Since 2013, I’ve been keeping a journal on Google Sheets. One tab per year. One row per day. One column per topic. I write down every day
- where I am
- who I met
- what hobby I did (book, movie, swim, run, concert, cook, play music…)
I also use it to plan a bit the future, where I want to be, who I want to meet, what I want to do, when. So it’s kind of a calendar as well.
As I host many friends and couchsurfers at home, it also helps me manage my guest room to avoid having too many people staying at my place at the same time. So I also have a column for that.
I regularly check out the previous years to see what I did in the last few years on the same month. Sometimes reminds me of something I like to do for one season or something I don’t want to repeat again and again.
This also helps me realise how seldom I meet this or that friend, when you feel like you’ve met recently and it’s actually had been already 2 or 3 months… or a year?!
If I go for a week on holiday, I sometimes also use this table, writing down two or three things or places I want to do/visit per day.
I rarely write down how I feel, but I do write down when I’m sick. Helping me realise how short most diseases or injuries last, but also this helps me manage patience when I have a problem that lasts longer.
One of the moments of my life this calendar was the most helpful was when I had a long distance relationship. The idea was to meet one another minimum every 10 days. Google sheets shows around 40 rows, so it was easy to plan the trips in advance and agree on when and where to meet. Not a lot of improvisation but there are other parts that you can keep spontaneous nevertheless.
I’ll probably post a template of that journal here.
