I've always wanted to be someone who journals in physical books, leather bound with nice thick pages. But for some psychological reason, I always felt like I needed to write something significant in those books to make them worthwhile. I think that's been my mental blocker to journaling in general: the pressure of writing something that should be read by someone else.

But journaling isn't for other people. It's not about collecting data or beating stats, it's for me. It's a tool I use to remember things, dump my thoughts, organize ideas, and reflect on the day. The things that nag at me all day feel less sharp after I contextualize them on the screen. Journaling is meant to be boring and might really make no sense later. It's okay to be sloppy, misspell words, or form half-coherent sentences.

My journaling has changed a bit over the last few years, but a couple things remain consistent. I'm still making a habit of journaling every night, though I lost my streak in 2024, I'm back at a solid 90+ day streak again. I'm using Day One still, but Apple Journal is starting to gain some of my attention. Once they add a way to import my thousands of Day One entries, it might be time to switch.

I use a simple template, something to get out of my own way: 3 things that happened today. I typically add around 4-6 photos to go along with it. It's usually pretty mundane: going to work, having a meeting with Matt, doing some budgeting work, making a meal, or going out for a meal where I had the cheeseburger. Sometimes I write more in these 3 bullets, but it's really a way to get the things still on my mind down and out of my head.

I also enjoy sitting down sometimes and just letting my fingers flood words onto the page, writing about topics or memories I have at the time—something I woke up thinking about, a news story that's really impactful, or maybe a memory triggered by a smell. These are usually in addition to my evening "3 things" entry, and I might start in the morning, add more in the afternoon, and write even more at night.

The thing that makes this exercise not feel like work is that I allow myself to mess up. It doesn't have to be perfect; this isn't going to be published in a book. Future civilizations aren't going to unearth my iPhone with my Day One journal entries and put it in a museum. I've started to embrace the audience of one in life, and my journal has never felt more fun for me.