself if you miss a
day.

[1] [http://a.co/d3j0Pcj](http://a.co/d3j0Pcj)

------
Todd
I have kept one off and on. I like writing using pen and paper. Given that I
type much more quickly and I'm at a computer all day, a file-based journal is
more pragmatic.

I wrote a simple script 14 years ago to automate the organization for me.

[http://pastebin.com/pnWQemAf](http://pastebin.com/pnWQemAf)

I just alias a simple one letter command to "jour.py work" or "jour.py blog"
and running it will open a file with a date-based name in my editor of choice.
Re-running it on the same day gets me the same file.

This method has the advantage of a very organized, timeless format. The
disadvantage is that it's on my local machine. Of course, a cloud based file
store could be used, but there is no default encryption and there is no mobile
option.

------
EdwardCoffin
I've been keeping a simple text-file journal since 2010: one file per day,
simple file naming conventions and directory structure
(~/Journal/2017/2017-01-26.txt and such). I use it to track food intolerances
and health issues mostly, though also record the names of books as I finish
reading them, movies I see, and significant life events. I've got a handful of
scripts to help me do things like grep through ranges of dates, and search for
items with simple tags so I can, for instance, easily find when I last ate a
particular food. It is simple and works for me, so I have never invested the
time or effort to make something more structured, though I might write a few
more tools to help with the structure I do have,at some point.

------
walkingolof
Yes, I started a few years back and it has been great, its become one of my
most valuable possessions. Its the record of my life and the things I do.

I have one file per year, I write one entry per day, mostly what happened
during the day, in the "journal" part, and make notes in the "notes" section,
notes can be writeups, code snippets etc. Each new year, I condense the best
of the notes section into the next years new note section.

I do this in org-mode, using Spacemacs, its a bit of learning curve involved
with Emacs/Org-mode but Spacemacs sets it up for you very neatly.

I store the files on dropbox.

Since its my journal, that I want to make sure that my kids still can read
when the times come, this UTF8 text file format that Org-Mode is, is
absolutely essential.

------
_98fj
I'll answer these questions one by one:

> _Do you keep a personal journal?_

For the last two years I've written a journal entry almost every day. Some
days I didn't write, like during travels, but I added information about these
days afterwards. Sometimes those entries were pages long and contained
conversations or dreams, sometimes it was just: "1\. Dezember - 3. Dezember:
much work, travelled to Budapest"

I stopped writing about three weeks ago.

> _If yes, do you find it useful?_ > _When journaling, do you try to track any
> specific aspects of your life or just write about anything that is currently
> occupying your mind?_

My purpose of the journal was to keep track of my motivation and good mood, so
I put mostly positively worded events in there, like "* Went to training,
despite mismotivation of the last days". I also recorded things that I never /
seldom do.

It served that purpose well. I don't need it anymore, that's why I stopped,
but I'll probably pick it up again someday.

> _What tools would you recommend?_

Plaintext Files. Or MacOS Notes. It doesn't matter really. Finding the perfect
journal is procrastination to prevent having to write a journal.

> _Is there any specific methodology that you follow?_

Write an entry for every single day, no matter when, no matter how short it is
(but make it at least one grammatically correct sentence). If you forget, just
write the entry for yesterday. Mark the entry with date and time.

> _Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?_

After doing it for a while, you will develop a feeling about whether and how
it benefits you. Follow that feeling.

Apart from that: Keeping a journal will always enable you to reconstruct and
remember details of your life 10 years from now. One key sentence is often
enough to help you remember the day.

That is why I'm going to pick it up again.

------
charlieegan3
I keep a personal journal.

I have yet to find looking back over it useful. I helpful in organising my
thoughts when writing it down.

I used to use Day One but now I use a simple web app running that I built to
replace Day One and Evernote late last year.

I'd build your own journal setup. Plain text files would likely work too. Make
sure to back it up. It's a pain changing the system after you've written out
1000's of entries.

I tend to write about what's going on and what's coming up as well as what I'm
thinking / worrying about.

Advice would be to just write it for yourself - assume it'll only ever be read
by you. I find that helps me get things down without fussing.

