Happy Wednesday 🌞
This morning, I spent 5 minutes setting up a daily journal where I set intentions for the day ahead. This small system has been foundational in how I’ve grown over the last few years. As someone who lives a fairly busy life at home and at work, this is the kind of system that is making an outsized difference. Here’s more about how I use my daily journal and the exact template I use.
If you joined recently, hi 👋 I’m Hailley. I’ve always created systems for my work (as a Marketing leader at Buffer) and life (as a mom of two who enjoys my hobbies) where I can stay productive, calm, and organized.
One of the systems I use most in life is my daily journal. I’ve used this system for almost four years now and it is foundational to how I show up every day.
How the daily journal works
The daily journal I created is based off of a video Marie Poulin made of her own daily journal. It is a database in Notion where each new database line is a new entry in the daily journal. It’s worth noting that this system can be used with any tool, though. You could do this with pen and paper or with the default Notes app on most phones. I feel like Notion works incredibly well here, but don’t let the tool be a blocker for you if you want to try this but prefer another method.
Mornings: Setting intentions
Each morning, I kick off a new daily journal entry. Here’s what I include:
- The date
- An emoji for today’s weather
- What I’m optimizing for today
Within each new Notion page in this database, I’ve also linked my annual goals and habit tracking, followed by the end-of-day reflection.
Evenings: Reflection
At the end of the day, I take another few minutes to reflect on the day. Using the properties in Notion I:
- Select a few words that best describe my day
- Write a few lines of gratitude
- Write down any celebrations
- Document challenges
- And add anything I want to do better tomorrow
I have a lot of items in my evening reflection because I like to capture all of these and several of them take only seconds, but this could easily be cut down if needed to make it easier to complete.
You could also start with just setting intentions for the day, and add in reflections in the future.
Do Better?
I have a small question that simply asks: “Do better?” as a part of my evening reflection and I find this two-word question prompts a great deal of reflection. I can only complain about something for so long before I need to make an improvement or change. For several weeks, maybe even months, I wrote “drink more water” in the do better box. I bought a new water bottle, added lemon to my water, all sorts of things. Finally, I added reminders in my phone to drink water throughout the day and that finally worked.
The point is not that we all need our phones to harass us about drinking water (although please know it’s effective) but rather that having this space to think on what you’d like to do better can be the start of making real changes in your life. By reflecting so often, and capturing those reflections in one spot, it’s easier to see patterns and make adjustments.
This system compounds
Spending 5-minutes a day setting up my day for success and later spending a few more minutes reflecting on how the day went is one of the best investments I’ve made these last few years. Not only because of the life improvements I’ve acted on more quickly because I’m capturing more of my own thoughts, but because over time you can start to spot trends.
I also like to reflect monthly and annually, and I can browse all of these daily entry journals to really get a strong sense of how the year went for me.
This daily journal is also linked to my goals database and habits database, so I have the things I care about most front and center as I start and end my days.
Set one up for yourself
If you’d like the Notion template I use, you can grab it here → Daily Notion Journal Template
It has been so worth it to keep going with this system so I can go into each day with a little bit more control, focus, and intention. Initially, I only did this on weekdays when I was focused on planning out my work, but I actually do this regularly on weekends now. With 2 kids the days can easily get away from me, so it’s nice for me to check in in the morning and take a moment to write down how I really want to spend my day.
Remember to customize this template over time as well. I’ve evolved mine every 6-12 months to reflect the right questions that make the most sense for me.
Several of my goals for this year are the outcome of me repeatedly reflecting on what I want to do differently.
I hope you have a lovely week ahead. As always, feel free to reply if this sparks any thoughts or questions.
See you next week,
Hailley
- There are many ways to do goal-setting, I finally took the time to update my goal-setting framework, which is specifically for people who are motivated by tracking progress. (On this note, it’s not too late to set goals for 2026 if you were wondering.)
- Working in Marketing during the onslaught of AI has already been fascinating. Recently, someone whose work I’ve followed for years — Gabriela Zedan — came to Buffer’s blog to write about how we should all be building people-first communities in the age of AI. Well worth a read!
- Speaking of AI, I loved this piece on why everyone should be using Claude Code more. I’ve had a lot of conversations recently with people who haven’t given Claude a try yet, and I’d definitely recommend giving it a go, it’s my favorite AI tool.
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. He is rich who owns the day, and no one owns the day who allows it to be invaded with fret and anxiety.
Finish every day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in. Forget them as soon as you can, tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely, with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
This new day is too dear, with its hopes and invitations, to waste a moment on the yesterdays.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
That's all for this newsletter! Thank you so much for subscribing. Reply anytime you want to chat. 😊
If someone forwarded you this email, you can subscribe here!
