I just created a new list of instructions for my journal-writing routine:

  1. Scan a note with a list of what you want to do today
  2. Create an entry, insert the scan
  3. Write throughout the day as you do things.
    • If a certain event takes a paragraph to describe, make an event for it and link to it
  4. Take pictures, especially if it’s something fun/relaxing
  5. As you close the day’s entry, ask yourself of elements: (good) sleep? exercise? meditation? (good) food?

I write my journal in Emacs org-mode, but this can probably be converted to any software or a notebook (a “link” to an event in a notebook would probably be a separate header under the same date).

My favorite item right now is the handwritten list of stuff I want to do that day. I write it while sipping my morning latte and looking out the window in the early morning before I turn on my computer and look at my agenda for the day. This way, my list is unfiltered. It may contain amusing things like shopping for my favorite seltzer water or getting in touch with my old college newspaper friends. When it’s time to close the entry for the day in the journal, I review my scanned list of wants. Here’s a sample from yesterday: