Interstitial journaling

A few timestamped lines written in the gaps between tasks: what just happened, how it felt, what's next.

Research checked 2026-09-28. Uncertain points are marked (unverified). Tony Stubblebine's original Medium post could not be opened from the research sandbox (Medium returned 403), so his method is reconstructed from secondary sources that quote or describe it. Treat any claim sourced only to those as second-hand.

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1. At a glance

2. Summary

Interstitial journaling means writing a short, timestamped note every time you switch tasks or take a break. Each entry does three jobs at once: it closes the task you just left (what happened, where you stopped, how you feel), it logs the time (so the day becomes a readable record), and it opens the next task (the first concrete action). Tony Stubblebine named it around 2017 as a replacement for a to-do list: instead of planning the whole day up front, you plan one step at a time, at the moment you need it. The practice is tiny, free and works on paper. Its mechanisms line up well with research on task switching. Leroy (2009) found that unfinished work leaves "attention residue", Leroy and Glomb (2018) found that a one-minute "ready-to-resume" note reduces it, and Masicampo and Baumeister (2011) found that a specific plan quiets the pull of unfinished goals. Nobody has studied the whole practice directly.

3. History and origin

Who created it

Tony Stubblebine is a software entrepreneur and coach. Relevant roles:

• Co-founder and CEO of Coach.me (originally the habit app Lift), a habit-tracking and coaching service. Founding year (unverified, commonly given as 2012).
• Founder and editor of Better Humans, a Medium publication on self-improvement and habits.
• CEO of Medium from 2022 (the University of Miami Toppel course listing calls him "Medium CEO Tony Stubblebine").
• NBC News (2019) introduces him as a CEO and productivity coach who uses the method himself: "I use it for focus, I use it to work smarter."

Timeline

Cultural context

It came out of the 2010s productivity culture on Medium: habit apps, "maker vs manager" time, and a backlash against giant to-do lists. It also fits the rise of daily-notes outliners, where a timestamped line is the natural unit. It offered something to people who hate journaling: no prompts, no pages to fill, just a line when you stop.

Key quotes from the creator

• "I use it for focus, I use it to work smarter." (Stubblebine, NBC News, 2019)
• Stubblebine is widely paraphrased as saying the practice "kills procrastination, empties our brain of the last project, and then gives us space to formulate an optimal strategy for our next project" (paraphrase via secondary sources; exact wording unverified).
• NBC's summary of his advice: when you feel resistance to a task, write about the resistance in the journal, and name the very first physical step ("Open PowerPoint" rather than "Create presentation").

4. Philosophy and principles

Stated goals

1. Close the last task cleanly. Write it down so your head can let go.
2. Start the next task on purpose. Choose it and name its first step, instead of drifting into whatever tab is open.
3. See where time goes. The timestamps turn the day into a record without a separate time tracker.
4. Notice procrastination as it happens. A gap between 10:04 and 10:46 with the note "fell into Twitter" is data, not a moral failing.

Core beliefs

• The riskiest moment of a working day is the transition, not the task. Breaks are where focus leaks.
• Planning works better just in time. A plan written at 8 a.m. is stale by 11; a next step written at 10:59 is fresh.
• Feelings belong in the same log as tasks. "Feeling anxious about the call" explains the next hour better than any task list.
• Low friction beats completeness. One line counts.

The problem it solves

Task switching costs attention. Leroy (2009) called what's left over attention residue: part of your mind stays on the task you left, especially if it was unfinished. Interstitial journaling gives that residue somewhere to go (the page) and hands the brain a clear next target. It also replaces a to-do list that makes you feel behind all day with a record of what you did, which is closer to Oliver Burkeman's "done list".

5. Core components

Timestamp

Write the actual clock time, not a planned time. On paper, a narrow left column works: 10:46. Round to the nearest minute or five; precision doesn't matter. The time is what makes it a log: read in order, the stamps show how long each stretch really took. Cortex Futura's Roam write-up puts it simply: "If you write quick notes for when you start and stop with an activity, all you have to do is look over it later to get a rough idea for where your time went."