------
SN76477
I do keep a journal. I do find it useful, it is some reflection and my to do
list. I looked online at bullet journal, and I purchased a nice one called
Self Journal. I just couldnt get with those, but they all have nice features.

so what I do is this. Date at the top, I write out what I am greatful for in
as many lines as I need, typically 2 or 3. I put down a big goal, and I put
out my tasks for the day and mark them off as i go.

It serves as a scratch pad, its not holy, I rip pages out, or whatever.

I use the moleskine volant because it is rugged, but not stiff, I can roll it
up and sort of stick it in my pocket if I have to. I try to take it
everywhere.

------
lambdasquirrel
Do you ever have ideas? Things that seemed interesting? That's pretty much
what goes into the notes section of my journal. It's all on my phone so it's
always with me.

I keep an unstructured, personal journal, and half of what's in there are
thoughts I have, going to bed or waking up in the morning. There are some good
pieces of writing that've come out of it and just yesterday, a former coworker
and friend thanked me for some observations I had about the company we once
worked at. Sometimes the things we reflect on can be a big deal.

------
BenderV
Since I follow the "Inbox 0" principle, I just set up an IFTTT recipe for
that. Combine with the search of Gmail make it really easy to look up after.

[https://ifttt.com/applets/14412595d-quick-ohlife-
replacement...](https://ifttt.com/applets/14412595d-quick-ohlife-replacement/)
(I have no idea why we now can't share recipe on IFTTT, that's sucks...but
it's basically, every day at 8pm, send me a mail with the title "How did your
day go? #ohlife")

------
romanows
I stopped keeping a personal daily journal when ohlife shut down. It was a
service that would email you every day and you would respond with your journal
entry. I don't know why it worked for me-- i could just email myself each
day-- but it did. I do find my old entries useful for remembering my state of
mind and the timing of events. Since this was data in the cloud managed by
people I didn't really know, I mostly kept positive notes of stuff that I
wouldn't mind being exposed.

------
neurocroc
Yes I do.

I have been writing in it for the past year and it has really improved my life
in many ways. I have written about it detail here :

[https://medium.com/@NikitaVoloboev/day-
evaluations-5706f31c9...](https://medium.com/@NikitaVoloboev/day-
evaluations-5706f31c9c5e#.m6dzr9oz8)

The feeling of knowing that not a single day has went unwritten about is
amazing. I know what I did on every single one of these days and it feels
really empowering to see yourself evolve with time.

------
0xCMP
I do not. I try to record photos of as much as I can instead so I can look
back on my life. I do however dump my thoughts in to to notes all over the
place (Apple Notes, iAWritter (icloud), Dropbox, Evernote, OrgMode).

I tried Day One, but I got mad that they switched away from dropbox. They
honestly could have solved the problems, but I can't fault them entirely for
taking the easier route here to make supporting it much easier.

I'm not sure what I would journal if I did keep one for real.

------
balladeer
Yes.

Very much. But my useful is mostly about personal stuff and once in a while
revisit. Looking at things in retrospect. Sometimes I get something to learn,
sometimes it's just fun or once in a while it makes me sad too.

I have been doing it on notebooks (paper journals; and not the fancy and
famous ultra costly ones). Really. It's very recently that I started to put
some entries on Android Journey app which are kinda too personal to leave in
my daily diary which I don't lock in a box. So, I will recommend a paper
notebook and pen. I am from India and I am always in the hunt for good and
affordable notebooks and fountain pens - we don't have many in the former
category. Anyone looking for something good here try Brahma Series (or Brahma
Forces) notebooks - they sell Moleskine like notebooks (honestly paper quality
is actually a lot better) minus Moleskine's marketing cost in its price.
(disclaimer: nothing against Moleskine)

Not really. Some days I just write about something that happened. Or something
I thought or just anything. Some days I skip. Somedays I just pen a poem or so
(or something that I kinda thing are poems). A short story. Or a sketch (yeah,
I make sure the notebook I get have good pages and works well with pencils,
ballpoint pen and fountain pens - the latter being my favourite), a
caricature, a schedule, sometimes card game score when I am travelling with my
friends and we had a game, travel itinerary. I have found some pages where
there's some math of splitting trip expenses among friends. Something from a
book I am reading, or a film I watched, or something about it. I
travel/backpack a lot and that's when my diary gets maximum attention. But
these things don't happen very frequently and it's mostly the typical diary
entries. So, it's my personal diary and I wrote it just because I like it. It
it helps me in my development in some way then it's entirely coincidental and
it wasn't the intention at all.

