Over the years I’ve tried to journal my thoughts and events in my life, and whilst it may be helpful, it can be hard to make it stick. Certainly I’ve not found it easy to routinely journal or even write a diary. But it’s something I think about and I’d like to share. Here are the techniques I’ve found most helpful and easy.

Simple events log

Off and on I’ve written a bullet point or several about the activities I’ve done that day in a text document. I usually keep using the same document for a few months, and just add each day to the end, followed by the bullet points of activities or highlights.

Example

Monday 21 October 2024

• Did such and such
• Hung out with so and so.

Originally I would fill this in when I return home, but with smart phones and cloud word processing documents, I now just write in it on the train or bus home. 

Weekly retrospectives

For a couple of years, I was trying weekly retros in a table format, with each week as the row, and columns for:

• Highlight (Good/fun things that happened)
• Low point (stressful or negative things that occurred)
• Growth (Experiences that changed me for the better)

I found this most useful, revising it every few weeks to sort of “count my blessings” or see how far I’ve come as a person. Or… find patterns in stressors to eliminate. 

Monthly life check-ins

This year I’ve started a new technique which I think is proving quite helpful. Each month (or fortnight if a lot of changes) I’d write bullet points about likes and dislikes about key areas of my life:

• Work
• Social Life
• Home Life
• Strengths and Weaknesses (things I can try to improve.)

I’ve found that if I notice the same sorts of dislikes month to month, then maybe it’s time to change it or further brainstorm what I do and don’t like about that aspect of my life. And it also serves as a gratitude journal of sorts.

Tech

Using cloud documents like Google Docs means that I can update it on the go, and review it at home on the desktop computer if needed. 

Of course using cloud documents means you have to trust them with your diary, or just don’t put anything sensitive in it. 

For the simple events log I now use Google Docs, because it syncs well and is easy on any device. I used Google Docs for the Weekly Retros, mostly because tables in OneNote weren’t very intuitive. 

But for the monthly check-ins I’ve  been using OneNote as it is divided into pages and sections. So you could have a Section for a year and a Page for a month, or some other grouping. And I could set up page templates (on the desktop version only) so that each new month entry has the same headings.