I began journaling in 2019. It is not that I like keeping a journal, precisely. It is extra that I discover my mind works higher if I spend somewhat time dumping its contents onto paper each morning. This follow acquired me via 2020, a particularly tough yr, and I’ve saved it up ever since.
My journal is not superior. I’ve acquired a couple of sections advisable by my therapist from across the time I began—there is a part I fill in day-after-day with issues I am wanting ahead to, for instance. I exploit one other part to assume via what I’ll eat and different issues I am going to try this day. All of that is simple; I simply use a template that features headers for these issues.
However there is a bit of data I like to assemble and embrace. Every day’s climate, for instance. I’ve seen that I am usually in a nasty temper on wet, grey days, so recording the climate together with my ideas provides me some useful context after I’m reviewing entries later. I additionally prefer to know what time I wrote my entry, the place I used to be after I wrote it, and—if potential—embrace a quote of the day or one thing else to mirror on.
I might collect all the above data myself manually, each morning. However I’ve discovered it is lots sooner to make use of Apple Shortcuts for the job. This utility, which comes preinstalled on each Mac, iPhone, and iPad, can routinely pull in all types of data and format it properly for my journal. I run a customized automation each morning. This is how I constructed it.
The Date, Climate, and Location
Apple through Justin Pot
Fireplace up Apple Shortcuts in your machine of alternative and make a brand new shortcut. This software program generally is a little complicated, however don’t fret, I’ll speak you thru all the things. In the proper column you will note a lot of completely different tiny automations you possibly can run. Drag as many of those as you need to the primary column, which is on the left. I prefer to seek for what I am searching for, however when you favor, you possibly can manually discover the choices to get a way of what Shortcuts can do.