```[today's date and time] - [my location]

How Do I Feel Today: [1-10 score followed by some thoughts about what/how I'm feeling]

Three Things To Accomplish Today:

1. 2. 3.

What's Special About Today?

Something I've Put Off That I Can Make Progress On Today?

What Shouldn't I Do Today?

```

Daily Journal Template

Here is a quick template for a daily journal. It's informal and something that you can easily tweak to suit your own preferences, but this has been working for me for some time. Everyone has their own preference with journals, this is mine.

Over the years I've found that most things with journaling don't matter. And when asked questioned about journaling as a practice, the answer is normally "it doesn't matter."

For example, should you journal in the morning or evening? It doesn't matter. The template above is tailored towards the morning, but if you prefer evenings then think about what you'd like to accomplish tomorrow, instead of what you missed out on today or what you should cram in between 11pm and 2am.

And then people ask, should I use pen and paper or is a computer OK? Again, it doesn't matter. I prefer a quality paper notebook with the Cornell System and a great pen, but that's just me. I'd recommend you just stay consistent with your practice, so if you use a txt file, do that each day, of it you email yourself then stick with that for as long as it's your preference.

I find that journaling allows me to "zoom out" on my life. I, like many developers, tend to get super involved in very niche things, like food and product recalls or woodworking or whatever I'm building at the time, making it easy to lose sight of the bigger picture, my quality of life, or other things that will ultimately be more important over a longer period than whatever I happen to be briefly occupied with.

I'd recommend giving journaling a chance -- using this template or none at all -- so you can clear your mind and give yourself a bit of peace each day.