Know Yourself
Personal Scientist
A Personal Science lab for your life, with an Ai Scientist
Journal • Projects • Personal Science
Dlog combines a journal, projects and goals with an AI Coach and Scientist. It scores your days across four rings of life, so you can see what actually moves the needle for your work and well-being.
Mac app
No account required
4 Rings Model
PhD-based
Local-first by default
Free 14-day trial with 10K tokens • Then $6.99/month
Price includes 100K tokens + both Life Coach & Personal Scientist
Journals, baselines, scores and analytics run on your Mac. Only the text you send to the Coach or Scientist is processed, with an optional anonymiser for names and places.
Coach for everyday decisions
Four Rings model of your life
Mixed-methods personal report
Scientist for deep Personal Science
A Novel Contribution
Why Dlog is different
Not just a journal. A working model of your life.
Dlog sits between a journal, a planner and a research notebook. It keeps your projects and goals next to your reflections, then uses a Four Rings model to estimate what actually drives your productivity and well-being.
Use it casually as a journal and projects app, or switch on the Scientist and treat your life like Personal Science.
Personal Science
Four Rings of your life
Dlog scores your entries across personality, character, resources and well-being. Over time it builds a baseline and shows how each ring moves.
- Scores based on your own words
- Simple, interpretable ring visual
- See change over weeks and months
Coach & Scientist
Two faces of the same engine
Use Coach for everyday prompts and decisions. When you want depth, ask the Scientist to show drivers, trade-offs and long-term patterns.
- Coach for quick, conversational help
- Scientist for evidence and structure
- Both grounded in the Four Rings model
Journals & Projects
Reflect and execute in one place
Goals, projects, reminder lists and daily logs live together. You can see how your projects impact your stress, energy and well-being.
- Projects behave like dedicated journals
- Attach reminders and milestones
- Review by goal, ring or project
Private
Local-first by design
Dlog stores your data as calendar events on your Mac. There is no sign-in. Only the text you choose to send to AI leaves your device, with optional anonymisation.
- No account, no cloud by default
- Optional anonymiser for names and places
- OpenAI used purely as a processor
Research Grade
The Dlog Model
Four Rings, One Research-Grade Model.
Dlog is built on Dr. de Borst’s (Founder of Dlog) PhD research (de Borst, 2018): a novel structural equation model linking personality, character (eudaimonia + values), resources and hedonic well-being. Each ring in the interface corresponds to a validated construct in that model, giving you a personal science layer on top of ordinary journaling.
Personality
Your Big Five backbone: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability and openness, scored from your narrative entries over time.
Character
Eudaimonia translated into everyday language: purpose, autonomy, environmental mastery and relationships, tracked through your journal.
Resources
Income, time, energy and capacity to act, treated as a coherent resource system that feeds into your character and outcomes.
Well-Being
Hedonic outcomes – life satisfaction, happiness and affect – inferred from your words as a research-grade outcome variable.
Personality
Personality Ring – your Big Five backbone.
The Personality Ring in Dlog is grounded in the Big Five trait framework used in large longitudinal studies such as the British Household Panel Survey. In the PhD model behind Dlog, personality is treated as a latent construct measured through standard Big Five items, then linked to income, eudaimonia and hedonic well-being through structural equation modelling.
Dlog does not ask you to fill out personality questionnaires every time you write. Instead, the engine projects your narrative entries onto the same underlying structure as those validated Big Five scales: agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, emotional stability and openness. Over time this builds a stable, research-aligned picture of how your trait profile interacts with your work, energy and mood.
Validated construct
Anchored to Big Five scales
- Based on the same Big Five trait items used in national panel data.
- Treats personality as relatively stable over time.
- Connects traits to income, eudaimonia and hedonic well-being.
In practice
What the Personality Ring tells you
- How conscientiousness, neuroticism and other traits shape your daily experience.
- Where your trait profile helps or hinders your goals and projects.
- How changes in work, income or context interact with relatively fixed traits.
Character
Character Ring – eudaimonia in everyday language.
The Character Ring translates the eudaimonic core of the PhD model into your day-to-day journal: purpose, autonomy, environmental mastery and relationships. In the thesis, these dimensions were operationalised through validated “quality of life” items closely aligned with Ryff’s psychological well-being scales.
