process

How I Stay Productive

I use a simple Markdown daily log files to keep track of everything I do.

There is a lot going on. To stay on top of everything I need to do and ongoing tasks, I use simple plain Markdown text files for my daily logs. The files are stored locally on my machine, but they are part of a private GitHub repo for backup. I use Typora as my Markdown text editor; it is lightweight, fast, and understands GitHub Markdown flavor. Each month I start a new file, here is the start of May 2025 daily log file:

May 2025 personal log

The month is the H1 heading, followed by every day H2 sections. Each day has a list of tasks / things.

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# May 2025

## Day of week YYYY-MM-DD

- task 1
  - details
- action 2
- [ ] todo 3

Sometimes I do work / personal tasks on Saturday and Sunday under the ## The Weekend heading section.

The weekend chapter

I use - [ ] task syntax to have Markdown checkboxes. When I finish the task, I click on the checkbox to close it. At the end of each month, I look over the month's log file to find any unfinished tasks and probably copy / paste them into the month's file.

Markdown files

Before using simple local text files I used online task sites like Pivotal Tracker and others. But I find that using local Markdown text files and a local editor works better for me:

  • fast
  • local and offline
  • simple text search

Markdown files might not have the full "label", "projects" and other organizational features, but I do not miss those.

Benefits

I have been keeping daily logs for the last 6 years

Daily logs since 2019

This system benefits me in multiple ways:

  • I do not forget (as much as I used to forget) to do professional and personal tasks
  • Typora editor is always open on my laptop
  • I actually read blog posts and watch videos suggested by the professional newsletters that arrive in my mailbox. I might not read a blog post right away, but I will finish reading it eventually
  • daily work stand-ups are easy: look over the daily log and pick a few items relevant to the team
  • I can look back at how my work changes, read What I Have Done - An Analysis

Tip: my current company Mercari does 3 and 6 month professional reviews. Having a daily log helps me quickly list work contributions for self-assessment. I can even mark tasks that I think should be on my "work review achievements" as I finish them off. I can use a simple bold font label like this:

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- [x] run sanity set of tests on Firefox browser **work achievement**

Work achievement label for a few important tasks

The above screenshot shows a completed task "good candidate for a video" for a particular glebbahmutov.com/cypress-examples recipe. I have finished adding a new Cypress testing example to the website, and make a task to record a video showing how to write this test. Once I record the video, I mark off this checkbox.

Even writing this blog post will be an entry in the Daily Logs, together with its promotion on social media, similar to the entry below

Writing and promoting a blog post task

My Typora editor supports custom color themes, sometimes I switch a theme just to get something fresh in front of my eyes. Here is a light color scheme called "Gothic"

Daily log shown with Gothic color theme

If you are not using a running daily Markdown log, give it a try.