Closing note

A sentence about the task you're leaving. "Drafted the intro, stuck on the second section." "Call with the clinic done, they'll mail the form." It clears the task out of working memory.

Next step

The next task, phrased as the first physical action. NBC's example: "Open PowerPoint" instead of "Create presentation". This is what beats start-up procrastination: the step is small enough to do without deciding anything.

Feeling note

One word or a short line: tired, anxious, calm, flat, wired. Le Cunff's example entry: "Reviewed agenda and docs. Feeling a bit anxious, but I think it will go fine." Carroll's BuJo version gives moods their own signifier (=). Labelling a feeling is its own small act of regulation (affect labelling research is cited by some guides; not reviewed in depth here).

Ready-to-resume note

When you leave something unfinished (interrupted, not done), write where you were and what you'd do next. Leroy and Glomb (2018) tested exactly this: people who wrote a brief ready-to-resume plan before switching had less attention residue and did better on the interrupting task. Leroy: "The ready-to-resume plan needn't be long or elaborate."

Parking lot

Stray thoughts that arrive mid-task ("email Sam", "buy stamps") get jotted down and left. This is the same move as Cirillo's apostrophe mark in the Pomodoro Technique (see pomodoro-log.md).

Daily frame

Many people open the day with an intent entry ("08:02 Up. Slept badly. First: meds, then the bus.") and close it with a shutdown entry ("17:40 Done for the day. Tomorrow start with the grant form."). These bookends are community practice, not part of every description.

Read-back

Scan the day's entries at the end of the day or the week. Look for long gaps, repeated "stuck" notes, times of day that go well. This is where the time-tracking value shows up.

Symbols (optional)

Ryder Carroll's version (2023) logs under each timestamp with BuJo signifiers: • action, - note, = mood, o event. The Quick bullets block already has a BuJo key option, so this variant fits the existing books (see bullet-journal.md).

6. Setting it up

First setup (10 minutes)

1. Pick one place. A day page with a lined or dotted area, a pocket notebook, or one text file. One place only.
2. Make a time column. On paper, rule a line about 12 mm (half an inch) from the left, or just start each entry with the time.
3. Decide your triggers. Write an entry whenever you: start the day, finish a task, get interrupted, take a break, feel stuck, come back from a break, end the day. Start with just "finish a task" and "come back from a break" if that's too many.
4. Decide your three questions. Default: What just happened? How do I feel? What's the first step next?
5. Put a clock in view. A watch, a wall clock, or the device's clock. Reading the time should take one glance.
6. Optional: pick a symbol set (BuJo • - = o, or ✓ done, → next, ~ stuck).

First day

• First entry at the start of your working stretch: time, how you feel, first step.
• Every time you stop, write before you do anything else (before the phone, before the kettle).
• Don't go back and fill gaps from memory unless it's easy. Gaps are information.
• At the end, one closing entry: what's next tomorrow.

First week

• Days 1–2: aim for 5 entries. Missing some is expected.
• Days 3–4: add the feeling word.
• Day 5: read back all entries. Circle the longest gap. What happened there?
• Days 6–7: adjust triggers. Some people add "every time I pick up my phone".
• End of week: decide if you want paper, digital or both.

7. Daily practice

Order of operations for each entry (30–90 seconds)

1. Stop. Don't open anything new yet.
2. Write the time.
3. One line closing the last thing. If unfinished, where exactly you stopped.
4. One word or line for how you feel. If you notice resistance to the next thing, write about the resistance.
5. The next task and its first physical step.
6. Start that step.

Typical triggers across a day

Prompts (use one, not all)

• What did I just finish?
• What part is still in my head?
• Where exactly did I stop?
• What's the very first action next?
• What am I avoiding, and why?
• How's my body right now?
• How long do I think the next thing takes?

