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How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

michael.team

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Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#31

Post by prox »

wenc wrote: post #6

Journaling is actually a great way of promoting mental and emotional health. I don't journal daily because I don't have enough to say every day, but I do something similar called "writing therapy", especially when I'm feeling emotionally stuck. I find bad emotions to only be bothersome because they are inside and unprocessed. Externalizing emotions onto a physical page (not digital!) helps me process them. The physic…

I can really recommend the book “If you want to write” by B. Ueland.

It’s a lovely ode to writing and ofcourse goes into the subject of the title.

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#32

Post by dSebastien »

Journaling is key to my productivity and creativity. I think that many people associate the activity only with writing about their feelings and personal stories. It's that, but also so much more. My journal is central to my days. It's where I keep track of what I've done, what I've discovered, the challenges I've faced, my ideas for the future, etc.

I've blogged about this here: - https://dsebastien.net/blog/2021-10-07-periodic-journaling-p... - https://dsebastien.net/blog/2021-10-07-periodic-journaling-p...

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#34

Post by rpastuszak »

Seems like a good place to mention the writing web-app I made a few years back: https://write.sonnet.io

I've been using it almost daily for 2.5 years, and I've been quite happy with it so far.

I'm terrible at sticking to habits, but since the tool is so limited and de facto aimed at inducing the flow state, eventually it gets really hard not to end up with 700-800 words after just a few minutes.

Sometimes this ends up being word soup full of typos, but that's ok since I use it mostly as a "mental shower": I look at the past day and try to understand my reactions better, gain perspective, or just vent. For me, it's about staying focused and writing, instead of over-analysing.

The fun part is that now I can go to almost any date in the past couple of years, and look at the mental/emotional snapshot from that time.

Some context: https://sonnet.io/posts/ulysses/

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#35

Post by rpastuszak »

wenc wrote: post #6

Journaling is actually a great way of promoting mental and emotional health. I don't journal daily because I don't have enough to say every day, but I do something similar called "writing therapy", especially when I'm feeling emotionally stuck. I find bad emotions to only be bothersome because they are inside and unprocessed. Externalizing emotions onto a physical page (not digital!) helps me process them. The physic…

> Journaling is actually a great way of promoting mental and emotional health.

Can't agree more. I built myself a simple writing app[1] a couple of years back, purely because I wanted to have a place to slow down, somewhere I could just pour my emotions/thoughts into, without self-editing. I posted a bit more about in the root thread. If you give the app a shot, let me know. I think you might like it.

> "So what do therapy, journaling, and meditation all have in common? [...]

I'd add any unconstrained (and ideally "childish") form of art to the list. I write in the morning then doodle just before going to bed [2]. I generally struggle with sticking to new habits but relying on this form of mental hygiene, plus therapy made a huge improvement in my quality of life.

[1] https://write.sonnet.io and https://sonnet.io/posts/ulysses/ [2] https://potato.horse

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#36

Post by rpastuszak »

rg111 wrote: post #21

Journaling is definitely one of the things where you have to figure your own way out. I tried a lot of things. Markdown based apps (Obsidian), Diary apps (Diarium), and so on. What worked finally was pen and paper. Not any pen. Bought a bunch of good fountain pens (Lamy, Pilot, Parker), and bought a nice refillable leatherbound journal. And I journal every night before my meditation session before going to bed. I do…

>Pen and paper is my ideal workflow, and I reached here after months of trial-and-error.

I finally stopped yak-shaving my writing workflow when I built a web app with a single text field and no editing capabilities, just pushing letters. It feels "dummer" than a piece of paper, but works for me. 2.5 years of almost daily writing (700 words on avg) so far. I practice calligraphy, but my regular hand writing is terrible. I used to hoard piles of paper with doodles and notes, and I'd always felt bad about throwing them out. I do like that the list of notes keeps getting longer every day although, but rarely re-read them. Otherwise I'd just use a pen.

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#37

Post by somat »

DantesKite wrote: post #14

I always compare journaling to trying to solve a math problem with paper and pen. Of course you can do math problems in your head, but it's so much easier when you can express thoughts as symbols. But the problems you're trying to solve aren't mathematical. They're emotional and perhaps even spiritual ones; petty ones and unexamined ones. It's a great tool more people should use, not out of obligation, but because on…

To me it is the act of turning abstract thought into concrete thought.

For this reason there is nothing wrong with talking to your self. you are taking thoughts which are always a bit fuzzy and turning them into solid actionable items. Writing things down is even better at this. But the best is teaching someone else.

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#38

Post by hooande »

wenc wrote: post #6

Journaling is actually a great way of promoting mental and emotional health. I don't journal daily because I don't have enough to say every day, but I do something similar called "writing therapy", especially when I'm feeling emotionally stuck. I find bad emotions to only be bothersome because they are inside and unprocessed. Externalizing emotions onto a physical page (not digital!) helps me process them. The physic…

> I don't journal daily because I don't have enough to say every day

Just recount what happened I the last 24 hours. Had to be something even if you just worked and watched netflix. ie, what specifically did you do at work, how could you have done it better, etc

I journal off and on, not currently doing it. But I found it to be a great tool for introspection and improvement. I would think in depth about technical problems, social interactions, various distractions and impediments to productivity. It's a great tool if you have the time. but you have to make yourself do it, every day

Re: How I finally get daily journaling done with a workflow on my iPhone

#40

Post by j1elo »

rpastuszak wrote: post #34

Seems like a good place to mention the writing web-app I made a few years back: https://write.sonnet.io I've been using it almost daily for 2.5 years, and I've been quite happy with it so far. I'm terrible at sticking to habits, but since the tool is so limited and de facto aimed at inducing the flow state, eventually it gets really hard not to end up with 700-800 words after just a few minutes. Sometimes this ends u…

The UI and UX of this is superb. Congrats for the nice taste!

I enjoy reading my writings from years ago... Are the notes stored somewhere and are they available for re-reading later? Is it possible to download or sync with external storage? I'm on mobile so the site encouraged me to come back later on desktop.

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