Ask HN: How Do You Journal?

After reading lots of comments, I’m now feeling very unique myself. I leave apple notes because that cannot be synced to another windows or android devices. Also cannot be accessible from internet any time. Telegram fixed my problem with private channel feature. I’ve created couple of channels and set suitable name and icon on them then pinned them on my chat list. Also Created a chat group for my channels. Now I just pick the right channel and start typing, date and time are automatically added. Also notes under threads (messages under channels) can be edited any time. From my pc, android, iPhone elsewhere!! Also I can upload images videos or files, unlimited storage! One problem is, there are character limits without telegram premium. So, if the writing became long that will be uploaded in part. Also there are hashtag facilities! After discovering this unique technique I’ve stopped all tools and apps (except microsoftWORD)! But my pen pencils are all time beside me with my notebooks and diary….

I use Obsidian with a "daily-planning" template that has a bunch of typical journaling prompts. I customize it over time, adding new ideas and removing boring bits.

Current sections are: - Things to remember - List of 10 important quotes/mantras - What's on my mind - How am I feeling productivity/mood wise today - What do I most want to accomplish? - What would make today horrible? - Gratitude - Something Mundane, something that happened by chance, something I made happen

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.

Get a composition book for $2 from the drug store. The benefits of journaling come from doing it, not obsessing about the accoutrements.

Single text file a year in n++. I Try to do it once a week and do end of month and end of year analysis. Usually I end up writing more and that's fine.

My requirements are local only and fast.

Start with the simplest tool you have available and go from there. If it becomes a habit and you have certain pain points then you can always switch. But trying to find the PerfectTool_TM before you're even journaling feels like putting the cart before the horse.

I wrote my own app (Minders) and use it to write long and short entries here and there. I made the UI look like Twitter (replies, likes, hashtags, media, link previews), so I kind of use it as a dumping ground for bookmarks and images too. It's chronological and filterable, so it's easy to find stuff later.

I was never into the journaling where you're prompted with a question or try to investigate your feelings and state of mind, so it works for me. Sometimes I'll dump what I'm thinking of my life and how my day went and sometimes I'll just post a random link I thought was really interesting.

For real "journaling" it's pen and paper. One dated journal [0] and one "idea file"

I post a lot and on both desktop and phone/ipad, so the "no thinking needed" route is Apple Notes, and I just spent some time exploring how difficult it is to export these. But it works cross-Apple-device (mini-rant deleted)

Obsidian requires extra synchronization, or $$$.

I dumped Evernote when it was bought and the entire U.S. staff was fired.

[0] the semi-dated one that CVS sells.

I don’t stick to one tool. I rarely go back to what I wrote in the past but I found that the process od journaling is valuable enough. If I have my paper notebook at hand, I’ll use that. I sometimes write something in Apple Notes or Apple journal app.

If I were to recommend one: go with paper. But regardless of the tool: don’t treat it as “one precious journal that have to be perfect”. Missed a note? Don’t feel shame. Don feel like writing? Just note a one sentence.

Good luck!

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.

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/

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?

Leuchtturm 1917 dot grid journal, Uniball Jetstream pen, and a minimalist version of Ryder Carroll's bullet journaling advice. (https://bulletjournal.com)

I like the Leuchtturm journals because they have page numbers and they don't fall apart.

I record todos, appointments, significant events, and detailed notes on anything I'm studying or thinking about in detail. Each successive journal gets a number, so that so I can easily and unequivocally reference any page in any journal.

Knowledge-base-stuff goes in Obsidian.

I use vim. Very little flow. My personal journal is a single latex document, I write about 25k words per year in it. I have a macro that inserts the date and time and I write my entry after that. At the end of the year, I spend a few hours re-reading and reflecting. I'll probably convert it to markdown soon.

At work, I keep a markdown file open. I take notes from meetings, quick entries to describe what I'm working on a few times a day. It's a single file that goes back to my hire date with current employer. Super useful.

I store both in private git repo's along with shell scripts and config files.