8. Rhythms

Migration isn't part of the method. Next steps are written fresh each time. Unfinished tasks either carry into the next entry or go into whatever task system you use (for example BuJo migration).

9. Page anatomy

A. Plain interstitial page (the basic form)

+--------------------------------------------------+
| DATE ____   TITLE ____________   TAGS ______     |
+-------+------------------------------------------+
| 08:05 | Up late. Foggy. Meds done.               |
|       | -> Next: coffee, then open the grant doc |
+-------+------------------------------------------+
| 08:40 | Read the brief. Section 2 is the hard    |
|       | part. -> Next: list 3 points for sec 2   |
+-------+------------------------------------------+
| 09:55 | Stopped mid-sec 2 (at "budget"). Hungry. |
|       | RESUME: numbers are in the blue folder   |
+-------+------------------------------------------+
|       |                                          |
|  ...  |  (ruled rows continue)                   |
+-------+------------------------------------------+
| SEND TO strip                       [page code]  |
+--------------------------------------------------+

• Time column: about 12 mm wide (0.5 in), roughly 1/8 of a 5.5 in page width.
• Row pitch: 6–7 mm lines. Two lines per entry is typical.
• Proportions: the log fills whatever space is left, like the Writing space block.

B. Three-part entry (Stubblebine / NBC shape)

+-------+-------------------+----+----------------------+
| TIME  | JUST DID          |FEEL| NEXT (first step)    |
+-------+-------------------+----+----------------------+
| 10:04 | Planned the day   | ok | Open draft, fix title|
| 10:46 | Lost 30 min: news | meh| Close tabs; para 2   |
| 11:45 | Para 2 done       | :) | Prep for 12:00 call  |
+-------+-------------------+----+----------------------+

• Four columns: time 12%, just did 38%, feel 10%, next 40%.
• Good for people who like boxes. Harder for longer thoughts.

C. Bullet Journal version (Carroll 2023)

 10:04
   • Finish first draft of chapter 3
   = restless
 10:46
   - Got pulled into email for 40 min
   • Back to chapter 3, section 2
 11:45
   o Team call
   - Draft 60% done. Resume at "method" heading

• Timestamp as a small heading, signifiers indented under it.
• Works in a dotted Writing space with no extra structure.

D. Pocket card (for shift work or outdoors)

+-------------------------------+
| 06:50 in  | 12:30 lunch | ... |
| ~ tired   | = better    |     |
| -> gate 3 | -> sort bins|     |
+-------------------------------+

• Index card or a strip across the bottom of a day page. Three to six cells, each a time + feel + next.

10. Worked examples

A sample day (paper, Plain page form)

07:30  Awake. Slept 6h, jaw sore. Meds + breakfast.
       -> Next: check bus times for the 9:10.
07:52  Bus is on time. Feeling ok, a bit wired.
       -> Next: pack lunch, water bottle.
08:40  At work. Crew briefing moved to 9.
       -> Next: walk the north section, note downed branches.
10:15  North section done. 4 branches logged. Hot already.
       -> Next: water break, then south section.
10:22  Break. Sat in shade 5 min. Head clearer.
10:30  -> Next: south section, start at the gate.
11:50  Stopped mid-south (at bench 7). Supervisor needs help.
       RESUME: bench 7, then the path by the pond.
12:35  Helped load truck. Lunch now. Tired, fine.
13:15  Back to south section, bench 7.
14:40  South done. Noise from mowers all afternoon = sensory 2/3.
       -> Next: fill in timesheet.
15:05  Shift over. Proud of the south section.
       Tomorrow: start with the pond path.
18:10  Home. Low spoons. Only one thing tonight:
       -> Next: text Mum back, then shower.
21:30  Done. Tomorrow's first step: bus at 8:02.

Read-back notes: the only long gap without notes (10:30–11:50) went well. Energy dipped after 14:00 when the mowers started.