Yes, as explained above. It can just be anything.

Well, I don't think you could get something useful from my kind of journaling
(I believe you are looking for journaling that is done from the productivity
point of view and similar expectation; I maybe wrong though). Keep writing is
all I would say. I have been writing since I was in class 6 - pretty much 20
years now. Yeah, frequency has gone down a lot since school. No doubt about
it.

------
CiPHPerCoder
No, because it would be used against me in a court of law.

~~~
Strom
Don't fall victim to the chilling effect. There are ways to safely keep a
journal. If you're afraid of being actively targeted you could even use a
airgapped journaling laptop that never gets connected to anything or updated.

~~~
CiPHPerCoder
Why would I go through the trouble of writing something down in the first
place if I had to use an airgapped laptop?

I'd either just remember it or decide it's not worth remembering.

~~~
Strom
There's plenty of anecdotes in this thread on why it's a good idea to keep a
journal. It's also not just about remembering, but about better understanding
what you're thinking in the first place.

Beyond that, for me personally it's about liberty. If I don't want to do
something, sure I won't do it. But if I do want to do something then I
wouldn't let fear get the best of me. Thus not keeping a journal because its
contents might be used in a court of law is just a sad state of affairs.
Something which I would actively work against, and indeed it's what motivated
me to comment here in the first place. It's not even that I think keeping a
journal is the best thing ever, but not doing it due to chilling effects is
quite horrible.

~~~
CiPHPerCoder
> Thus not keeping a journal because its contents might be used in a court of
> law is just a sad state of affairs.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-7o9xYp7eE)

If you record in your journal anything that can be perceived to place you near
a crime, whether or not you're guilty or the association is a stretch of the
imagination, then your words can be used against you without your right to
invoke the 5th amendment. If the journal was seized in the execution of a
search warrant, you lose the 4th amendment protections too.

The winning move is to not play.

~~~
Strom
That's a great talk which I've seen multiple times. However I still keep a
journal with good security. Sure there's a chance that I'm distracted by
something while the journal is open and the police bust in right at that
moment. That's a risk I'm willing to take, similarly as I'm willing to take
the risk of being run over every time I cross the street to go buy some
groceries.

------
ggregoire
I don't keep a personal journal but I take a lot of notes, mostly for
"retrospective analysis, tracking my goals" and my ideas.

I use Evernote.

~~~
panglott
Evernote is my commonplace book. I started with TiddlyWiki and Wiki on a Stick
before Evernote, and I might use a different app or methodology if I was
starting now. The ability to link notes together was very useful in the Wiki,
and part of the reason I moved to Evernote, but I use it much less these days.

I only do regular tracking of two data points: books I've read (a simple list
in Evernote) by year, and board games I've played against a human opponent (on
BoardGameGeek).

Whenever I have an idea or thought I want to remember and expand on, I post it
as a note to Evernote. Then as my interest in it continues, I revisit, expand,
or revise each post. Some of these have grown to thousands of words or whole
notebooks unto themselves.

------
gravypod
I think you should watch Cody's Lab's Q&A where he takes out his journal and
shows off what's inside of it. It'd like to do that some time when I finally
have extra money and time to spend on cool side projects. He just keeps logs
of experiments. Title + Picture + explination of idea. I think it's a good
formula and I've love to try it.

------
luxpsycho
I don't keep a journal. I beliebe I would find it tremendously useful. N/A I
believe—though I haven't read it yet—that GTD (by David Allen) has some
elements about personal retrospectives in it: have a look at what you did,
what you wanted to do, compare and improve.

Again, I don't do this (though I want to) but I'll follow this discussion with
interest!

------
thepiwo
I started a personal project for logging my life, first steps were location
tracking but features like connecting my lastfm account, pictures taken and
inserting notes will come.

The idea is having a mobile application for tracking to a self-hosted api and
a web-client for having a feed (like facebook about myself).

This will be released open source once it's somewhat presentable.

------
otalp
Org-mode in spacemacs is my choice, though that is more of a TODO list keeper
than writing down personal thoughts. But it is plain text and has timestamps.
It is also very flexible and powerful.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM&t=1271s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM&t=1271s)

------
elijahmurray
\- I keep an irregular journal.

