(First post get.)

Oh boy, this caught me at a fun time. I'm currently using DayOne for journalling on OS X, but I think I'm slowly switching over to my own frankenstein creation which is basically a ruby front-end to a pretty simple sqlite database. The point of this all being that most of the day I'm at a computer or other device and I can quickly pop open a terminal window, jot something down, and close it again.

One problem I have is that my ideal journal/logging application/system/thing should take care of:

* Regular, automated (or semi-automated) activity logging

* A spark file for writing

* Daily activity/task/note logging

* A collection box for all non-actionable thoughts

* A place for longer-form writing that I just want to get out right then and there

* and also, a way of retrieving all of this data in a sane manner (which is where a computerised journal wins).

So I guess the point of all this is to keep a record of what I'm doing and reflect on it in the short term (e.g. "What did I accomplish this week?"), but with a bonus of being able to reflect on it longer-term as well ("What was I going through a year ago today?"). This gentleman seems to have a pretty cool journalling system that popped up on my radar, and that's what's got me thinking about the best way to record all this stuff recently.

I keep a journal with little aim or discipline. I'm hoping to take after the practice with more direction

If you want to keep it updated daily, perhaps a service like FollowUpThen could help? If you check your email a few times during the day, a well-timed email reminding you to write stuff down might help.