A sample week (weekly read-back page)

WEEK OF 12 OCT                       entries/day
Mon ●●●●●●●●  8   Tue ●●●●●  5   Wed ●●  2
Thu ●●●●●●  6     Fri ●●●●●●●  7  Sat ●  1  Sun —

Longest gaps:      Wed 13:00-17:00 (migraine, no notes, fine)
Repeated "stuck":  paperwork x3 (always after lunch)
Best stretch:      mornings before 10:30
What drains:       mowers, phone calls after 16:00
What works:        writing RESUME before I stop
One change:        paperwork goes to the morning

A sample month (monthly tracker row + note)

OCTOBER   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9 10 11 12 13 14 15 ...
logged    ●  ●  ◐  ●  ○  ○  ●  ●  ●  ◐  ●  ●  ○  ●  ● ...
          (● 5+ entries, ◐ 1-4, ○ none)

Month note: 22 of 31 days logged. Days with a RESUME note
had fewer "stuck" entries the next morning. Afternoons
after 3 p.m. are still the low point. Next month: try a
10-minute walk at 14:30 and log how it goes.

11. Variations and offshoots

12. Community practice

What people actually do (from blogs, Ness Labs comments, Roam and Logseq forums, ADHD creators; observational, not surveyed):

• Digital first. Most public examples are in Roam, Logseq, Obsidian or a plain text file, because a hotkey stamps the time. Paper users tend to be BuJo people.
• Shorter than advertised. Most real entries are one line. Three-part entries shrink to "time + what + next".
• Triggered by the phone. Many people write an entry every time they notice they've picked up the phone. It turns doom-scrolling into a data point.
• "Stuck" notes. A popular adaptation is writing only when stuck or switching, not at every break.
• ADHD use. ADHD creators describe it as "interstitial journaling just to stay functional": a running thread that holds the day together when working memory doesn't.
• Hybrid with to-do lists. Despite the "replace your to-do list" pitch, most people keep a short list and use the journal for transitions.
• Aesthetic vs minimalist. There's little aesthetic culture around this method. It's a minimalist practice by nature; decoration would slow the entry down. BuJo users sometimes add a small clock icon or a coloured time column.

Common customisations: a feelings word bank; a "RESUME" label; a tally of distractions; a daily count of entries; putting the time on the right so the text lines up.

13. Official products and formats

Not applicable. There is no official notebook, app, company or trademark. Third-party apps exist (for example interstitial-journal.app) but none is endorsed by Stubblebine as far as this research found.

14. Tools and supplies

• Pen: anything that writes on the first try. A clicky gel or ballpoint beats a capped pen for fast entries.
• Paper: 70–90 gsm is plenty; nothing bleeds with ballpoint. Lined or dotted helps keep rows straight. The Studio's day pages already work.
• Clock: a watch or a clock in eyeline. Checking the phone for the time is a trap (it pulls you in).
• Ruler: only for the time column, once.
• Stamps: a small date or clock-face stamp is a nice extra; not needed.
• Stickers: not part of the method.
• Highlighter: optional, for marking RESUME notes or long gaps during read-back.

15. Digital and hybrid versions

Apps and templates

• Roam Research: daily note, /time to stamp, /todo for tasks (Ness Labs, Cortex Futura).
• Logseq: journals page; Interstitial Heading plugin for a timestamp hotkey.
• Obsidian: daily note with a template and a timestamp hotkey (community plugins).
• Plain text: one file per day; many editors insert the time with a shortcut.
• Dedicated apps: interstitial-journal.app and similar single-purpose loggers.

E-ink

• reMarkable, Kindle Scribe, Boox: handwrite on a template with a time column. The page can't stamp the time for you; you still read a clock.
• An e-ink reader without a pen (like the X4 companion) can't take free text easily, but it could record that a transition happened and when (see section 25b).

Scanning

• Paper entries scan well because they're short and in rows. Handwriting recognition on times (10:46) is reliable; short notes less so.

Lost or gained vs paper

16. Evidence and research

No study has tested interstitial journaling as a package. The research below supports parts of the mechanism.

