Four check-in questions that keep a journal going.

A journal rarely stops on purpose. You miss a day, then most of a week, and when you open it again the blank page seems to want a full account of everything since. Closing it is easier.

A question gets around that. It narrows the day down to one thing you can answer, and it doesn’t mind how long it’s been since you last wrote. The four below work on ordinary days, in any notebook or app. Each comes with why it works and an example answer, made up for this post, to show what one might look like.

How did today go?

This is the widest of the four, which makes it a good one to start with. It doesn’t assume the day was good, bad, or worth writing about. You decide that in the answer.

It also has no wrong answer, including “fine”. A fine day still had something in it, and asking what made it fine usually turns up the part worth keeping.

An example answer:

It was a slow start. The train was late, so I read on the platform instead of checking email, and the whole morning felt calmer for it. Meetings took the afternoon. I made soup for dinner and there’s enough left for tomorrow.

What went right today?

This one points your attention at what worked. On days spent chasing a goal, that’s the part that tends to go unwritten, because it’s already done and the next thing is waiting.

It works on rough days too. Something usually went right, even a small thing like getting to bed on time or finally sending the email you’d been dreading. When Juniper asks it in YearCraft’s journal check-in, she adds “Small things count.”

It’s one of three check-ins that lean toward celebrating. The other two are “What are you glad you did today?” and “Anything worth celebrating today?” They’re spaced apart, so a rough week doesn’t get them back to back.

An example answer:

The run was slow, but I went. I also fixed the bike light. It took four minutes, after weeks of meaning to.

Did today move anything forward?

This is the question for days when you have a goal in mind. It ties the day to the goal without turning the entry into a status report, and “even a little” is part of how Juniper asks it.

“No” is a useful answer. A week of no tells you something about the plan, and writing down why saves you guessing later.

When you have a dated waypoint coming up, the check-in names it right after hello: “You’re aiming to finish ‘Outline all chapters’ in 18 days.” Then it asks about the day, so the goal and the day sit side by side.

An example answer:

The chapters didn’t move. I did reread the opening on the bus and cut a scene I’d been avoiding, so the outline is shorter and more honest than it was yesterday.

Anything from today worth keeping?

This one asks you to write for the person reading later. Juniper puts it as “What from today would you want to find again in a year?” Plain days have more answers than you’d expect: something someone said, the light on the way home, a meal worth making again.

What you keep turns up again when you look back. In Reflect, as you answer each question of the Year in Review, Juniper offers the entries that match it, so something you kept on an ordinary evening can end up on a page of your scrapbook.

An example answer:

The tree on the corner has fruit on it. I’ve walked past it every day since I moved here and never knew it was a fig.

Getting the question at the right time

A question does the most good when it arrives before the day is gone. YearCraft’s journal check-in comes once a day at most, and only on days you haven’t written. You pick when:

• Morning, 7:30 am, about yesterday
• Lunch, 12:30 pm, about the day so far
• Evening, 8:30 pm, about today, the default
• Weekly, Sundays at 8:30 pm, about the week

It comes by email now, and to your phone as well once the iPhone app arrives. There are ten wordings, picked by the date, so it doesn’t read the same every day. Besides the four above, you’ll see these:

• “One moment from today?”
• “What did today leave behind?”
• “Anything to report from today?”
• “Checking in, no pressure”

When you want a different question, the journal ideas on Today and Journal show a topic and a question on each card, with “Write about this” to start. The last card, “New ideas”, asks Juniper for more. Free includes 3 Juniper prompts a day. How the journal works covers voice entries and the rest.

And when you need a break, “Hush for a month” in Settings pauses every nudge until the month is up, without changing anything else.