Hi Lifetickers,

The correlation between journal keeping and success is universally well known. There is no shortage of statesmen and women who can attribute in part their ongoing motivation to succeed to the daily habit of maintaining a journal. Allowing time each day to collect one’s thoughts and put them into words not only serves as an effective check of one’s activities, progress, purpose and direction, it can also lead our minds to a deeper level of introspection of how we carried ourselves that day. Be they interactions with loved ones, colleagues or a random person on the street, when keeping a journal it is hard not to reflect on whether the world was a better place for having us in it today, which of course is a healthy thing to do.

But how do we make this happen? Journal keeping (like most things that require daily commitment) sounds good in practice, but can be a drag for most of us. Personally, I suffer from a severe case of inconsistency and therefore good intentions last a week at best. Nevertheless, there is always hope. I recently committed to a technique that I believe is already proving effective in getting my journal entries made on a more frequent basis. Quite simply, it is – Write one sentence per day.

When you think about it, one sentence a day is not hard at all. In fact, it is ridiculously easy. But is it useful? I would argue a heartfelt “yes”. Why? Because it is not the content that matters, but the act. We can’t all aspire to be Oscar Wilde, able to produce a worthy quote at will, but that doesn’t matter. Simply logging in and making the entry itself is the action that develops the necessary discipline and focus that can greatly benefit us. Furthermore, once you’ve logged it, it is almost impossible not to write more… and there of course is the complete benefit. But, if one begins with the very modest and honest objective of only writing one sentence, then it will ensure the goal remains achievable on a day-by-day basis and that is the key.

We are starting to notice in our stats a great rise in journal category usage in Lifetick. For those of you who are yet to try this functionality, it is most useful in recording daily activities you would like to measure or report on. For example, gym visits, calories eaten, books you’ve read and much more. Totally customisable, you can read more in the help tips when you edit the categories themselves in the journal.

Finally, we would like to sign off today with the announcement of some new features:

• Task notes (frequently requested) allow you to capture extra information on your goals
• Fortnightly (every other week) recurring tasks
• Interface improvements
  (including larger task and full screen reports windows)