2 April 2026
A journal column that earns its keep
If a journal field never changes tomorrow’s session sheet, delete it. Here is how we prune columns in trade journal reviews.
Open a typical spreadsheet journal and you will find columns for entry, exit, points, R-multiple, emotion emoji, and a free-text novel. In reviews we ask one question of each field: has this column ever changed a morning plan?
Fields that usually survive:
- Setup name tied to a definition you already wrote (not a new nickname every week)
- Plan still valid at entry? yes / no / partial — with a five-word reason
- Rule break? yes / no — honesty over comfort
- Next-plan note — one concrete adjustment for the following session
Fields we often retire:
- Long emotional essays that repeat the same frustration
- Colour scales that never alter position size language
- Screenshot dumps without a sentence linking image to plan
A journal is a bridge between sessions. If it does not touch tomorrow’s sheet, it is storage, not practice. During Autowork Sys reviews we would rather leave you with six sharp columns than twenty decorative ones.