How One App Changed the Way I Work (and Think)
4 minute read / by Sam Daugherty / May 7th, 2025
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Imagine this: you've been at your job for 8 years and you're ready for a change. You dust off your old resume to update it, look at your portfolio website if you have one, and realize all of it is shit. Your current job isn't even on your resume, let alone the two promotions you got. When did you get those? Not sure. What did you do in each role? When did you launch that great new product feature? Last year? The year before? Do you have metrics to demonstrate your success? No? Can you find them? I got anxious just typing that.
Photo by Finde Zukunft on Unsplash
Now, imagine you just got laid off and you're doing this in panic mode, wondering if you're going to starve and become homeless in the throes of volatile capitalism. Trust me, it happens! I see posts about it on LinkedIn every single day. I learned that lesson the hard way myself.
So when a tool comes along that makes keeping track of all that easier, I have to try it out. And, sometimes, that new tool becomes irreplaceable. It completely revolutionizes how you do something, and you can never look back. The Day One App is one of those products, which is why I just had to share it with you (and no, they did not pay me to write this).
The Day One App completely changed the way I work and track my productivity. I spent years working in the native Notes app on my phone or laptop, but it was hard to organize and not entirely convenient, especially when I needed to look back and see what I'd actually done. Then, one afternoon, a colleague mentioned Day One. So I thought I'd give it a try. It was free, so why not?
And, yeah, I know, it's a journaling app. But, isn't that what tracking your work is? You're just journaling about your projects, meetings, research, and metrics. So doesn't it make sense that a journaling app would be an ideal place for that? I never really looked at it that way, but now I can never go back.
I never really looked at it that way, but now I can never go back.
Free or not, I eventually paid for the premium version because it was so great. And I hate paying for premium versions, so that's saying something.
What I Love
Browser syncing: This one scored high on the list for me. Depending on where you work, you can't always freely install apps or log in to your own Apple account on your work computer. Day One is available as a phone app, computer application, but also in the browser, which has come in handy at jobs where IT has super-control of my device. I can still notate in the browser and have my entries available on my personal device when I need them.
So many templates: I'm a big fan of templates when it comes to notes, and Day One allows me to create my own. It's incredibly helpful and I'm constantly editing it and changing it to suit my needs as they change. But it also comes pre-loaded with dozens of templates for anything you want to do. Gratitude, workouts, productivity, to-do lists; you name it, there's a template for it. And they're all great too. I'm a big fan of the 5-Minute Morning template to start my day off right.
Multiple Journals (Premium feature): Like I said, I paid for premium. It was worth it to me for the multiple journals alone. This is partly due to how I'm using it (your mileage may vary). But having separate journals for daily notes to track my work, and a second where I only compile accomplishments, successes, and metrics, is great. I can look back over my week if I need to recall something, or switch over to the accomplishments when I need to write a case study and want to be very specific with how successful the project was.
Tagging: I know, I know. This isn't unique to Day One. But I do feel like their tags work incredibly well and make it easier for me to manage my notes. Especially considering how I use it, for keeping track of my work to update my resume and portfolio, the tags make it super handy when it's time to do that work. I can quickly and easily find every important project, the notes that go with it, the files I need, and then update my resume and portfolio quickly and easily. Half the work is already done in my daily notes.
Go Download It
First off, if you're not using a daily journal, start now. And give yourself grace, it will take time to form a new habit. It's okay to rely on reminders and scheduled times on your calendar to make sure you do it. Forming new habits can be hard, so take advantage of technology that helps you.
Some days are pretty boring, and I don't have much to say. That's a normal part of working.
I don't always journal daily for personal stuff, but I try to make at least one post per week there. Same with the gratitude journal. Hell, same with tracking my work! Some days are pretty boring, and I don't have much to say. That's a normal part of working. You'll learn what's important and what isn't with time.
Where journaling is especially beneficial, though, is year-end reviews and when I'm on the job hunt. Keeping track of notes, tagging certain topics I need to revisit later, and just having a reminder of every product launch and accomplishment is immensely beneficial to my career. It's helpful at review time, when asking for a promotion, or when I need to update my resume or portfolio. Especially with writing case studies.
It's why, whenever I'm writing a case study, I can confidently say "improved application completion by 18%." I didn't make that shit up; I wrote it down, tracked it, tagged it, and referenced that data when I needed it. There's no worse feeling than trying to write a case study and not even remembering if the project was successful. And hiring managers prefer "44% increase in profits per order placed" over "successfully increased profits" 10 times out of 10.
At the very least, start tracking your workday by giving Day One a try. After all, it's free, so why not?