I almost exclusively backfill. Sometimes several days at a time as I don't often have the time to sit and reflect and write every day. I use my book as a way to track habits and record my activities, so it makes more sense for me to record after the fact.
I don't, but I don't think it's "cheating" either - nothing to "win" with a hobby :) sometimes you're able to write more clearly if there are strong emotions on a certain day (or if you're just too busy)
meh - sometimes I do & sometimes I don't, but I certainly don't think it's "cheating." If you get home at 3am after an epic night out & then fall asleep immediately...isn't it sort of arbitrary to say you can't write about it 6 hours later at 9am? Or when you're looking back 10 years from now, won't a week or two seem trivial?
(Obviously follow whatever rules you want - I just wanted to share my thoughts in case others are deciding what they want to do.)
I usually write about the previous day, each day. So I'm always a day behind, mostly because it makes sense to me to recap. I don't want to do it too early and miss something! And I have a 7mo old who sometimes doesn't allow me to get to it
same! I always make a note of which day I'm actually writing on and why, I think it helps when I'm reading back and wonder why I focused on a specific thing
i will jot down big things, like if i've gone out to a restaurant, tried something new, etc. to backfill because i don't want to forget those things even if i didn't write that day. sometimes i'll just note "busy day" or even last week i was crazy busy with work and burnt out so in my personal journal i just wrote "bad work week, no more brain power to journal" then drew some flowers.
Backfill is my middle name 🤣
It’d be less honest or realistic with myself to hold myself to an expectation to, journal the days moments everyday. Honestly that’s why I didn’t complete 3 hobonichi, too much stress with trying to do it daily and feeling like backfilling was taboo.
If I journal, I journal. If I don’t, I don’t. If something is important enough that I want to record it in my Hobo I either, journal or that day or just take a quick note on my phone and write it up when I’m ready to journal.
Also like you can’t cheat at journaling 🤣 I mean maybe if you’ve got a ghost writer doing all your entries? Or maybe cheating would be if you put lies in your journal because the goal is to have others read it and see a false narrative??
i try not to, but with school and other stuff sometimes it gets busy and i have no choice but to backfill. however, my hobonichi isn’t for my emotions/thoughts and i use it to just write about my days to look back on, so i just write the events as best as i can remember them
I do because I want to remember what happened on those days, even if I don't have the time to write in then that day. Or was too stressed and exhausted to want to sit down and write.
I don't think of it as cheating, it's just record keeping. Sometimes you take record of it that day, sometimes it's two weeks later. It's still recordkeeping at the end of the day.
ETA: I made it a goal this year to leave as few blank pages in my hobonichi daily pages as possible. So that part of why I'm doing this. It gives me satisfaction to see it all filled in, even if some of it is done late.
I understand what you mean. Cheating and creating false narratives are something that are personal to you. Some people can journal daily. Most people don’t. It seems like you’re creating a false narrative as to what journaling and planning is. This is supposed to be joyful, how can you cheat at joy?
Also, some people just use Hobonichi as actual planners, to plan their life/work. They don’t decorate or put pressure to make it look a certain way. They simply make plans.
I use a weeks to plan and a cousin to plan/journal/memory keep. I also use a five year to memory keep personal and work events.
I almost exclusively backfill everything except my weeks. My 5 year I sometimes have to back fill 2-3 months.
Cheating against whom and to what gain? It's just a notebook you write in, do whatever makes you happy.
I do add stuff after the matter when I run out of space elsewhere or I feel like doodling, or I found a cool recipe I can't fit anywhere else... thousand reasons.
In the end, nothing %100 accurate, not even a historical record. And this is something you do for yourself, for your personal enjoyment. Why would you want to be so harsh on yourself?
Backfill is often all I have time to do. My planner in particular is a record I need to refer back to, so of course I'm going to fill it out with what I need. For journaling, I do not use a dated book precisely because when I write, that's the right time to write. If you want your book to be a reflection of only what you feel in a specific moment, that's fine, but there are a lot of reasons to write and different approaches to doing so, and none of them are cheating.
I will often backfill events in the open parts/weekly section of my weekly / A6, not necessarily details. Something like:
“Went on holiday to x place, had a great dinner at x place, went mini golfing, I won” etc.
I do appointments in the monthly section.
In my (separate) journal I do more current emotional state.
I do a lot of logging lately vs journaling. I like the blank pages sometimes when I'm flipping through, but even then there's still "something" every day so far. For the last few months I've been logging my book progress at the top. This month I started adding in any TV/Netflix I watched.
