Introduction

• Will Gant is a co-host of the Complete Developer Podcast
• How Will and Leo met 
• Will's lightning talk at MicroConf

What's in Will's journal

• Will's familial history of journaling
• Unknown stresses as the impetus to start journaling
• Will's original journal was a spreadsheet that covered anything happening during the day that bugged him, taking roughly 20 minutes per day to write
• Switching to monthly journaling helped Will focus on opportunities instead of the bad stuff and takes about 10 minutes to write
• Other ways Will's approach to journaling has changed over the years
• Journaling well after something happens helps separate the act from the emotional state
• Journaling is also a great way to track things that are tough to remember
• Will's is an advocate and regular user of float/sensory-deprivation tanks for meditation
• Bonus lifehack: Rethink your internal calendar to start each year on April 1st, after winter and taxes

Keeping life organized with journaling

• How Will uses journaling and KanbanFlow to keep track of upcoming tasks
• Journaling can take many forms: a food diary, a workout journal, daily insights, monthly reflections, etc.

Tips to start journaling

• Pick a time period (daily, weekly, etc.)
• Write only what you remember
• Make a note of the emotions that you remember as well
• Keep it simple and easy: use paper or a plain text file
• After writing a new entry, revisit a few past entries
• Keep each entry short
• Don't out-write your previous entry
• Write only for yourself, be blunt

Effecting change with journaling

• Writing actions and (separately) your emotions is great for personal growth, especially for kids
• A food diary is an easy way to observe and adjust what's going in your body
• Write down repeating chores so you remember to do them and how to do them
• Keeping track of multi-step tasks is tough in simple journaling and to-do systems
• Nothing beats a text document when recording lots of details
• Recipes are some of the oldest types of journal entries

Will Gant on the interwebs

• Complete Developer Podcast
• Twitter: @gantsoftsys

Related links and apps

• Getting Started Journaling from the Complete Developer Podcast
• 9 Career Benefits of Journaling from the Complete Developer Podcast
• The 200th Episode of the Complete Developer Podcast
• Nozbe, an all-in-one to-do, project, and time management app
• KanbanFlow is a web-based lean project management tool
• Productivity in Tech blog by Jay Miller