97 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
97 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: How to Actually Use DearDiary
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date: 2026-03-26
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author: Konrad Lother
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excerpt: Stop writing essays. Start capturing moments.
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---
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# How to Actually Use DearDiary
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Here's the thing about journaling: most people don't do it because they don't have time to write paragraphs at the end of the day.
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I built DearDiary because I wanted to remember my life. Not write essays.
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## The Core Idea
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You capture events throughout the day. In seconds. Then AI writes your diary.
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That's it.
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Not "write down your thoughts." Not "reflect on your day." Just: what happened?
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## Step 1: Capture Everything
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Press **Ctrl+J**. Type what happened. Enter.
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Examples:
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- "Coffee with Marcus at that new place downtown"
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- "Finished chapter 5 of the ML book"
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- "Got caught in rain walking back from the station"
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- "Argument with Sarah about the project direction - she's probably right"
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Three seconds. Done.
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Don't think. Don't edit. Just capture.
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## Step 2: Keep Going
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Throughout the day, whenever something happens that might be worth remembering:
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- A conversation that mattered
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- Something you learned
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- How you felt
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- What you ate
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- Where you went
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Short notes. Bullet points. Voice memos if you're driving.
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A short note beats no note.
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## Step 3: Generate Your Diary
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When you're ready, click **Generate**.
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AI reads all your events and writes a narrative diary entry. Not a summary. A story.
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## Step 4: Make It Better
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Not happy with the result? Add instructions and regenerate.
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> "Focus on the conversations I had"
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> "Make it more concise"
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> "I want more detail about the technical work"
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Or don't. The AI diary is a suggestion, not scripture.
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## The Secret
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Be specific.
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Bad: "Had lunch"
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Good: "Lunch with Anna at the Italian place, she mentioned moving to Berlin next month"
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Bad: "Meeting"
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Good: "Project kickoff meeting - new client wants delivery by June, seems doable"
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Specific notes = interesting diaries.
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## Why This Works
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Traditional journaling asks you to reconstruct your day from memory at 11pm when you're tired.
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DearDiary asks you to note things in 3 seconds when they happen.
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3 seconds beats reconstructing from memory every time.
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## What You Get
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At the end of the week, you have:
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- A diary entry for each day
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- The actual events, not reconstructed memories
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- Locations, times, context
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- Something you can actually read and remember from
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Not perfect. But real.
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That's the point.
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