Claims you'll see that aren't well supported

• "Task switching degrades performance by up to 23%" and "It can take up to 23 minutes to refocus": the 23-minute figure traces to Gloria Mark's field research on interrupted work and is often misquoted; the 23% figure has no clear source (unverified).
• "Multi-tasking results in a 40% or more reduction in cognitive performance" (Hopewalking): a common figure with an unclear source (unverified).
• "Interstitial journaling kills procrastination": plausible and widely reported, but untested.

Claimed vs supported

17. Benefits

• Cleaner task switches, less "where was I?" — evidenced (ready-to-resume plans)
• Fewer intrusive thoughts about unfinished work — evidenced (plan making)
• Brief breaks that actually restore — evidenced for micro-breaks generally; the journal just marks them
• A record of where the day went, without a timer app — claimed (logically true)
• Easier starts, via a tiny first step — claimed
• Awareness of distraction patterns — claimed
• Feelings noticed in real time instead of at night — claimed
• A "done list" that counters feeling behind — claimed (Burkeman; fits Amabile and Kramer's progress principle)
• Useful context for appointments ("when did the headaches start?") — claimed
• Near-zero cost and setup — true by design

18. Pitfalls

19. Accessibility and adaptations

• ADHD: It externalises time and working memory at the point of performance (Barkley). Make the cue unmissable: a notebook open on the keyboard, a sticky arrow on the phone case. Use a feelings word bank to avoid blank-page freeze. Allow "RESUME:" notes as the only required entry. Don't count streaks. A button press on the X4 companion could stand in for a written entry on bad days (a planned idea, section 25b).
• Autism and sensory needs: Predictable format helps: same three fields every time. Add a sensory load number (0–3) to entries; it pairs with the Sensory load block. Transitions are often the hard part, so the entry becomes a small, reliable transition ritual.
• Chronic illness and low spoons: Log fewer, bigger transitions (morning, midday, evening). Record spoons spent as a number. Entries become useful symptom context for appointments.
• Depression: Keep it tiny: "time + one thing I did". The done list effect matters here: proof that the day wasn't nothing. Don't read back on a bad day.
• Anxiety: Write the worry as "parked" with a time to deal with it. Watch for the log turning into reassurance-seeking or checking; if it does, reduce to next steps only.
• Trauma: Keep feelings optional. Allow neutral words ("ok", "numb"). Nobody needs to explain a gap. Keep the notebook private.
• Dyslexia and dysgraphia: Use symbols and ticks instead of words (✓ done, → next, ~ stuck). Voice notes with a timestamp work. Wide rows.
• Low vision: Large-print time column; thick pen; high-contrast ruling; or a screen reader in a text file with auto-timestamps.
• Motor or hand pain: Symbols only; a stamp for times; voice entry; fewer triggers. On the X4 companion, a single button press to log the time is a planned idea (section 25b).
• Trans and gender-diverse people: A private place to note dysphoria or euphoria moments in the flow of the day, alongside hormone dose timing. The "A moment I felt like me" and "Dysphoria" presets pair naturally. Keep entries off shared devices.
• Shift workers: Log by shift event, not by clock hour (in, break, lunch, out). A strip at the foot of the day page or a pocket card survives outdoor work better than a notebook.
• Low income: Free. Any scrap paper, any pen. No app needed.

20. Comparison

See pomodoro-log.md, time-block-planner.md, bullet-journal.md.

