PKM Toolkit: The Daily Review Journal in Day One
PKM Toolkit is a series featuring ideas, tools, and apps that help collect, organize, review, and share knowledge. You can learn more about personal knowledge management by reading the first entry of the series.
The latest addition to my journalingl practice is the daily review. If you read my post about returning to journaling, you’ll note that I was doing something like this at the beginning of this year, and things went a little sideways which made writing by hand challenging. I’m resurrecting the general idea but changing from paper to digital for the format and tweaking the prompts. I’ve been doing this for several weeks now, and here are a few details on how I’m doing it:
End of Day Routine
I start my day with a brief daily gratitude entry in the morning and try to end my day by doing the daily review and some reading. My total time on this routine is rarely more than thirty to forty-five minutes because there isn’t much day left once the kids are asleep and everything is finished.
Occasionally, I end up doing the review the next morning. I don’t mind adjusting the date for the intended day. I’m not gaming the streaks system. I just want an accounting for that specific day.
My Prompts
These continue to evolve, and I’ve changed them several times already. Right now, every entry has the following questions:
What happened today that went well?
It’s helpful to celebrate and consider the positive moments.
What happened today that could have gone better?
Conversely, the less-than-optimal deserve a quick review too. This is not an opportunity to blame or dwell but instead is a chance to just write it down and have an opportunity to learn from it.
How did I make a positive impact on those around me?
Both David Sparks and Jim Eagar, two of my favorite writers on this subject, have similar prompt in their journaling and review process. This is the most important question I ask. I want to help people, and I think a lot about how I can do that.
Is there anything unfinished that needs to be written down for tomorrow?
This helps to clear my mind. Then, as needed, I take a minute or two of action to create a reminder or maybe put something into Craft or a shared note.
This is not a sacred text
I write a sentence or three for each prompt and rarely more than that. I also try to write what comes to mind without much mental processing or editing. I want the purest consideration I can get, regardless of tone. The intention is not for anyone else to read this. It’s for me to put what’s in my head somewhere else.
Once I’m done, I review what I’ve written down. It helps to process the day and feel gratitude for the better parts or a sense of understanding about what went wrong.
Ignore the Streaks
I love streaks until I break them. Then, my brain starts saying some not-so-nice things. Streaks have their place, but I avoid focusing on them here. I want journaling to become a desirable habit, something I want to do every night, fully aware that I probably won’t always be able to do that.
My Tools
I use Day One for all of my journals. I like having prompts automatically populate when I start a new entry and being able to journal on my iPad, iPhone, or Mac. The backup features are helpful too.
I began the year using a print journal to do a version of this daily review, but it didn’t stick for me (mostly because of that pesky broken wrist). Ultimately, the specific tool of choice matters far less than finding the right tool that accomplishes the journaling practice.
Practice Makes Progress
The more I get back into journaling, the easier it is to have it as part of my daily routine. The Daily Review helps me put my day to bed, so I can sleep too. I have a chance to defer and organize lingering things, and if something went well or was not so great, I have a structured opportunity to think it all through.
As you can see by my recent changes, journaling is quite adaptive. You can try something out and change it if it doesn’t work. How you write your thoughts down doesn’t matter as long as you do it. It’s a helpful process in many aspects of my life and one that I recommend to everyone.
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