Interstitial journaling: combining notes, to-do & time tracking - Ness Labs
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Interstitial journaling is a productivity technique created by Tony Stubblebine. To my knowledge, it’s the simplest way to combine note-taking, tasks, and time tracking in one unique workflow. ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
The basic idea of interstitial journaling is to write a few lines every time you take a break, and to track the exact time you are taking these notes. For instance:
10:04 - Going to finish the first draft of the mindful productivity article.
10:46 - I fell into a Twitter blackhole again! Back to work.
11:45 - Made good progress. Need to get ready for meeting with Charlie.
11:49 - Reviewed agenda and docs. Feeling a bit anxious, but I think it will go fine. Need to call Anna after the meeting to debrief. ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
it’s a great way to make your breaks more mindful. ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
- Proactive breaks: reflect on your previous task, plan for the next one, take your own mental pulse, jot down anything else that comes to mind so as to reduce your cognitive load.
- Procrastination breaks: become aware of these breaks and how long they actually take. When you create the habit of writing down all your breaks, it becomes easier to not open a new tab to “quickly” check Twitter. You don’t want to have to admit that failure to yourself. ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
Your interstitial journal is not only a journal, it’s a to-do list, a note-taking system, and a way to track your time meaningfully. ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
Keeping an interstitial journal in Roam Research ⤴️
🔻Catatan:
#
looks like.
🔻Catatan:
- Track time. Type /time to insert the current time, then type whatever you are thinking about.
- Track tasks. Type /todo to create to-do items. Check off these to-do items when done.
- Track content. When you stumble upon something interesting that would disturb your workflow, add it to master lists such as To read. You can see I have done it in this screenshot with an interesting-looking article that had nothing to do with the essay I was trying to write.
- Track ideas. Similarly, if you think of something else you’d like to do today, just add it as a to-do where and when you think about it. For people using the Today, Tomorrow, Someday system, you can also add that to the to-do items, or add a specific date, as I have done with “call Morgane.”
- Track well-being. I like to start my work day with a quick note checking in on how I feel, anything that’s been sometimes literally keeping me up at night, any major roadblock I’m anticipating for the day. It’s rarely longer than one bullet point, but it’s a great way to take care of my general well-being. I also finish the work day with a similar quick closing note. ⤴️
🔻Catatan: