Technology Tuesday - Day One and Capturing Your Thoughts Through Journaling
I often get asked about some of the tools and applications I use to help manage my time, activities, and life in general. I thought I would begin a new segment where I can share some of the applications and tools I use every day. The first Tuesday of each month I will dedicate to how I use technology to help improve productivity and efficiencies in my life.
The idea of journaling has been around for centuries. Some accounts date it back to the mid-late 1600s. For much of that time it was likely referred to as maintaining a diary. Today it tends to take on the ‘journaling’ title to make it more universal in its appeal. There are numerous studies that now show the benefits of maintaining a journal and having an outlet to capture your personal thoughts. Michael Hyatt recently posted an article Hit the Ground Writing that speaks to the benefits of daily journaling and how to get started. He also recorded a podcast that covered many different ideas on the subject. I recommend both as a simple starting point for getting to know more about journaling.
I began a simple journal over 4 years ago. In fact, as I was looking at my journal for this article I noticed that I had collected nearly 1,500 entries across 1,361 days. I started with a very simple entry each day about what I was eating. I was in the early stages of working on managing my diet and weight. I have also previously shared some ideas for what a basic, templated journal may look like. In my article, Want tomorrow to be Great, End Today RightI shared a planning tool I call My 9 Box Daily Thoughts. This was a simple way for me to capture my thoughts each day about what I had accomplished that day, what I wanted to achieve the next day, and finally, what I was grateful for that day. All of this gets captured in the DayOne app.
DayOne is an application that is available for Mac, iPhone, iPad, and Android devices. It is a simple, yet powerful application that is very flexible in its use. That said, at its core, it is a journaling application. It allows for open formatting writing, inclusion of pictures, or other attachments.
I use DayOne on my iPhone and iPad only at this point. I used to keep the application on my desktop computer as well but found I rarely wrote in that environment for my journal. Since I typically capture my thoughts at the end of the day, it was unlikely that I would be at my computer at the time I was ready to record my thoughts. DayOne is a free application but does offer a subscription service for the premium features. I would recommend that anyone that is getting started take advantage of the free version first and then determine whether you need any of the additional features. Since I am a long time user of the software and purchased the app shortly after it was released in 2011, I have the grandfathered version they call ‘Plus’. The chart below shows the features that each version provides.
I currently only maintain a single journal but have over time explored the idea of maintaining different journals for different topics. I keep coming back to the simplicity of a single journal that I sometimes use for different topics. It seems just as easy for me to make multiple journal entries in one journal, instead of bouncing between multiple locations.
The great thing about even the free version is that it does provide iCloud sync between your iOS devices. That ensures that if you use both an iPhone and an iPad like I do, the entries stay synchronized. With my Plus account, I can also attach multiple photos to my entry. I have been trying to include photos more often with my entries. It came in very handy on my recent trip to the Mediterranean - I could share my thoughts on the day, the places my wife and I visited, and a few of the best pictures from the day. If including photos will be important to you as part of your journaling, you will want to consider the premium subscription.
The entry interface is very easy to use, you simply click the ‘+’ button and start typing. It gets everything else out of the way. The app will automatically capture the date, time, weather, and location of your entry. All of these are adjustable in the settings menu, but I find it very handy to have that recorded so I don’t need to remember to do it. It is also fun to look back and see what you were thinking and where you were.
The app has all of the text formatting options you will need. If you are a technology geek (like I am) it also offers support for multi-markdown formatting, which can make writing very seamless when adding some text formats to highlight key points. I also like that it offers native, in-app support for TextExpander (I’ll cover this in a future Tech Tuesday post).
Getting started with a journal does not require a specific journaling application. Really any text editing application could be used to record your thoughts. The idea of capturing your ideas and memories of any specific time is far more important than the software you use. While I find that DayOne is the best application for this, if you already have applications such as Evernote, Microsoft Word, or Pages, those are each more than capable tools for creating your journal.
I have found that setting aside a few minutes each day to make notes on my day very satisfying and even therapeutic. Using DayOne has made that process that much easier. It makes it easy for me to look back on previous entries to a quick trip down memory lane (it provides a quick look back feature to entries on the same day from previous years). I find myself smiling that much more thinking back to what was happening 2,3, and even 4 years ago now.
If you are interested in the app, but want a more in-depth review of the features of the application, I recommend this review at the Sweet Setup. Good luck on your journaling journey.What tools do you use to capture your daily thoughts?
How has journaling been beneficial to you?