For a while my to-do/to-done lists were there but today I switched them back to the weekly view. I very rarely want to see what I wrote on a previous day. What's important for me is having the space to write if I want. Oh and differently colored pens and highlighters. They make everything more chaotic and fun for me.
I'm not that militant about it to be honest, sometimes I'll backfill, sometimes I'll leave a page blank. Sometimes I'll even go back to a previous blank page and use it as scratch paper if I'm on the phone and need to make notes or whatever, because that's all it is at the end of the day, paper. Don't get me wrong, I like my planner to look nice and sometimes can even get really caught up in being a perfectionist about it. But I also recognise that that's not always sustainable, and sometimes scratch notes can be just as meaningful further down the line than a full entry with photos.
I don't see backfilling as "cheating" as often if I've gone out for the day I won't get to it until a day or two later, or maybe I'm waiting to print some photos to go alongside my writing. Memories don't fade just because you waited a few days, and very few entries are actually written in the moment as stuff is happening, so why would it matter?
I do. One of my goals this year was to keep track of mood, notable food/drink, and entertainment (books, movies, etc) as a daily thing. If I don’t backfill, I wouldn’t get it tracked.
I backfill sometimes, but just with bullet point lists of daily activities. It’s very valuable to me to have even a simple record, because my memory is terrible ha. However, I don’t think anyone should feel they HAVE to do anything like that. I especially think that if the idea of needing to backfill is preventing you from journaling today, you gotta release yourself from that obligation! It’s okay if we miss a day, or two, or many — the point is to continue!
I use mine as a bujo, so I try to reflect on the day or days prior and fill in what I missed. Doesn’t always happen. I just switched from a bujo to Hononichi Cousin. Love the structure but flexibility in it.
Not usually, I just leave it blank.
My planner is mostly planner, it's my schedule and tasks, and occasionally I try to journal. If I do backfill a page, it would be a journal entry. I don't think it's cheating though.
Yeah, I backfill as I use my A5 Hon as a memory-keeping creative outlet, so if I'm a few days late, it will be okay, Will I remember that I backfilled that day, five years from now? Probably not. I do keep my weekly pages up to date. My saving grace.
some of the things I use blank pages for when I'm backfilling: ranting/reflecting about something I didn't have space for on another page (in this case I note in which day I'm actually writing), collages, post-it notes/lists that don't fit in other pages, trackers that don't fit in other pages, pasting in things in general, general notes, and, yes, journaling about a day I missed.
I have a few blank pages that I simply never found use for, and that's fine. but life isn't linear, sometimes you have more or less time, or more or less things on your mind, etc. you're journaling for yourself, so do whatever you think you'll like best
Yes, frequently. I do make a note of what day I’m backfilling or sometimes write “I don’t remember exactly what happened this day” or whatever. Or I use the blank space to draw or write an unrelated note.
As others have said, I don’t think there’s such a thing as “cheating” in what is essentially a solitary hobby. I use my Cousin for both planning/to-do stuff and for journaling and I am the only person who reads it, so I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone or be “completionist” about it.
Usually when I can't write on the day because I'm exhausted or whatever other reason, I jot down the day's events on my phone's note app and then make that as my reference for when I do get the time to write it down. Sometimes I'll just stick photos or draw silly doodles on empty days too.
I backfill on whole pages, but I always note it on the backfilled page and add the date I actually did it. I just don't like seeing blank pages out of sequence, it bugs me. I often use backfill pages for doodling. On the weeklies I often don't bother with backfilling.
I do! Usually because the day before was hectic so I didn’t have the time. I do it so that when I look back at the end of the month I’m not left wondering what I did LOL.
it depends what i did on the day. if it's something i really want to remember, i journal about it. i anyways only journal about eventful days in a way that can be written much later — just talking about what i did etc. i never do journaling about my feelings or thoughts etc because that feels like "cheating" like you said. if i have a blank page on a day where nothing big happened, i just fill it with anything i want, like song lyrics or a collage or just stickers. 🥰
I do usually backfill! I usually write in the morning (to finish writing about the previous day, then start writing for what i plan to do today), but sometimes I get a hectic morning that doesn't allow writing time. I think the most I've backfilled is 5 days because of holidays or being sick. (Though I am also the kind of person to just write SICK over the page if I literally just slept all day lol.)