21. Combining

• With Pomodoro (pomodoro-log.md): write an interstitial entry in every break. The Pomodoro gives the rhythm; the journal gives the handoff. This is the most natural pairing, and the Toppel course says interstitial journaling was partly inspired by Pomodoro.
• With Bullet Journal (bullet-journal.md): use timestamps as headings in the daily log (Carroll's version). Unfinished next steps migrate as tasks.
• With time blocking (time-block-planner.md): the plan sits on one side; interstitial notes on the other record what really happened. Compare them at night.
• With the Emergent Task Planner (emergent-task-planner.md): its time grid can hold the stamps.
• With Ivy Lee or Top 3 (ivy-lee-method.md): choose tomorrow's six (or three) the night before; use interstitial notes to move between them.
• With the Eisenhower Matrix (eisenhower-matrix.md): parked thoughts can be sorted into quadrants at the end of the day.
• With GTD (getting-things-done-paper.md): interstitial "next step" lines are GTD next actions; parked thoughts go to the inbox.
• With Morning Pages (morning-pages.md): long writing in the morning, short lines through the day.
• With the Five Minute Journal (five-minute-journal.md): bookend the interstitial day with its morning and evening prompts.
• With the Full Focus Planner (full-focus-planner.md): its daily Big 3 can be the "next" targets.
• With Hobonichi or Jibun Techo (hobonichi-techo.md, jibun-techo.md): their time axes make a ready-made time column.

22. Ready-to-use bank

Entry templates

1. HH:MM Did: ___ Feel: ___ Next: ___
2. HH:MM Stopped at ___. RESUME: ___
3. HH:MM Break (why: ___). Back at ~HH:MM
4. HH:MM Stuck on ___. Smallest step: ___
5. HH:MM Pulled away by ___ for ___ min. Back to ___
6. HH:MM Parked: ___ (deal with it at ___)

Prompts

1. What did I just finish, in five words?
2. What's still buzzing from the last thing?
3. What's the very first physical action next?
4. What am I avoiding? What's the scary part?
5. How's my body: hungry, thirsty, sore, tired?
6. What would make the next hour 10% easier?
7. Is this the right next thing, or just the nearest one?
8. Who's waiting on me, and do they need it now?

Headings for a page

1. Just did / Feel / Next
2. Stopped at / Resume with
3. Parking lot
4. Today's done list

Trackers and collections

1. Entries per day (dot per day on a month tracker)
2. Days with a RESUME note
3. Distraction tally (what pulled me away most this week)
4. Best time of day (circle morning / midday / afternoon / evening each day)
5. "Stuck" topics this month
6. Feelings word bank: calm, foggy, wired, flat, anxious, ok, proud, sore, heavy, light, restless, steady
7. Weekly read-back: what drains, what works, one change

23. Glossary

• Interstitial: in the gaps between things. Here, between tasks.
• Entry: one timestamped note.
• Timestamp: the clock time written at the start of an entry.
• Transition: the moment of stopping one task and starting another.
• Attention residue: part of your attention staying on a previous task after you switch (Leroy, 2009).
• Ready-to-resume plan: a brief note of where you stopped and what to do next when you come back (Leroy and Glomb, 2018).
• Next step / next action: the first physical action on the next task.
• Parking lot: a place on the page for stray thoughts that arrive mid-task.
• Read-back: reviewing entries later for patterns.
• Done list: a list of what you did, started empty each day (Burkeman).
• Worklog: a technical record of work done, common in engineering.
• Signifier: a symbol that marks the kind of entry in Bullet Journal (•, -, =, o).
• Micro-break: a break of 10 minutes or less (Albulescu et al., 2022).
• Point of performance: the time and place where a behaviour needs to happen (Barkley).
• Externalising: putting information outside your head, on paper or a device, where it can cue you.
• Zeigarnik effect: the tendency for unfinished tasks to stay active in the mind.

24. FAQ

1. How is this different from a normal journal? A normal journal is written in one sitting, usually looking back. Interstitial entries are tiny, spread through the day and always point forward to the next step.

2. Do I have to write the exact time? No. The time is useful for seeing where the day went, but "late morning" works if exact times make you anxious.

3. What if I forget for hours? Write the current time and pick up from now. Don't reconstruct. A gap is information, not failure.

4. Does it really replace a to-do list? For some people. Most keep a short list of what must happen and use the journal to move between items. Stubblebine's pitch is to let the journal do the planning one step at a time.