Writing on pen and paper - away from a screen

Screens include your phone/tablet/laptop, TVs, and even your smartwatch - so if you want to listen to music while you journal, just start a playlist beforehand

There are great journaling tools on devices today, but your brain stays somewhat engaged with using the device and you don't get to that blissful peace of mind dumping and introspective journaling and teasing out ideas

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.

3 days at a time with vast amounts of time between, in a new notebook, app, or blog every time.

I keep coming back to a text file in my home folder, and a shell command that opens that file in a text editor and scrolls the cursor to the line for a new entry.

Also +1 for paper and pen if that's viable. It's a lot easier to do diagrams, symbols, formulas, simple maps, and other visual media that way.

I post on my blog

https://www.rxjourney.net/

i use obsidian with the daily notes plugin and write stream of consciousness for about 15 minutes. sometimes i type, other times i use a dictation app.

lately i have been taking my daily notes and running them through a local LLM. i prompt it to “think like a therapist” and ask me follow up questions. this can dig up some interesting insights from time to time.

I use Obsidian for daily thoughts and a paper journal for morning reflections.

Plain text files with gedit organized by month, e.g., journals/2025/10.txt

Vim - see [1]

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=uux_pacioli

I just started using paper again and it feels great

I use vim for the spell checking and just keep it offline most of the time. It's more for me than anyone else when I want to respond to others about a particular topic.

If all you do is write, you are missing half the benefits of journalling. The key to journalling is to write, and then periodically review what you have written. The most effective way is to create a system for this periodicity.

For your daily entries, start by writing down a bulleted list of all the notable things you can remember happening that day. Then write about whatever you want - it can be a stream of consciousness, thoughts on the various events you just wrote down or it can be simply "nothing of note" if it was a boring day.

At the end of the week, create a weekly note with a heading for each day that has passed e.g 2025-01-01, 2025-01-02, 2025-01-03 etc and write down any thoughts or observations you have as you go back and read that day's entry. Then at the bottom of the page create the following headings:

### Summary of the week

### + (Positives)

### - (Negatives)

### * (Things to improve)

### ? (Open Questions)

### → (Most Important Tasks for next week)

### ! (The single most important task to focus on)

### 3 Things You're Grateful For

### . (Final thoughts)

Repeat this each week. Look back at the previous weekly entry and see if you now have the answers to resolve the open questions from before. If not, carry them over.

When you get to the end of the month, create a monthly note. For this note, write headings for each of the weeks that has passed e.g Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4. Now do the same again, reading through your weekly notes and writing down any observations you have, patterns you've observed etc in the weekly notes. Finish off with the same list of headings mentioned above, but now thinking on a monthly timeline rather than a weekly one. When you are reflecting think, of how your progress is fitting in to medium term picture of the projects and goals you are working on.

Repeat this each month.

After three months, create a quarterly note. As you have probably guessed, Month 1, Month 2, Month 3 and the headings above. As you are now at the three monthly review, you should now be reflecting and thinking on the larger term picture of how this quarter is fitting into your 1 - 3 year goals.

After a year, create a yearly note. Repeat the process with the quarterly notes, but also read and review anything else from the year that you want to reflect on. Think about how the year went and how it fits with your values and the type of life you want for yourself.

One caveat on the above: if you are going through a frustrating period where nothing is working out despite all your best efforts, sometimes an incessant feedback loop can just make things worse. If that is the case, you may want to stop journalling for a bit, focus on relaxing and enjoying life and come back to it when the storm has passed.

.html file and whatever Text Editor

I write whatever in my big Org file. The key is to write something different every day. Having a routine topic becomes boring, and, well, routine. So in my big Org file there is everything worth referencing again, and in the morning I’ll take a wide overview of it, coming back to a few particular items like long-term goals or how the year has been, and that’s the starting point for the thoughts that I then jot down.

Staring at a blank file every morning isn’t interesting to me, but adding a little chunk of thought casually to my second brain is rewarding in itself.

I’m an Org Mode evangelist. I didn’t get it at first but now I don’t think I could get rid of it. I’ll probably be editing this file until my final days!

Notebook and a pen

I’ve switched to Apple Notes… it works- keep it stupidly simple KISS

Single .txt file in Notepad++

DayOne is good :)