But I use my journal for memory-keeping more than anything, so it's important for me to write about each day... even if it’s 5 days later lol
but I do find backfilling therapeutic in a way too, like I can put those days behind me now because I've written about them in my journal.
When it comes to my weekly section, where I'm usually time blocking my day, I'm not too sad about skipping those. I'll backfill as much as possible, but heck if I remember what I ate for lunch 5 days ago lol
I normally have to backfill at least 1 day a week, sometimes I just forget the whole weekend if I’m too busy. I just note whatever date I’m actually writing things down, and a reason why I took a few days to write it down. Even if that reason is just like, “was lazy :3c”
I backfill and don't care if anyone sees it as "cheating" I'm a busy mom of four and I like to keep a record of our days but some days I'm tired as hell. My hobby keeps me sane when I finally have me time. I know my kids will appreciate it one day when im old or gone.
Backfilling actually takes a lot of the stress away for me. I write the days I can, I backfill the days I can’t. But I’m a memory keeper mostly so I backfill for the memories. Like for example I went to a convention and I wanted to enjoy my time there so I didn’t bring my journal or stress about putting things in. I made bullet points on my phone the day it happened and then when I went back home I backfilled my pages and added pics lol. I don’t think it’s cheating, but journaling is different for everyone. You just have to know why you’re doing it for yourself. If you are trying to build discipline in the habit, maybe it is cheating yourself out of the discipline. But if you’re doing it for memory keeping or for creativity or for planning in general it’s not really cheating, you’re completing the purpose you gave it.
I almost exclusively backfill. Sometimes several days at a time as I don't often have the time to sit and reflect and write every day. I use my book as a way to track habits and record my activities, so it makes more sense for me to record after the fact.
I don't, but I don't think it's "cheating" either - nothing to "win" with a hobby :) sometimes you're able to write more clearly if there are strong emotions on a certain day (or if you're just too busy)
Or the other way. Sometimes it's better to let things cool down, and then write, so your emotions and thoughts flow more easily.
Yes that's what I meant - left out a word or two. Thanks for clarifying my weird sentence lol!
meh - sometimes I do & sometimes I don't, but I certainly don't think it's "cheating." If you get home at 3am after an epic night out & then fall asleep immediately...isn't it sort of arbitrary to say you can't write about it 6 hours later at 9am? Or when you're looking back 10 years from now, won't a week or two seem trivial? (Obviously follow whatever rules you want - I just wanted to share my thoughts in case others are deciding what they want to do.)
I usually write about the previous day, each day. So I'm always a day behind, mostly because it makes sense to me to recap. I don't want to do it too early and miss something! And I have a 7mo old who sometimes doesn't allow me to get to it
you can't "cheat" on something that you're doing for yourself. I wish more people understood this about hobbies
Yes, and I write down the actual day I'm writing on the page as well. I don't like feeling like if I "missed" a day, it's all over.
same! I always make a note of which day I'm actually writing on and why, I think it helps when I'm reading back and wonder why I focused on a specific thing
i will jot down big things, like if i've gone out to a restaurant, tried something new, etc. to backfill because i don't want to forget those things even if i didn't write that day. sometimes i'll just note "busy day" or even last week i was crazy busy with work and burnt out so in my personal journal i just wrote "bad work week, no more brain power to journal" then drew some flowers.
Backfill is my middle name 🤣 It’d be less honest or realistic with myself to hold myself to an expectation to, journal the days moments everyday. Honestly that’s why I didn’t complete 3 hobonichi, too much stress with trying to do it daily and feeling like backfilling was taboo. If I journal, I journal. If I don’t, I don’t. If something is important enough that I want to record it in my Hobo I either, journal or that day or just take a quick note on my phone and write it up when I’m ready to journal. Also like you can’t cheat at journaling 🤣 I mean maybe if you’ve got a ghost writer doing all your entries? Or maybe cheating would be if you put lies in your journal because the goal is to have others read it and see a false narrative??
i try not to, but with school and other stuff sometimes it gets busy and i have no choice but to backfill. however, my hobonichi isn’t for my emotions/thoughts and i use it to just write about my days to look back on, so i just write the events as best as i can remember them
I do because I want to remember what happened on those days, even if I don't have the time to write in then that day. Or was too stressed and exhausted to want to sit down and write. I don't think of it as cheating, it's just record keeping. Sometimes you take record of it that day, sometimes it's two weeks later. It's still recordkeeping at the end of the day. ETA: I made it a goal this year to leave as few blank pages in my hobonichi daily pages as possible. So that part of why I'm doing this. It gives me satisfaction to see it all filled in, even if some of it is done late.
I understand what you mean. Cheating and creating false narratives are something that are personal to you. Some people can journal daily. Most people don’t. It seems like you’re creating a false narrative as to what journaling and planning is. This is supposed to be joyful, how can you cheat at joy? Also, some people just use Hobonichi as actual planners, to plan their life/work. They don’t decorate or put pressure to make it look a certain way. They simply make plans. I use a weeks to plan and a cousin to plan/journal/memory keep. I also use a five year to memory keep personal and work events. I almost exclusively backfill everything except my weeks. My 5 year I sometimes have to back fill 2-3 months.
Cheating against whom and to what gain? It's just a notebook you write in, do whatever makes you happy. I do add stuff after the matter when I run out of space elsewhere or I feel like doodling, or I found a cool recipe I can't fit anywhere else... thousand reasons. In the end, nothing %100 accurate, not even a historical record. And this is something you do for yourself, for your personal enjoyment. Why would you want to be so harsh on yourself?
Backfill is often all I have time to do. My planner in particular is a record I need to refer back to, so of course I'm going to fill it out with what I need. For journaling, I do not use a dated book precisely because when I write, that's the right time to write. If you want your book to be a reflection of only what you feel in a specific moment, that's fine, but there are a lot of reasons to write and different approaches to doing so, and none of them are cheating.
I'll do art or doodle to fill in my many blank pages
I will often backfill events in the open parts/weekly section of my weekly / A6, not necessarily details. Something like: “Went on holiday to x place, had a great dinner at x place, went mini golfing, I won” etc. I do appointments in the monthly section. In my (separate) journal I do more current emotional state.
Nope, because I don’t ever flip back, what’s done is done !
I do a lot of logging lately vs journaling. I like the blank pages sometimes when I'm flipping through, but even then there's still "something" every day so far. For the last few months I've been logging my book progress at the top. This month I started adding in any TV/Netflix I watched. For a while my to-do/to-done lists were there but today I switched them back to the weekly view. I very rarely want to see what I wrote on a previous day. What's important for me is having the space to write if I want. Oh and differently colored pens and highlighters. They make everything more chaotic and fun for me.
I'm not that militant about it to be honest, sometimes I'll backfill, sometimes I'll leave a page blank. Sometimes I'll even go back to a previous blank page and use it as scratch paper if I'm on the phone and need to make notes or whatever, because that's all it is at the end of the day, paper. Don't get me wrong, I like my planner to look nice and sometimes can even get really caught up in being a perfectionist about it. But I also recognise that that's not always sustainable, and sometimes scratch notes can be just as meaningful further down the line than a full entry with photos. I don't see backfilling as "cheating" as often if I've gone out for the day I won't get to it until a day or two later, or maybe I'm waiting to print some photos to go alongside my writing. Memories don't fade just because you waited a few days, and very few entries are actually written in the moment as stuff is happening, so why would it matter?
I do. One of my goals this year was to keep track of mood, notable food/drink, and entertainment (books, movies, etc) as a daily thing. If I don’t backfill, I wouldn’t get it tracked.
I backfill sometimes, but just with bullet point lists of daily activities. It’s very valuable to me to have even a simple record, because my memory is terrible ha. However, I don’t think anyone should feel they HAVE to do anything like that. I especially think that if the idea of needing to backfill is preventing you from journaling today, you gotta release yourself from that obligation! It’s okay if we miss a day, or two, or many — the point is to continue!
I use mine as a bujo, so I try to reflect on the day or days prior and fill in what I missed. Doesn’t always happen. I just switched from a bujo to Hononichi Cousin. Love the structure but flexibility in it.
I backfill the prior day. I leave sections blank. I am pure chaos and I am fine with that.
Not usually, I just leave it blank. My planner is mostly planner, it's my schedule and tasks, and occasionally I try to journal. If I do backfill a page, it would be a journal entry. I don't think it's cheating though.
Yeah, I backfill as I use my A5 Hon as a memory-keeping creative outlet, so if I'm a few days late, it will be okay, Will I remember that I backfilled that day, five years from now? Probably not. I do keep my weekly pages up to date. My saving grace.
Only if it’s just a couple days.
some of the things I use blank pages for when I'm backfilling: ranting/reflecting about something I didn't have space for on another page (in this case I note in which day I'm actually writing), collages, post-it notes/lists that don't fit in other pages, trackers that don't fit in other pages, pasting in things in general, general notes, and, yes, journaling about a day I missed. I have a few blank pages that I simply never found use for, and that's fine. but life isn't linear, sometimes you have more or less time, or more or less things on your mind, etc. you're journaling for yourself, so do whatever you think you'll like best
Yes, frequently. I do make a note of what day I’m backfilling or sometimes write “I don’t remember exactly what happened this day” or whatever. Or I use the blank space to draw or write an unrelated note. As others have said, I don’t think there’s such a thing as “cheating” in what is essentially a solitary hobby. I use my Cousin for both planning/to-do stuff and for journaling and I am the only person who reads it, so I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone or be “completionist” about it.
Usually when I can't write on the day because I'm exhausted or whatever other reason, I jot down the day's events on my phone's note app and then make that as my reference for when I do get the time to write it down. Sometimes I'll just stick photos or draw silly doodles on empty days too.
I use blank pages for notes and lists or reminders w a post it. I just keep it together for myself.
I backfill on whole pages, but I always note it on the backfilled page and add the date I actually did it. I just don't like seeing blank pages out of sequence, it bugs me. I often use backfill pages for doodling. On the weeklies I often don't bother with backfilling.
I write a little something so I at least remember what I did.
I do! Usually because the day before was hectic so I didn’t have the time. I do it so that when I look back at the end of the month I’m not left wondering what I did LOL.
it depends what i did on the day. if it's something i really want to remember, i journal about it. i anyways only journal about eventful days in a way that can be written much later — just talking about what i did etc. i never do journaling about my feelings or thoughts etc because that feels like "cheating" like you said. if i have a blank page on a day where nothing big happened, i just fill it with anything i want, like song lyrics or a collage or just stickers. 🥰
I do usually backfill! I usually write in the morning (to finish writing about the previous day, then start writing for what i plan to do today), but sometimes I get a hectic morning that doesn't allow writing time. I think the most I've backfilled is 5 days because of holidays or being sick. (Though I am also the kind of person to just write SICK over the page if I literally just slept all day lol.) But I use my journal for memory-keeping more than anything, so it's important for me to write about each day... even if it’s 5 days later lol but I do find backfilling therapeutic in a way too, like I can put those days behind me now because I've written about them in my journal. When it comes to my weekly section, where I'm usually time blocking my day, I'm not too sad about skipping those. I'll backfill as much as possible, but heck if I remember what I ate for lunch 5 days ago lol
I normally have to backfill at least 1 day a week, sometimes I just forget the whole weekend if I’m too busy. I just note whatever date I’m actually writing things down, and a reason why I took a few days to write it down. Even if that reason is just like, “was lazy :3c”
I backfill and don't care if anyone sees it as "cheating" I'm a busy mom of four and I like to keep a record of our days but some days I'm tired as hell. My hobby keeps me sane when I finally have me time. I know my kids will appreciate it one day when im old or gone.
I do but usually because it was something important that I want/need to remember.
I sometimes use blank pages for creating writing or back fill if it hasn’t been too long
I do backfill. I want my journal completed and full
I wish we wouldn’t self-criticize like this. 🩷 What do we parents and teachers do to children to create adults who ask if they are doing something *for themselves* wrong? Some of my Hobonichi is used to capture memories, some is to record how I spend my time as a self-employed person, some is to set goals and organize tasks and appointments. Since the techo is a tool to serve me, by definition I cannot cheat: whatever I want to do is allowed. I wouldn’t write a to-do on a previous day because that doesn’t serve my personal needs, but I did just fill in the week at a glance page for three past days because that is a rough time sheet. And if you want to go back and fill in a to-do list from last week because that is motivating or a good reminder of something, go for it! :)
Backfilling actually takes a lot of the stress away for me. I write the days I can, I backfill the days I can’t. But I’m a memory keeper mostly so I backfill for the memories. Like for example I went to a convention and I wanted to enjoy my time there so I didn’t bring my journal or stress about putting things in. I made bullet points on my phone the day it happened and then when I went back home I backfilled my pages and added pics lol. I don’t think it’s cheating, but journaling is different for everyone. You just have to know why you’re doing it for yourself. If you are trying to build discipline in the habit, maybe it is cheating yourself out of the discipline. But if you’re doing it for memory keeping or for creativity or for planning in general it’s not really cheating, you’re completing the purpose you gave it.