I've always liked the idea of keeping a record of the things I do and experience. It's shocking how many memories just disappear because they lack context. Sometimes all it takes is a quick reminder of the specific event or situation, and the memory is unlocked.
I've tried a multitude of systems, and none of them has stuck permanently.
A paper journal was lovely, but not sustainable. I did keep a Word doc between 2011 and about 2016 fairly consistently, and then moved to plain text more sporadically. I also used Daylio on and off between 2017 and 2024, but I would often go many months without writing anything. I even tried daily voice notes for a while.
I don't like the idea of the days slipping by, but I've never managed to find a system that's foolproof... until now (I hope).
I realised that the barrier needed to be as low as humanly possible. When I was "logging" before (I'm avoiding the word journalling, because that seems generous when it mostly involves facts), I often wrote down the entire day's events, sometimes in quite a bit of detail (often over 1,000 words for eventful days. The obligation to write a lot became a chore and was often the reason I stopped.
So the first rule is to keep the entries short. Just a few sentences:
"Worked on blog. Met Jack and Katie. Made casserole for lunch. Booked flight to Italy. Watched Inglorious Basterds in the evening."
Next we've got the actual medium. Paper notebook is out, despite being cool (has to be carried physically, easy to lose, combustible, not waterproof etc.)
Digital fixes all of these and offers many advantages (faster input, backups, search function, syncing).Laptop is also out because we might not have access to it, say if we're out or away.
It has to be digital and it has to be the phone. Romantic? No. Pragmatic? Yes.
Even remembering to open a notes app every day is slight resistance. The solution should ideally be integrated into an app we already use and open regularly... a messaging app, perhaps.
WhatsApp is out, unless you want to set up another device to receive the messages and then process them somehow. (WhatsApp isn't designed with this kind of tinkering in mind.)
It had to be Telegram, the messaging app of freedom.
I set up a bot to message me every day at 23:00 asking "what happened today?" Instead of making my own bot, I used the IFTTT Telegram bot. This reduces the hassle involved by a significant amount.
I reply to the bot's question with a message starting with the trigger word "jrnl". It has to be something you would never usually type, as it can cause problems if you use the trigger word later in the text.
When the bot receives my message, it appends it to a Google Sheet along with the time signature, and confirms in a response on Telegram that my entry was stored.
And that's it. Every day at 23:00 I tell the bot what I did. I have no obligation to write a whole memoir, but I have to write something about the day.
Anyway, it's Day 2 and I haven't given up yet.