Keeping a journal is an attempt to prevent your past from being completely erased by the sand of time. It allows you to record what happened at the time. It acts as an independent witness to your memory. A journal can help you think. Writing forces you to process your thoughts, ideas, and emotions.
I started keeping a journal in 2020, at the height of the Pandemic. It is a practice I wish I had started in my youth, as it has helped me evolve as a person, but as the saying goes, it is better late than never.
I initially used Notion to keep my journal. Back then, I had just started my productivity and knowledge management journey as I was using Notion for everything at the time.
By October 2022, I had been using Obsidian for my notes for over a year, and Notion was getting slower. So I decided to use Obsidian, and sometime later, I moved across my journal. Moving content, such as journals from Notion to Obsidian, was a relatively painless experience. You can read our guide on exporting notes from Notion to Obsidian for full details on the process.
Why I chose Obsidian for my journaling
I decided to use Obsidian to house my journal. A year or so later, I started using Obsidian to manage my PKM (Personal Knowledge Management). There were a couple of reasons why I initially decided to move to Obsidian from Notion.
Firstly, Notion began slowing down while creating or accessing journals I had previously written.
Secondly, I preferred writing in Obsidian to Notion. Obsidian is like a cut-down word processor, helping you enter a flow-like state. That is why I’m currently using Obsidian to write my content, including this blog post.
Another benefit I have noticed since I made the move is that I can easily add any ideas or thoughts that belong in my Zettelkasten and link them to my daily journal. This could potentially be helpful to my future self, who may want a context for why I thought of the idea.
Key features of using Obsidian for Journaling
Obsidian is a Markdown editor. While there is a slight learning curve, once you learn it, you can quickly change the format of what you are writing. This allows you to capture and layout ideas and thoughts quickly and with little thought, allowing you to concentrate on your ideas and thoughts. If you want to learn more about Markdown, read our introductory guide.
Another benefit of using Obsidian to journal is the ability to backlink to existing thoughts and ideas in my Obsidian vault.
The use of backlinks also allows me to create a new note in my Obsidian vault to capture that distinct idea or thought and add it to my Zettelkasten. As the note is linked to my journal, I can check to see what was happening in my life at that time, which would likely add some context to that idea.
Personal Insights of Journaling in Obsidian
I use two journals on a daily basis. The first is a paper notebook, which is home to my bullet journal. I use it to quickly capture ideas and tasks first thing when my computer is turned off. It is also helpful if an idea comes to me in the middle of something, as I can make a note before continuing, meaning I haven’t lost the idea and haven’t interrupted my flow too much.
My long-form journal in Obsidian tracks what has happened during the day and helps me to explore my ideas further. Writing about something forces your mind to expand the idea further, as it has to process your thoughts so that they can be stored in an abstract form known as writing.
I can also create permanent notes for these ideas if they seem worth feeding into my knowledge system so that I can use them at a later date.
Conclusion
In this article, I have shared why I’m keeping a long-form journal and the journey we have been on together, moving from Notion to Obsidian. I have also discussed how it fits into my broader productivity and knowledge management system.
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Future reading and sources
Anthony Queen: Dear Diary, how to keep a journal
Guide to Markdown
My Knowledge and Productivity Management System 2024