\- It is useful to process my thoughts, capture high and low moments in life,
braindump when feeling overwhelmed.

\- I use VIM + markdown, with a new file per entry. I find it very effective.
I journal whenever I feel like I need to or should.

\- I don't track aspects, I just write about whatever I feel like writing
about.

Like most things in life, the answer is just do it!

------
jespr
I really wanted to get in to journaling. Because of that I created
[https://mydailylife.co](https://mydailylife.co) \- which sends me an email
everyday to remind me about writing my entry. So far I've really really
enjoyed it!

------
xj9
evernote has been my go-to for journaling and note taking for the last five
years or so, but i have been keeping notebooks for ages. they are where i keep
my thoughts. random ideas, stream of consciousness, stories, poems, quotes,
outlines, sketches. i will often have a page where i keep track of the goals
and/or metrics that i care about measuring/tracking.

the switch from analogue to digital has been interesting. my content is now
organized by topic, rather than being a chaotic mess of thoughts and feelings;
tags make things searchable, but i don't sketch as much as i used to, which i
miss. i'm slowly getting used to having a stylus rather than a pen, but i
don't know how long it will take for it to feel natural.

------
ffef
No. If there is something I need to keep track of or be reminded I use notes +
reminder app on iOS.

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alexitosrv
Yes, totally. I only write in text files for portability and because I find
more liberating to just write with no care for special formatting and being
sure that I can read what I write on almost everywhere.

------
tranv94
My friend's mom has a journal entry for everyday of her life. I'm jealous she
has all those memories stored like that. It's a vast collection of notebooks

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MollyR
Yes. I keep a daily journal for all my programming related work with
sources,ideas,debugging notes.

Reviewing them really helped me evaluate and improve my software architecture
patterns.

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phreeza
I have a dedicated gmail address from which I receive a daily prompt email,
scheduled with a cronjob. I usually reply with 2-3 lines about my day.

~~~
kvss1992
Can you share how you do the automation? Really interested in it. Thank you

~~~
phreeza
It is literally just a cron entry that runs

> mutt -s "Today is `date "+%A, %B %d"` - How did your day go?"
> myemail@gmail.com < /home/phreeza/dailymessage.txt

where dailymessage.txt is just some prompt.

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scriptstar
what a coincidence? I got my 5-minute journal from Amazon yesterday evening
and started using it straight. I did yesterday evening and today morning. I am
not sure how it works but I was tracking my sleep before and will do after. I
bookmarked this thread and will come back and let you know my thoughts.

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bassman9000
No, but I'm starting to think I should.

Time distorts self-awareness, and having a written record would help.

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ivcha
Yes; no specific methodology; tools on linux: Rednote or Lifeograph

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nunez
Yes but I update it infrequently. It's in OneNote.

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webgurl83
I track ideas and random reflections using penzu.com

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nbm
I've been keeping a bullet journal-style journal for the past month and a bit,
and I've found it pretty useful. I don't write any "dear diary" style entries,
but I do write down thoughts I have about game ideas, camera gear research
that I might want to use/rent/buy, vacation ideas, and so forth, in the bullet
journal style.

Here's an example empty page for a week -
[https://www.instagram.com/p/BPUIKR1Am3o/](https://www.instagram.com/p/BPUIKR1Am3o/)

I track some things daily:

* quality things

\-- mood

\-- energy levels

\-- activity level

\-- productivity

* tick-box things

\-- did I wake up before 8am?

\-- did I get to work before 10am?

\-- did I hit my step goal?

\-- did I do any additional exercise like a really long or strenuous walk?

\-- did I do some work on a personal project? (taking photos, working on my
game, looking at houses, whatever...)

\-- did I record my weight and blood pressure?

\-- did I follow my morning/evening routine? (pack/empty dishwasher, did I
remember to take my pills, ...)

On a weekly basis, I tally up a few things from my activity trackers - how
many days did I hit my sleep goal of 8 hours, what was my average weight/blood
pressure, how many total steps did I do, and so forth. I also convert the
daily quality things into the number of "good" days and "bad" days in that
week on that scale - so maybe one very good mood day and two bad mood days
(and the rest acceptable).

