Lucas Brenner » Articles » My Obsidian Templates for My Diary

In my article “Review Your Own Life” I wrote about my diary routine. I have three digital Markdown templates for it, which I use in my note-taking app Obsidian with the “Template” core plugin. With minor modifications, however, the template can also be used in all other apps that support Markdown.

(The display of the Markdown code works best on computers or tablets. On mobile phones, the text quickly becomes confusing because of the small screen size).

Daily Overview

I actually keep my daily overview handwritten in a pocket notebook, but I write notes in this template throughout the day so that I don't forget anything in the evening. In the evening, I then transfer my notes in full sentences to my noteboook and delete the digital note with the keywords.

The first line creates a note title in the format “Year-Month-Day-Weekday.” The second line assigns the note to the tag #Journal/Daily-overview and the third links to the Weekly Overview, named CW Year-Number of Calendar Week.

Below that is a list of my habits that I can tick off as well as my screen time and mood for the day. At the end of the note, I record my highlights, contacts and other notes.

Weekly Overview

The beginning of the note is similar to that of the daily overview, except that here I write down the start and end dates of the week, link to the respective annual note and to the previous and subsequent weekly overview. This is followed by the weekly system maintenance, where I tidy up my computer, for example.

Below that, I list the highlights of the days in the respective week as well as my contacts. I also write down the lesson of the week as well as three things I am grateful for.

In the Markdown table that follows, I tick off my daily/weekly habits and at the very end I write a few paragraphs about how I was and reflect on the past week.

Annual Overview

The annual overview also works according to the familiar pattern. Here, however, I add the main focus of the respective year and work through my annual tasks, for example regular password changes.

This is followed by a list of the successes and growth opportunities of the year and I reflect on my life status in the categories of character/integrity, location/property, money/finances, career/occupation, knowledge/education, health/fitness and social life/relationships.

This is followed by a reflection on the previous year's goals and the setting of five new annual goals that I hope to achieve. In the paragraphs below, I briefly describe how I want to achieve these goals.

Conclusion

These are the three most important templates I use in Obsidian. With a little modification, I'm sure they'll be useful for you too and can be used in just about any note-taking app to plan life. Just copy the text or use my outline to create your own template that works for you!