How to Choose the Right App for CEO Online Journaling
Learn why many business leaders turn to journaling to build their brand and improve their leadership skills and see what features the top applications offer.
When you want to establish your own personal and professional brand online, using an online journal is an effective way to spread the word about your insights, leadership, business and philosophy. Having the right tool to help you get your message across to readers is an important decision.
Chris Chao, CEO of one of the top information technology companies in Atlanta is amongst many CEOs who use journals to fine-tune their skills, reflect on their days and improve their leadership skills.
“Setting aside as little as 10 minutes a day to record your thoughts stimulates reflection critical to making sense of the fast-moving world around you,” notes a recent Strategy and Business article. “Journaling engages the analytical, rational functions of the brain, which gives the more creative parts of your cranium space and time to work their magic.”
Below are the top online journal services that CEOs can use to build a better online persona or simply track their thoughts and perspectives.
What Features Should I Look For in a Journaling App?
The most effective apps are those that offer features that make it easier to write and publish. Some of the most common features among the top apps are:
- Easy interface. You want to be able to focus on writing, so you need a minimalist interface that lets you focus your thoughts and write well. The app you choose should also be easy to use, with a limited number of clicks or taps needed to add an entry.
- Exporting. You want to choose a product that allows for exporting into formats such as PDF, RTF or common word processing extensions that allow you to use the content wherever you want.
- Syncing. Keep your journal synchronized across your devices with an app that has synchronizing capabilities.
- Gentle automated nudges to enter your thoughts are a good way to maintain the habit.
- Visual support. You may want to add other elements to your journal, including photos, videos and graphics.
What Are the Top Online Journal Services for CEOs?
You have many choices when it comes to journaling services. Here are a few of the top options:
- Day One. Automatically add metadata such as date, location, time and weather, synchronize your entries across devices, and use a dark mode if working in low light. It also uses IFTTT (“if this then that”), a free web-based service to automate the creation of entries on multiple apps.
- Diario. A great choice when you want to add lots of images. You can add folders, tags, dates, locations and other filters.
- Diary. A simple interface makes Diary popular for shorter entries, which can be shared easily with friends and followers on Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms or via email. Provides cloud storage and reminders, too.
- Journal. An intuitive interface and clean layout highlight this product. Synchronize with Google Maps to add location metadata and street views. Export entries to file types suitable for printing. Security features include Touch ID, Face ID and PIN protection and automatic backups to Google Drive.
- LiveJournal. One of the oldest journaling apps dating to 1999, LiveJournal lets you share and read others’ journal entries while writing your own.
- Momento. Connect Momento to social media apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube and you can automatically add social activity to your journal.
- Penzu. Security is the name of the game with Penzu, which offers double password protection and 256-bit encryption, along with customizable backgrounds and fonts.
Whether for branding or reflection, the right journaling tool can improve your professional outcomes.