5. How long should an entry be? One to four lines. NBC's summary suggests about four sentences at most. If it takes more than two minutes, it's a different kind of journaling.

6. Paper or app? Paper keeps you off screens and slows you down in a good way. Apps stamp the time automatically. Both work; pick one place per day.

7. Is it good for ADHD? It fits well-known ADHD strategies (external time, external memory, tiny next steps), and many ADHD people report it helps. It hasn't been tested in ADHD trials.

8. What if my job has no breaks? Log at the natural stops: before, at lunch, after. Use a pocket card or the bottom strip of a day page.

9. Should I include feelings? It's recommended. A feeling word often explains why a stretch went well or badly. It's fine to skip it on days when naming feelings is hard.

10. Is there an official notebook or course? No official notebook. There's a Knowable course listed by the University of Miami's Toppel Career Center, based on Stubblebine's approach.

25. For Journalwright Studio

Journalwright Studio makes printed journals and planners designed in a block editor, with an optional e-ink companion (the X4 companion). This section turns the research above into day page blocks, X4 items and a method layout.

a. Printed book

b. X4 companion

c. Editor blocks

Design note for stamps: the time column is printed as __:__ in small grey so it reads as a blank, not a label. No clock icons per row (too busy). One clock icon in the block label.

d. Proposed method layout: "Between tasks"

This layout is not among the built-in method layouts yet (today: original, Bullet Journal daily, Hobonichi, Five Minute, Theme System). Ordered block list for a one-click layout:

1. sky (Moon, sun & season)
2. events (Events)
3. care (Care check-in)
4. spoons (Spoons)
5. top (Top priorities: label "First things", n 3, bubbles 0)
6. stamps (Time stamps: n 10, resume on)
7. lines (Resume with: n 1; redundant if the stamps "resume" row is on)
8. body (Writing space: lines) — takes what's left, for longer notes
9. review (Went well · Was hard · Tomorrow)

e. Don't adopt

• Hourly or per-transition reminders on the X4: they're notifications and against firmware scope. The cue must come from the person's own routine.
• Streaks or "entries today" badges: turns a calm practice into a score. The month dot row stays neutral (no totals, no colour).
• Exact-minute grids (a pre-printed 5-minute timeline): busy, stimulating, and it makes gaps look like failures. Keep the time column blank.
• AI summaries of entries: out of scope, and the entries are private.
• The "replace your to-do list" framing as a rule: Action items and Top priorities stay; the log sits beside them.
• Productivity-porn framing ("kill procrastination"): the book's tone is calm, not optimising.

26. Open questions

• The exact date and wording of Stubblebine's original post (Medium blocked access from the research sandbox). Was there an earlier Coach.me post?
• Does interstitial journaling itself (not just ready-to-resume notes) reduce procrastination or stress? No study found.
• Is paper better than digital for this practice? No data.
• For ADHD specifically, does the habit stick, or does the "remember to write" step fail for the same reason other habits do? No data.
• How much do feelings notes add over task notes alone? Untested.
• Where exactly the "23 minutes to refocus" figure comes from, and whether it's still accurate.
• Could an X4 "pause stamp" replace written entries on low-energy days without losing the benefit? A small self-experiment or community report would help answer it.

27. Further reading

• Tony Stubblebine, "Replace Your To-Do List With Interstitial Journaling To Increase Productivity" (Better Humans, Medium, c. 2017): the original description. Not opened for this doc (Medium blocked the sandbox); read it directly.
• Anne-Laure Le Cunff, "Interstitial journaling: combining notes, to-do & time tracking" (Ness Labs): the clearest short guide, with example entries.
• Julie Compton, "How interstitial journaling can help you focus your day and work smarter" (NBC News, 2019): Stubblebine quoted, three simple steps.
• Ryder Carroll, "Improve your focus and concentrate better with this Bullet Journal technique" (bulletjournal.com, 2023): the BuJo version.
• Sophie Leroy and Theresa Glomb, "Tasks Interrupted…" (Organization Science, 2018): the ready-to-resume research.
• **Oliver Burkeman, *Four Thousand Weeks*** (2021) and his "done list" post: the case for recording what you did.
• **Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer, *The Progress Principle*** (2011) and the HBR article "The Power of Small Wins".
• Russell Barkley's fact sheet on executive function and ADHD: why externalising time helps.
• **Francesco Cirillo, *The Pomodoro Technique*** (paper 2006/2007, book 2018): the closest older method.

