Ask HN: How Do You Journal? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#21

Post by general1465 » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 4:17 PM UTC

I am paying for Joplin (to sync with phone) where I am writing my personal notes - shopping list, what packages I expect to receive in following day, recipes for food, ideas for software, hardware or business opportunities... And working notes - How to configure this or that on Linux so if I will be forced to do it again, I don't need to struggle that much. Working processes which I can't script. How to setup obscure things in GUI tools I am using....

I used to do day-to-day journaling for cca 4 years (First started on OneNote then moved to Joplin). It helped me to ventilate frustration, to sit down and write down who did what, who pissed me off and what I would like to doing next.

However when I have been reading some old logs, I have found out that there is A LOT of stuff which could be easily used against me to blackmail me. So I have stopped doing day-to-day and deleted all this day-to-day stuff and keeping only notes as above.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#22

Post by Brajeshwar » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 4:22 PM UTC

I used to write on a plain-text with YYYY.txt (or .md), with the day/dates as headings. I’ve moved to pen-paper. I do not have strict daily journal or anything of that sort. But I do found myself writing quite a lot.

The most fulfilling one is a dedicated A5 Physical Notebook that I started in 2019, with all writing addressed to my daughters. It is Open and readable by the family, and I have found myself reading my older writing pretty often.

https://brajeshwar.com/2025/notes/

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#23

Post by jasonthorsness » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 4:38 PM UTC

I'm so much faster at typing than writing with pen or using a mobile keyboard - I have a hard time journaling because I get annoyed at the speed; but at the same time it seems weird sitting in front of a full computer setup to do it. Suffice to say, I have not been successful at maintaining a journal despite some false starts. Has anyone found a "sit in a chair and journal" input method that is fast?

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#24

Post by amundskm » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 4:54 PM UTC

jasonthorsness wrote: post #23

I'm so much faster at typing than writing with pen or using a mobile keyboard - I have a hard time journaling because I get annoyed at the speed; but at the same time it seems weird sitting in front of a full computer setup to do it. Suffice to say, I have not been successful at maintaining a journal despite some false starts. Has anyone found a "sit in a chair and journal" input method that is fast?

I use journaling to slow down so paper and pen being slowing is a feature not a bug. I have come up with a formula that takes about 15 minutes and I get what I want out of the journaling process.

I use journaling to reflect on my day more than a record of what happened. I do it right before bed and I follow the same format. I write a paragraph to a half page about my day. Specifically, how it made me feel. Then I write down what I ate and what kind of exercise I got that day because those are the two most important things I am working on right now. Then I finish with writing 3 things that I am grateful for that day.

I have found I sleep better and feel less stressed the next day because I took some time in the hectic day to slow down and examine the thoughts and feelings I had. My job and responsibilities require me to be a very rational person, but I also have a non-rational emotional side that needs nurturing as well. Having a journal focused on my feelings has helped me be a more balanced person.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#25

Post by jotjotzzz » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 4:57 PM UTC

oulipo2 wrote: post #4

DayOne is good :)

I was about to give this recommendation. I do like DayOne as a journaling platform. I was on the legacy non-subscription model, but unfortunately, they discontinued support for that version. Please note that this is another monthly/annual subscription service. But it is pretty decent.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#26

Post by abhiyerra » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 5:07 PM UTC

Apple Notes. Good enough and you can write wherever you want if you are part of the Apple ecosystem. Tried the other paths of org-mode, DayOne, plain text, etc. Problem is journaling can happen anywhere and those tools are not always available.

Re: Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

#27

Post by goobatrooba » Wed, Oct 01, 2025, 5:10 PM UTC

I vacillate between Logseq, Obsidian and paper. Nothing really pleases me fully, though I'm just a boring office worker keeping track of thoughts, meeting notes and todos. Basically I want it to be easy to carry around and searchable (which excluded paper) but also not bound to a single platform (kind of excludes obsidian), and snappy/fast (which is my grief with Logseq).

Basically nothing works 100% but right now Logseq is the go to tool as the daily journal and tagging takes away the barrier to I just starting to write. I have an automation that opens the app whenever I unlock my phone, to as much as possible avoid distractions. The next best alternative is probably paper.