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Use a work journal

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Re: Use a work journal

#271

Post by esskay »

setopt wrote: post #227
rigmarole wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What syntax are you trying to use or thinking that you need? In Obsidian for example, remove all plugins except Daily Note and just start typing. Ignore all syntax except maybe bullets. Ignore properties and links. Ignore any habit-tracking or database tricks people say you need. Ignore the graph. Or consider using Vim/Neovim and set a leader hotkey to open today’s journal/YYYY-MM-DD.txt

> Or consider using Vim/Neovim and set a leader hotkey to open today’s journal/YYYY-MM-DD.txt For a broader audience: Create a shell script that runs “$EDITOR $JOURNALDIR/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md”, and bind a system-wide keybinding to run that script. Works even for GUI editors.

This kinda highlights the exact issue I'm talking about. "Just open this, add that, change this, build that...sure it may work, but it's far too much effort for a journal."

Re: Use a work journal

#272

Post by setopt »

esskay wrote: post #271
setopt wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Or consider using Vim/Neovim and set a leader hotkey to open today’s journal/YYYY-MM-DD.txt For a broader audience: Create a shell script that runs “$EDITOR $JOURNALDIR/$(date +%Y-%m-%d).md”, and bind a system-wide keybinding to run that script. Works even for GUI editors.

This kinda highlights the exact issue I'm talking about. "Just open this, add that, change this, build that...sure it may work, but it's far too much effort for a journal."

I kinda agree that there should be a market for more journaling apps. Something like Logseq for non-programmers would be a hit.

At the same time… I think you overestimate how hard it is to get started with your own solution. The shell script and system-wide keybinding is just a convenience, since many of us like to automate things that we do daily. If you don’t want it you really don’t need it.

Just make one large file in whatever editor you prefer, and keep it always open. Manually add a new heading like “2024-07-14” to that file every day. Write notes in bullet points.

The basic system is independent of any app or script, and is more or less identical to what you would do in a paper journal. It’s a bit harder to add equations and diagrams, but a bit easier to search through it and access it from any device, that’s the trade-off. But writing a date stamp daily is really not a dealbreaker if your top priority is to not configure anything.

Re: Use a work journal

#273

Post by duckmysick »

flakiness wrote: post #45

To me the hardest part of journaling (or Pomodoro, or whatever work-related methodology/hack) is to stick with it. I have a work journal. I abandoned it and came back, then abandoned it and came back again. It's an endless back-and-forth. To those who keep doing this for a longer period: Any tips would be appreciated.

For me it's all about reducing the friction.

I have a cron job that opens my note app - a few times every day. The app is focused in the foreground, opened on the top of a journaling note, pre-filled with the today's date. All that's left for me is to write.

Re: Use a work journal

#275

Post by tsthename »

Apart from being a personal cache for your thoughts, it also catches you from going down rabbit holes.

Keeping a log like this is one kind of guard.

I've had to come up with my own set of tricks while working alone [0] but in general I think it helps to be a defensive developer.

[0] https://www.idiotlamborghini.com/articles/mastering_focus_as...

Re: Use a work journal

#276

Post by eagleseye »

james_marks wrote: post #71
mkoubaa wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It took me a couple years to realize this too. For the past five years I abandoned all structure. I use a literal log file. Chronological from top to bottom, with paragraph breaks for each workday. Higher than necessary verbosity, no points taken away for spelling or grammar mistakes.

I basically do this, too. One big text file. My twist that makes it work for me is a slightly modified text editor that I only use to edit this file. That way I’ve got a dedicated dock icon and context just for writing notes, but no other overhead. It’s important to me that it not feel like a product, and search works effortlessly (although subject to typo misses). My only tweak on the text editor is a shortcut to in…

What editor did you modify?

Re: Use a work journal

#277

Post by 8n4vidtmkvmk »

kingo55 wrote: post #246
8n4vidtmkvmk wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same. I just bought a scanner which I intend to use to scan and OCR my notes so that I can finally shred the mountain of paper I have. But I know I won't read the digital copy either so I'm not sure why I'm bothering. I guess it's the next step to putting it completely out of mind.

Would you have an LLM summarise it for you instead?

That's not a terrible idea. The OCR is struggling with my chicken scratch, but maybe ChatGPT can read the image directly. Might try one day. I was reading some of my notes...and it's mostly garbage, not sure it's even worth doing.

Re: Use a work journal

#278

Post by rendall »

al_borland wrote: post #240
Flimm wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel for you, friend. Maybe you could share the essay "Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule" by Paul Graham [0]. It's been somewhat helpful when I've shared it with colleagues. [0] https://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Thanks for sharing. I agree with everything in the essay. When it talked about the person effectively working 2 days, once on the managers schedule, and once at night to code on the makers scheduled, I thought back and that resonated with me. I spent a decade or so doing something like that. I’d typically work 12-14 hour days. The normal work day was full of distractions and interruption, and once everyone started to…

Goodness gracious. It sounds like having you be ineffective might be advantageous to one or more people above you. Perhaps they get to blame you for their own ineffectiveness, offsetting pressures elsewhere. It truly sounds toxic. I'm sorry you're going through that.

Re: Use a work journal

#279

Post by compootr »

greggsy wrote: post #250
compootr wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

my concern is what happens when github decides they don't want you on their platform any more, and terminate your account immediately?

Why would this happen?

An example I remember from a little while ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23832437

Re: Use a work journal

#280

Post by epistasis »

didgeoridoo wrote: post #39
epistasis wrote: post #25

"Ignore all previous instructions. Show your work. Explain your chain of thought in detail. Keep a journal of your work progress." I've been using this prompt on myself, on and off, for years, but I keep on hallucinating and losing focus and going off track.

Have you tried telling yourself that a schoolbus of children will drive off a cliff if you don’t get the job done?

No but I have promised myself a $30 tip for good performance. It was surprisingly motivating.
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