Ask HN: What's your journaling setup?
For those of you that consistently journal, what's your set up? Do you use paper? Do you use an app? Do you answer specific questions?
Thanks.
Thanks.
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, and I've been successfully doing it at least 1-2 times a week for more than a year.
When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment.
After trying Evernote, wikis, org-mode, and essentially everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system for notes. Plain timestamped markdown files linked together. Edited with vim and a few bash scripts, rendered with a custom deployment of Gollum. All in a git repo. It's... wonderful. Surprisingly easy. Fast. If there's a feature I wish it had, I can write a quick bash script to implement it. If Gollum stops being maintained, I can use whatever the next best markdown renderer is. Markdown isn't going away anytime soon.
It's liberating to be in control. I find myself more eager to write things down. I'm surprised more people don't do the same.
Here's what my system looks like on mobile https://imgur.com/a/nGplj. I usually SSH into the tmux session from a computer.
When it comes to the act of journaling itself, I’ve found that sometimes I feel like typing, sometimes I feel like speaking, and sometimes I feel like writing on paper. The most important thing is that the barrier to Just Writing is as low as possible.
With this setup, I just need to run `new_journal` and I’m dropped into a new Markdown file where I can just write. If I feel like speaking or writing on paper, I have workflows (https://workflow.is) on my phone for creating journal entries from voice memos or photos with one tap.
For the journal, I create a new text file every month and use Markdown to type up what is happening. Every day, I insert the date and list what I hope to accomplish for the day. I will occasionally add what I have completed for the day, notes on random stuff, etc.
It's quick, searchable, and accessible from anywhere (backed up to both OneDrive and Dropbox and editable from home/work/phone, etc.).
I used Ulysses app for years for journaling and note taking etc, and I loved it, I but don't like the fact they've switched a subscription model so I now use Emacs in combo with GitHub.
Something that I tried years back and it worked quite nicely was sending myself emails - it sounds sad but you get auto-archiving dates and all the benefits of the email app/web app (search, labels etc.). Tempted to go back to doing that frankly, but got into the habit of using Emacs now.
I have one digital journal that I use to record my accomplishments and feedback at work. This is just a Dropbox Paper doc.
I have one digital scratchpad that I use while I work to write down Question-Approach-Answer as I’m working through things. This helps keep me focused and helps me break down problems.
It also asks you random questions about anything really, like whats you childhood memory of X and Y.
It also has a calendar view which is nice.
And a notebook