8 ms·
Ask HN: How do you maintain your daily log?
A few years ago, I read an excellent article on HN [0], which recommended keeping a daily log in a simple text file. I've been following this advice. Recording many short entries over a day is very useful for me. I can easily find items for my performance review, leave notes for myself, etc.
Questions:
1. What is your workflow?
2. What tools do you use?
3. If you log to a text file, how do you format your entries?
My framework
Daily log vs. daily journal
For me, entries in a daily journal require deeper thought and reflection on what you have done, your goals, etc. Usually, journaling is done 1-2 times/day. Conversely, entries in a daily log concern immediate actions and are done many times a day. However, your daily log could inform entries in your daily journal.
Daily log vs. a to-do list
For me, entries in a to-do list are only the things you need to do. Also, most to-do lists I've seen don't store the timestamp of when a to-do item was created. Conversely, entries in a daily log are more diverse and are all timestamped. They may include to-do items but don't have to. My entries are updates, notes, questions, and to-dos.
My log is a markdown file, which I edit in Sublime Text. I created Espanso [1] shortcuts to add timestamped entries. E.g., "zzq" expands to "[2022-10-26 10:45:24]: Question []:" and "zzn" expands to "[2022-10-26 10:45:56]: Note:". For proper task/to-do management, I use Amazing Marvin [2], which is decent.
[2022-10-23 09:18:44]: Update: prepared slides for meeting with @Laura #1on1 #projectLion
[2022-10-23 10:54:36]: Note: I created a new keystore key using these instructions https://xxx.xxx, stored in keys dir #projectGamma
[2022-10-23 11:16:54]: TODO [x]: deploy a new build, which fixes the bug with incorrectly parsed dates (id:1332); [2022-10-24 10:12:12]: rolled out, v17 (2.0-17) #projectGamma
[2022-10-23 12:27:56]: TODO []: ask about daily log software on HN @me
[2022-10-23 13:38:00]: Note: password for W in stored in LP #projectGamma
[2022-10-23 13:43:25]: Question [x]: should the style guide be in the repo or YouTrack? @Alex #weeklymeet #projectGamma; [2022-10-25 15:17:13]: @alex said in YT because we'll use it in other projects
[2022-10-23 14:11:15]: Question []: should we use Red Frames (https://github.com/maxhumber/redframes) in addition to Pandas? Criteria for decision? @me #projectLion
What do you want to improve and why?
- I need an easier way to find, e.g., all questions from this week for @Alex about #projectGamma. I'd like to easily filter entries by date, project (#projectGamma), person (@Alex), and type (Update, Question).
- Nice to have but not required:
- sort entries by status (not done: [], done: [x])
- auto-timestamp when a to-do item was created and completed
- surround selected text with [], {}, "" and auto-close them like a programming text editor, e.g., ST, VSCode
- duplicate & move entries via shortcuts
What have you looked into?
- People enjoy Obsidian [3] and Logseq [4]. I find them alluring too, but I don't yet know how to make them support my daily log. I'd need to spend at least a full day to figure out each of them, the time I don't have at the moment. (I use Obsidian for code snippets; it is excellent.)
- Org-mode is very popular, but emacs and vim are way too much of a time investment (I tried many times before). Do share your evil and holy workflows, though. There are org-mode extensions for other text editors and EasyOrg [5]. I still need to try them.
- I like the todo.txt format [6] and I am considering forking pter [7], but making it fit my needs would take quite a bit of work.
Dealbreakers:
- No Windows version
- No desktop app
- Subscription-based software, including charging for syncing between computers
- No export option
Links posted in a comment.
- SubuSS 4y agoUse a draft email in gmail. Better than notepad in terms of formatting etc and very reliably available across devices.
- PaulWaldman 4y agoIs there a reason you wouldn't use a Google Doc? I've lost edits to draft emails when editing on multiple devices. It seems to be an issue when devices with spotty connectivity come back online.
- SubuSS 4y agoIt is a different app that’s all I guess
- dr_kiszonka 4y agoLinks: 0. Unfortunately, I cannot find the link anymore. I think it was one of those "what I learned during my 50 years as a senior software engineer". The author possibly mentioned using Kate-editor. It was a really good article. 1. Espanso (free): https://espanso.org https://espanso.org 2. Amazing Marvin (paid): https://amazingmarvin.com https://amazingmarvin.com 3. Obsidian (free/subscription for sync): https://obsidian.md https://obsidian.md 4. Logseq (free): https://logseq.com https://logseq.com 5. EasyOrg (paid): https://easyorgmode.com/ https://easyorgmode.com/ 6. todo.txt format: https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt https://github.com/todotxt/todo.txt 7. pter: https://github.com/vonshednob/pter https://github.com/vonshednob/pter
- taurusnoises 4y agoThis may not be the link yre looking for, but it's one of the articles that spurred a recent interest in single-file daily logs... https://jeffhuang.com/productivity_text_file/ https://jeffhuang.com/productivity_text_file/
- LinuxBender 4y agoI use a shell function I found somewhere. It might have been linked here, I can't remember. This is probably only useful for people that spend a lot of time in a shell. One could adjust the text formatting and date format to their preference. # cat /etc/profile.d/notes.sh function notes() { if [ ! -z "$1" ]; then mkdir --mode=00750 -p ~/.notes Now=$(date '+%Y%m%d.%H%M.%S') echo -en "\n$Now\t$@\n\n" >> ~/.notes/notes.txt else echo "${Now}" cat ~/.notes/notes.txt 2>/dev/null fi } For syncing I suppose this could be pushed to a cifs/nfs/sshfs share, or into a git repo or emailed. Usage: notes some text -or- notes "some text that needs to be quoted in a shell;/;-)" then "notes" by itself to read all the notes. I suppose a function to null out the notes.txt file would be handy and maybe a function to commit the notes to a repo.