In Dlog, the same four dimensions are inferred from the way you describe your days: whether life feels meaningful, whether you have room to act, whether you feel in control of your environment, and how your relationships are functioning. The engine maps your narratives back onto those validated eudaimonia constructs, so the Character Ring behaves like a longitudinal eudaimonia scale you can actually live with.
Validated construct
Based on eudaimonia scales
- Four dimensions: purpose, autonomy, environmental mastery, relationships.
- Rooted in validated psychological well-being items used in the thesis.
- Treated as relatively slow-moving foundations rather than daily mood.
In practice
What the Character Ring tells you
- Whether a rough patch is about meaning, control, autonomy or connection.
- How stable “who you are being” is, even when external conditions shift.
- Which interventions (for example autonomy vs relationships) are likely to move the needle.
Resources
Resources Ring – income, time and capacity to act.
In the original PhD model, income was treated as an observed economic variable feeding into personality, eudaimonia and hedonic well-being. The analysis used log income and standard economic well-being measures to capture the “fuel” available to solos. The Resources Ring in Dlog expands this idea for personal science: income, time, energy and other capacities are treated as a coherent resource system.
Dlog lets you track the resource side of your life in a way that is comparable, conceptually, to the validated income measures in the thesis. You log financial events, workload, constraints and slack; the engine then models how perceived resource changes propagate through Character and Well-Being Rings, echoing the income–eudaimonia–hedonic pathways estimated in the structural equation models.
Validated construct
From income to resources
- Grounded in standard income and economic well-being measures.
- Respects the log-income relationships used in the PhD SEM models.
- Extends “income” to include time, attention and workload as resources.
In practice
What the Resources Ring tells you
- How changes in money, workload or time pressure flow into your well-being.
- When you are running resource deficits despite high motivation or strong character.
- Which resource adjustments are most likely to yield better outcomes for you.
Well-Being
Well-Being Ring – hedonic outcomes, properly modelled.
The Well-Being Ring corresponds to the hedonic outcome construct in the thesis: a latent variable combining life satisfaction, happiness and affect (positive and negative). In the PhD model, these were measured using validated self-report scales from the British Household Panel Survey, then combined into a single hedonic well-being factor with good model fit (SRMR below conventional thresholds).
Dlog treats your journal as repeated measurement of these same hedonic outcomes. Instead of asking you to rate “life satisfaction 1–7” every day, it infers approximate positions on that validated factor from your own words, then shows how your hedonic profile moves as Personality, Character and Resources change. That means the Well-Being Ring behaves like a research-grade outcome variable, but presented as a simple visual baseline you can act on.
Validated construct
Built from hedonic scales
- Combines life satisfaction, happiness and affect into one outcome factor.
- Reflects the same structure used in the thesis SEM models.
- Treats affect and satisfaction as consequences of traits, eudaimonia and resources.
In practice
What the Well-Being Ring tells you
- Whether current changes are actually improving your lived experience.
- How much of your mood is driven by resources versus deeper eudaimonia.
- Which levers (traits, character, resources) are most strongly linked to your outcomes.
Intuitive
How Dlog works
Three steps: Journal, Score, Decide.
You do not need to think like a researcher to use Dlog. You just log your days. Coach and Scientist do the scoring and pattern-finding for you.
Step 1: Journal naturally
Capture what happened, what you think and what you plan, as short Dlogs.
- Quick entries for ideas, conflicts and wins
- Attach entries to goals and projects
- Use as your main journal, or alongside others
Step 2: Dlog scores and models
Behind the scenes, Dlog scores each entry across the Four Rings and updates your baseline and driver estimates.
- Baselines show where you sit today
- Drivers suggest what moves each ring
- Visualisers show patterns over time
Step 3: Ask Coach or Scientist
Ask the Scientist for next steps, or invite the Scientist to summarise and explain what changed and why.
- Coach: prompts, planning, small adjustments
- Scientist: narrative plus evidence
- Always grounded in your own journals
Geek Out
Dlog Labs
SEM, Regressions, Narrative & Thematic Analysis
Dlog Labs, Four Rings and your mixed-methods report.
Under the hood, Dlog uses a model built from years of well-being and productivity research. It treats every Dlog as data and story at once, so you can see how your own life actually works.
What Dlog Labs does for you
- Four Rings baseline estimates your typical levels of personality, character, resources and well-being from your journals.
