Journaling

Journal

Keeping a journal is easy to do with Markdown files. You can simply write a new note every day.

## Note: 2026-01-01

* 🏃 Ran 10k
* 🤔 3h (deep work)

The NoteWriter defines a default type for this use case:

{
    DefaultAttributes: {
        date: {
            name: "date",
            type: "string",
            format: "yyyy-mm-dd",
            inherit: true,
        },
    },
    DefaultNoteTypes: {
        Journal: self.Note + {
            name: "Journal",
            attributes: [
                {
                    name: "date",
                    required: true,
                },
            ],
            processors: ["date-extractor", "list-items"],
        },
    }
}

The type Journal does a few things:

It requires an attribute @date.
It automatically extract the date from the title (ex: ## Journal: 2026-01-01 will create an attribute @date: 2026-01-01).
It expects a list (to display a list when rendering the journal).

Notes can be declared below a journal entry:

# Journal: 2026-01-01

* ✅ Fixed bug at startup
* 📖 Finished reading _The Enchiridion_ by Epictectus
* 🥦 Eat healthy

## Note: Bug at startup

Some notes to explain how the bug was resolved.

## List: Food

* 🥗 Quinoa Salad with chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and a lemon-tahini dressing
* 🍛 Grilled salmon served with steamed broccoli and brown rice
* 🌯 Whole wheat wrap filled with hummus, spinach, shredded carrots, and avocado

The NoteWriter Desktop provides a screen to visualize a diary using a timeline to filter on date range or attributes. Sub-notes are also listed (but not expanded by default).

Routines

Routines plays an important role in journaling. Routines reduce friction. When you have a morning routine and a shutdown routine set up, it becomes an habit. Journaling without routines captures moments. Journaling with routines captures patterns.

Routines can be defined in config.jsonnet:

{
  journal: [
    {
      name: 'My Diary',
      path: 'journal/{{ year }}/{{ year }}-{{ month }}-{{ day }}.md',
      defaultContent: '# Journal: {{ year }}-{{ month }}-{{ day }}',
      routines: [
        {
          name: 'Morning Routine',
          template: |||
            # 💪 Affirmation

            {{ affirmation "journaling#List: Affirmations" }}

            # 😘 Gratitude Journal

            3 things I appreciate:

            * {{ input }}
            * {{ input }}
            * {{ input }}

            # 🤔 Prompt

            {{ prompt "journaling#List: Prompts" }}

            # 🎯 My BIG thing for today

            {{ input }}
          |||,
        },
        {
          name: 'Shutdown Routine',
          template: |||
            # ❓ How was my day? Why?

            {{ input }}

            # 📋 3 tasks to complete tomorrow:

            * [ ] {{ input }}
            * [ ] {{ input }}
            * [ ] {{ input }}
          |||,
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
}

Routines will be appended to your journal entry specified using these attributes:

path: A template to the path of note containing the daily journal entry. Ex: journal/{{ year }}/{{ year }}-{{ month }}-{{ day }}.md
defaultContent: The default content for this note if the file doesn’t exist. Ex: # Journal: {{ year }}-{{ month }}-{{ day }} will define the file title.

Several routines could be defined. For example:

{
  name: 'Morning Routine',
  template: |||
    # 💪 Affirmation

    {{ affirmation "journaling#List: Affirmations" }}

    # 😘 Gratitude Journal

    3 things I appreciate:

    * {{ input }}
    * {{ input }}
    * {{ input }}

    # 🤔 Prompt

    {{ prompt wikilink="journaling#List: Prompts" }}

    # 🎯 My BIG thing for today

    {{ input }}
    |||,
},

A routine is defined by its name and a template. A template is the text that will be rendered with placeholders for the user to enter:

{{ input }}: A text input to answer a question, write a line, etc.
{{ affirmation wikilink="journaling#List: Affirmations" }}: Render an affirmation selected in a list note identified by the attribute wikilink.
{{ prompt wikilink="journaling#List: Prompts" }}: Render a prompt and a text input to write your reflection on it.
{{ morningpages }}: Render an input to fill your morning pages.

Example of notes for affirmations and prompts:

## List: Affirmations

* All I need is within me right now.
* I am not pushed by my problems; I am led by my dreams.
* Today will be a productive day.
* I stand up for what I believe.
* I can do anything I put my mind to.
* I can do better next time.
* Every day is a fresh start.

## List: Prompts

* What's ONE thing you can do today that makes tomorrow easier? `#doing`
* What's the ONE Thing I can do such that by doing it everything else will be easier or unnecessary? `#doing`
* What did you do as a child that made the hours pass like minutes? `#doing`
* If I can only achieve three things over the next three months, what should they be? `#planning`
* In what ways could it actually be an opportunity in disguise? `#reflecting`
* What is the 2-minute version of the task I'm avoiding? `#doing`
* What can I automate? `#doing`

Here is the rendered routine in the desktop application:

TODO screenshot morning routine

After saving, the daily file will be appended like this:

TODO copy based on the screenshot

Stats

The NoteWriter Desktop supports statistics determined on attributes.

Journaling

Journal

Routines

Stats

Daily Metrics