28. Sources

All checked 2026-09-28.

1. Anne-Laure Le Cunff, "Interstitial journaling: combining notes, to-do & time tracking", Ness Labs. https://nesslabs.com/interstitial-journaling
2. Julie Compton, "How interstitial journaling can help you focus your day and work smarter", NBC News, 6 Aug 2019. https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/how-interstitial-journaling-can-help-you-focus-your-day-work-ncna1036166
3. Lukas, "How to use Roam Research for Interstitial Journaling", Cortex Futura. https://www.cortexfutura.com/interstitial-journaling-roam-research/
4. "The Better To-Do List: Interstitial Journaling" (Knowable course listing), Toppel Career Center, University of Miami. https://customcareer.miami.edu/classes/the-better-to-do-list-interstitial-journaling/
5. Ryder Carroll, "Improve Your Focus and Concentrate Better With This Bullet Journaling Technique", Bullet Journal, 26 Oct 2023. https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/how-to-improve-focus-using-a-bullet-journal
6. "Interstitial Journaling: The Complete Guide", interstitial-journal.app (comun.ai), 16 Aug 2026. https://interstitial-journal.app/interstitial-journaling/
7. "Why You Should Journal Between the Key Moments of Your Day", Hopewalking, 27 Apr 2022. https://hopewalking.com/blog/interstitial-journaling/
8. sawhney17 (fork of Alex Qwxlea), "logseq-interstitial-heading-plugin", GitHub. https://github.com/sawhney17/logseq-interstitial-heading-plugin
9. Sophie Leroy, "Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when switching between work tasks", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 109(2):168–181, 2009 (RePEc record). https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jobhdp/v109y2009i2p168-181.html
10. "Task interrupted: A plan for returning helps you move on" (Leroy and Glomb, Organization Science 2018), UW News, 16 Jan 2018. https://www.washington.edu/news/2018/01/16/task-interrupted-a-plan-for-returning-helps-you-move-on/
11. E. J. Masicampo and Roy F. Baumeister, "Consider It Done! Plan Making Can Eliminate the Cognitive Effects of Unfulfilled Goals", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2011 (author PDF). https://users.wfu.edu/masicaej/MasicampoBaumeister2011JPSP.pdf
12. Gloria Mark, Daniela Gudith and Ulrich Klocke, "The Cost of Interrupted Work: More Speed and Stress", CHI '08 (author PDF). https://ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf
13. "Brief diversions vastly improve focus, researchers find" (Ariga and Lleras, Cognition 2011), ScienceDaily, 8 Feb 2011. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110208131529.htm
14. Albulescu P. et al., "'Give me a break!' A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of micro-breaks for increasing well-being and performance", PLOS ONE 17(8):e0272460, 2022. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0272460
15. Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer, "The Power of Small Wins", Harvard Business Review, May 2011. https://hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins
16. Oliver Burkeman, "What if you're already on top of things?" (the done list). https://www.oliverburkeman.com/donelist
17. Russell A. Barkley, "The Important Role of Executive Functioning and Self-Regulation in ADHD" (fact sheet). https://www.russellbarkley.org/factsheets/ADHD_EF_and_SR.pdf
18. Francesco Cirillo, The Pomodoro Technique paper v1.3, 15 June 2007 (copy hosted on GitHub). https://raw.githubusercontent.com/joebew42/study-path/master/assets/cirillo-pomodoro-technique.pdf