Case studies

Jerome - Work Journal

Jerome works in Marketing and started using Forever Diary as a daily work diary in August 2023. After more than 3 months of documenting his work and reviewing his entries, Jerome managed to secure a promotion and a salary raise at his company.

"I'd been working in Marketing for 3 years and hadn't managed to move my way up in the team. I took a course on how to progress in my career and one of the main techniques I learned was to document my work, the achievements I'd made and the goals I set for my progression."

"I started using Forever Diary to easily jot down some notes about my day's work and consider how it aligns with my professional targets. The highlight feature was useful because I could write a one-line summary of the day. That made it easier to review when I looked back at my entries. I wrote here also comments that I got from my manager and colleagues."

"Before I had my annual review in December, I went through all the notes I had kept and made a list of my highlights. I also added some that I had in my memory from before I started using Forever Diary, and brought the list to my manager. I outlined some of my goals during the review, and used my list of achievements to show that I was moving towards my goals, including a promotion to senior executive."

"The meeting was a success and my manager agreed to the promotion. I got a good raise to go with it and now I've been working in the new role since the beginning of the year. I'm given more responsibility, including managing my own accounts and dealing with clients on a daily basis."

"I've continued keeping my work journal since my promotion, and now I'm using the labels to keep track of each of my clients and mark my positive achievements."

Jerome's story in not uncommon. By building up a regular habit to document his work, he was able to take a step in the right direction along his career path.

But Forever Diary is not just useful as a professional diary, it can also be used as a personal diary, as we'll see in the next case study.

Astrid - Personal Diary

Astrid started using Forever Diary as a personal diary in July 2023. Her goals were unclear when she first started journaling, but she'd read online that journaling was a good daily habit and wanted to give it a go.

"I wasn't sure what to write when I first opened Forever Diary. I didn't even really know what I was trying to get out of it. I read some mental health advice online about keeping a journal and didn't want to order a physical journal online. Instead I signed up for Forever Diary, which was so easy and fast. The page opens right up to your daily entry after you sign up."

"The first few entries were not very good. I just wrote like summaries of what I did every day, which was boring because it was mostly about work and what I ate. After about a week I was ready to give up on it. I couldn't see what benefit it was giving me. But then I decided to write down my feelings and emotions. I can have some pretty low days sometimes. I get stressed with work and writing suddenly gave me an outlet for those negative emotions."

"I get on well with my colleagues, but it's pretty nice being able to write about them in any way I want without worrying that they might one day read what I write about them. Sometimes it's quite negative."

"Obviously I have good days too. I have 2 amazing labradors that always make my days better, and walking them and going on mini adventures is such a great relief to me, especially on those difficult days. When I read back through my journal entries, I realize that their company can really change my mood. I started to appreciate the time I spend with them so much more, and that made me change my priorities when I have some free time. I usually choose to spend time with friends in my spare time, but the unconditional love I get from dogs without having to hear any gossip or boyfriend or girlfriend drama makes me feel so much better."

"I think I will continue with Forever Diary for a while, it's easier than having a paper journal just because I don't need to carry it around with me and I can just update my entry on my phone when I'm out. When I was on holiday in November, I travelled light, so still having my diary with me was really lovely. If it was an actual book, I might not have had space for it, or maybe I would have just forgotten it."

"I use the email reminders to remind me every day to update my daily entry at 9:30pm. Most days I add little bits here and there every few hours, just as the thought comes to my mind, but I usually set aside some time before I go to bed to just review what I've already written and add some more detail. I don't censor myself either, I know that there's no risk of writing whatever I want, so I do it."

Astrid found her voice with the help of Forever Diary. By writing about her feelings and emotional state, she was able to narrow down the events in her daily life that bring her the most joy, those that cause her stress and other negative emotions, and improve her mental wellbeing by writing regularly in her diary.