I don't know about "prompting", but my practice is to go the other way about it. I habitually "prompt" myself, by making notes throughout the day - on paper and on laptop - using various data types/methods - text, image, OCR, HTML, Rich Text, audio, video, hyperlinking, etc. - and I then later delete or cross out those notes which I do
not wish to keep. I record all notes in date/time order with the view that they are all initially kept in a computerised journalised form, each prefixed with a standard date-time label format - e.g.,
2017-06-26 0150hrs (and there is a good reason for this format).
I may later organise those journal entries into other logical groups, as required, but it is not essential to do that if one has a good search/filter and tagging functionality in the journal.
Re
"The Journal" <http://www.davidrm.com/>
- That site is not really "down" as such, but seems to have a problem with a very slow response time and this may be timed-out by one's browser as "unavailable".
- I took a fairly thorough look at The Journal some time back and found it to be quite good at what it does, but not meeting my PIM requirements (a PIM being something that would also encompass journal functionality). It is in my list of "also-rans" as a trialled PIM. As an example of a good use of modern technology to provide comprehensive journal functionality, it is somewhat archaic and does not meet my requirements for journal functionality.
- Despite having looked far and wide (and still seeking), I have so far been unable to identify anything better than OneNote as a "journal" - refer: Using OneNote as a daily journal. It meets my peculiar (and admittedly fairly tough) data type requirements. If I just required text information, then I would probably plump for Connected Text as a PIM (again, a PIM being something that would also encompass journal functionality).
But is it any good?Well, to appreciate how it works, one has to "suck it and see" - try it out for oneself. Before doing that though, it is usually a good idea to jot down in detail what one
initially considers one's
requirements to be. Trialling the PIM/Journal tool my lead to the discovery of
new (previously implicit or not fully appreciated/understood) requirements.
This is a good thing, as it usefully helps to expand one's awareness of the
gap between what one
thought one's requirements were and what one had not previously understood would also be needed. This makes for a learning experience from which there is no turning back (you cannot unsee what you have seen) and it will probably make one more demanding and critical of journal/PIM functionality and technology in the future.
