Marko Jokela just passed the impressive milestone of 1,700 consecutive days of journaling. Marko, an electrician, lives in southern Finland, in a town called Riihimäki.
In this interview, we asked Marko about the importance of keeping a journal and for advice on how to build a meaningful journaling habit that lasts.
How long have you been keeping a journal?
I have kept a journal for a little over five years. I started journaling with Day One on 22nd of January, 2018. That is the day I bought a premium version of Day One.
My journaling role model is Tove Jansson. She was famous Finnish author, novelist, painter, illustrator and comic strip author. She was the “mother” of Moomins, and she kept diary from her childhood through her life.
What makes journaling important to you?
As time goes by and I’m getting older, it is great to kind of ”dig the past” more precisely. With journals you don’t have to rely solely on your memory. It is also great for my mental health to write down my thoughts and happenings.
What do you usually journal about?
My first entry of the day is about how I slept. I have an app called “Pillow” to track my sleep and I add a summary of the nights sleep from it to Day One. If I remember my dreams, I write all that I can remember from them. This has helped me a lot to remember my dreams. I also journal about stuff I have done at work (I have a separate journal for that), about ice hockey, and news and stuff from newspapers that interests me.
“As time goes by and I’m getting older, it is great to kind of ”dig the past” more precisely. With journals you don’t have to rely solely on your memory. It is also great for my mental health to write down my thoughts and happenings.”
When do you journal each day?
I journal “on the go” and Day One is really great for that. I don’t really have a routine for journaling.
What tips or advice would you give others who want to build a journaling habit?
For me it was first hard to start, as I didn’t know what to write. But as I just kept writing things in my journal, it has been much easier, and now I just couldn’t live without doing it. So to build a streak, start with your writing about how you slept at night, and add at least a few entries about your day.
What have you learned from keeping a journal?
I would like to say something wise and meaningful, but unfortunately I can’t. I just journal.
What is your favorite thing about the Day One app?
I know that a ”picture tells more than a thousand words” is a cliché, but adding photos to my journal is great. I just checked that I have nearly 10000 entries, and almost 25,000 photos in them. I also like that you can ”speech-to-text” in journals. However, I like to write more with a keyboard, because when I speak, my mind seems to wander more than writing with a keyboard. The search function is also ace. I use that a lot.
How has Day One helped you journal consistently?
Day One is the key to journaling consistently. It is so easy to add an entry and write something.
What else you would like to share about your journaling streak?
I think it is really satisfying to see big numbers in my journal streak, but that is not really the purpose of my journaling. I journal just because I want to. It is fun to journal!
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The Day One journaling app makes it easy to build and maintain a daily journaling habit. Daily journaling reminders, daily writing prompts, and journal streaks are designed to help keep you motivated and consistently journaling.
