The most valuable book I own

The most valuable book I own is my five-year diary. I write a few short lines in it each day about what I've done that day, who I've seen, how I've felt.

This week I hit one year of entries in it. This means my entries are now stacking underneath what I was doing this time last year, in June 2025.

This June I'm settling into my new role as a product designer at Granola. Last June I was sailing around Croatia to celebrate my 30th with some of my dearest friends.

Looking back on my year of entries reminds me just how fortunate I am. As well as that sailing holiday, I've travelled around North Vietnam, spent a few days in Bangkok, celebrated the weddings of close family and friends, made a few YouTube videos, landed a few job offers, and eaten a lot of delicious food.

But on the everyday days, mostly my entries have been a few lines about how work went, what we had for dinner or watched on telly.

For a while I hadn't worked out the best time to write. I'd go a few days without an entry, then scramble a few days later to update what I'd missed; I'd check calendars, photos and Whatsapp messages, to try and remember what I'd done on each of the days that had since blurred together.

I've now found a routine. I've settled into writing in the mornings, with a shot of coffee, before my cycle to work.

And, now that I've been going at it for so long, I'm driven to keep going with it – just to avoid having gaps.

The journal I chose after a wee bit of research is this lovely one by Tamara Shopsin.

I'm no stationery connoisseur — but to me the paper is lovely (I'm currently using a 0.5mm Muji gel pen), the cloth cover is minimal, the only additional pages contain a nice world map and a list of books you've read (which is also a nice touch, as I never manage to keep track). And most importantly, it's a good size, making it easy to take with me as I travel.

I've tried and paused other writing endeavours over this year (I had been working on a novel but the big new job got in the way) but this brief writing habit is one I've kept going.

I suppose I should write about how it's changed me.

On reflection, I think writing about my days has helped me process my days. I know I'm sticking with the habit because the 'streak counter' makes me fearful of a blank entry. But I'm also definitely experiencing a sense of unease when I do miss days, and a feeling that I need to get back to the diary to write up what I did on those days. It's almost like I haven't fully turned the page on that day.

It makes me think I'm getting some unspoken benefit from it which I'm yet to fully understand.

Mostly though, it's been nice to have a little morning habit to look forward to, to reflect on the day behind, and on occasion to flick through and spend a bit longer pausing and reflecting on what's happened over the last year.

I would highly recommend picking up a multi-year diary, treating yourself to a nice pen, and starting writing daily.

PS full credit to this this video by Pete McKinnon, which encouraged me to start this.