I then write down any non-technical-work tasks (we have a task tracker already
at work for technical things, after all) I want to get done (either in the
future, or on a particular day), or events that I need to remember, generally
in the bullet journal style. These are things like:

* Collect building badge

* Write talk submission for conference

* Develop the iPhone photos from the weekend

* Remember that the new X book is out (today, on day X) and I should read it next

* On the 30th of January, remember to send out the invite to the event

Then every Sunday I make a new weekly page, migrate all the unfinished entries
forward into the next week, and start again. I'll cross out things I realise
that I don't care about any more, and move things that are further in the
future than the upcoming week into the "future log". Pick two to three main
things to keep in mind, schedule some work onto particular days, if
appropriate, and the rest into a general weekly tasks list.

I also move things like vacation or camera gear or game idea one-liners onto a
dedicated page - either a full page for the idea, or a page that has a list of
those one-liners.

------
themodelplumber
> Do you keep a personal journal?

Yes, I find it very useful.

> What tools would you recommend? Is there any specific methodology that you
> follow?

Sure, here is my current framework:

[https://pastebin.com/djyFiZkz](https://pastebin.com/djyFiZkz)

I keep all text files in a journal folder with subfolders for each year. At
the end of each week I review the last week's journal entries for information
which is applicable to future projects or needs, and move that information
into systems of frameworks, which are also described in text files in a
different location.

> When journaling, do you try to track any specific aspects of your life or
> just write about anything that is currently occupying your mind?

Both.

I track my mood, as you can see by the DaySCOR item (this rating system is a
work in progress and has an alternate look when I use it on paper; it's more
of a multidimensional graph on paper).

I've learned that most days are around a 3/5 _no matter how much I accomplish_
unless I make a conscious effort to enjoy the day and just be a happy person.
That has been a lesson I didn't expect. I thought that getting more done would
make me a happier person, but upon reviewing my numbers, that hasn't been the
case at all. Productivity is something of a psychological fake-out, but I
haven't gone too deep into why just yet. Psychologically, it seems that a
person is much more than just their accomplishments. Also at HN many of us
tend to project a very strong productive aspect, which could compound this
issue. (That would indicate that we repress an inner lazy person, for
one...lack of time off, time out, time away, inability to give the finger to
work and just waste a day...the boundary there is not an easy one to navigate
for productive people)

I also open a new file for each client project and keep those separate. It's
helpful to be able to open my last client project file when working on a new
file. I also try not to let information build up in email threads and
immediately move project information out of emails and into text files. This
is in part because GMail search is so slow and long threads are a pain to
search.

> Any advice on how to get the most out of personal journaling?

Build your own journaling framework to improve your journaling system. Watch
for leverage points that work for you, write them down, and change/refine your
framework. This will keep the practice enjoyable and effective for you.

Through two years of journaling I went from obese to healthy weight and only
did it by addressing the subject of my weight directly. If you feel like you
cannot address tough subjects directly, you may need to change your journaling
technology or system or it may fail in its role as a problem-solver. In order
to address difficult subject in my paper journals, I leared the simple Ford
Shorthand technique at fordshorthand.com and am worry-free when it comes to
others possibly prying through my journals. I keep one on the mantle in my
home, in fact. Being able to address difficult topics at a time of your liking
is crucial.

~~~
charris0
Thanks for posting your personal framework! I like it, quite elaborate for a
single day's entry. Something I took away from your comment was the meta
reflection on how you journal and what is most effective/how you could change
it to be so.

Something that's really been helping me score high each day lately ( I only do
a qualitative scoring entry each day and a quantitative score each week of the
accumulated 'feeling' ) is writing down my 'most important tasks' but phrasing
it to appeal to my reflective self, along the lines of 'What, if done, would
make today a good day? / I'll be pleased with the day if...?' Writing those
down first thing gives a great reference point to measure back against.

> I've learned that most days are around a 3/5 _no matter how much I
> accomplish...

Definitely agree that general mood and fulfillment is more than just
productive accomplishment and I try and factor that in, that said, a day
without learning something new / practicing something / achieving something
and I'll start to feel anxious that I'm not doing enough. Though with a good
enough perspective and will and mental tools you could retrospectively mold
the outcome of most days to fit those points.