- Drivers show which factors in your Dlogs most strongly relate to each ring over time.
- Visualisers give you a fast view of how rings, projects and conflicts rise and fall together.
- Mixed-methods article combines quotes and numbers into a compact, human-readable report about your life at this moment.
Coach and Scientist, side by side
- Coach mode focuses on today: what should you do next given your current projects, energy and constraints.
- Scientist mode focuses on structure: what has changed, what stayed stable and what seems to drive what.
- You can switch between them at any time. They share the same model and respect the same privacy rules.
Baseline Survey – 60+ variables
All Data Stored On Device
Visualizers
Explore your life data in detail with dozens of visualizers.
Dlog Model – Structrual Equation Model (SEM)
Time Series
Regressions
Distributions
Reports and Academic Articles
Dlog Scientist can generate research grade reports and academic articles from your data.
For people who read & write more, not less.
Who Dlog is for
Built for students, researchers and professionals who think in systems.
If you like to understand why your life works the way it does, not just get through your to-do list, Dlog gives you the structure to do that without extra admin.
Students
Final-year and master’s students can use Dlog to turn the final year into a simple system. Track study blocks, stress and sleep, and let the Scientist show what actually helps your grades and mood.
- One place for thesis, classes and life
- See how workload affects well-being
- Use the report as a reflection tool
Researchers
Doctoral students and academics can keep a research diary, project tracker and N=1 lab in one Mac app. Observe how autonomy, conflict and deep work shape your progress.
- Structured research journaling
- Personal Science without spreadsheets
- Supports narrative and numeric thinking
Professionals
Founders and knowledge workers can use Dlog as an operating system for work and life. Projects, experiments, conflicts and wins sit next to a running model of how you perform best.
- Reflect on decisions as you execute
- See which patterns lead to burnout
- Design better weeks with data
Teams
Individuals keep fully private Dlogs. With consent and anonymisation, leadership can view aggregate Four Rings metrics to sense organisational health.
- Respectful, bottom-up insight
- No access to individual journals
- Early signals of conflict and burnout
Nothing Compares
Where Dlog stands among journaling and AI apps.
Dlog is closest to a Personal Science platform. It combines journals, projects, an explicit model and rich analytics, while still feeling like a daily app.a
Examining Dlog in Personal Scientist Mode, there’s simply nothing like it.
The research-grade view of how Dlog stacks up. Scores reflect depth, breadth and privacy-by-design. Dlog scores 100% on every dimension.
Dimension
Dlog
Stoic
Day One
Rosebud
Purpose & focus
Why the app exists
100%
Personal Science on your Mac
A Personal Science hub. Journals and projects run through a Four Rings model with an AI Coach and Scientist that turn everyday entries into repeatable experiments.
80%
Mental health companion
Guided journaling, mood tracking and exercises built around stress, anxiety and resilience.
75%
Life diary & memories
A beautiful cross-platform diary focused on capturing memories, photos and reflections.
80%
AI self-care space
An AI-assisted reflection space oriented around emotions, self-care and everyday growth.
Journaling style & workflows
How writing actually works
100%
Structured and free-form Dlogs
Dlogs can be structured or free-form and are organised by your Four Rings, so notes, goals, experiments and reflections sit in one coherent system.
80%
Guided mental-health prompts
Prompted journaling and routines embedded in mental-health workflows that nudge regular check-ins.
90%
Classic diary entries
Free-form diary-style journaling focused on capturing moments, memories and photos.
85%
Conversational journaling
AI-assisted journaling as a dialogue about feelings, reflection and emotional themes.
Projects & execution
Turning ideas into action
100%
Goals, projects and reminders together
Goals and projects live next to your Dlogs, with reminder lists and timelines so planning, execution and reflection sit in one workflow.
20%
Habits, not projects
Supports routines and streaks around mental health, but no dedicated project system.
20%
Diary first, tasks elsewhere
Excellent long-term diary, but projects and tasks need separate tools.
20%
Reflection, not planning
Focuses on emotional reflection rather than structured projects or execution systems.
Analytics & insights
How deep the analysis goes
100%
Four Rings baseline and mixed-methods report
Dlog runs a Four Rings baseline, driver estimates, visualisers and a mixed-methods report that blends numbers with journal excerpts for deep Personal Science.
70%
Mood trends and habits
Shows mood trends and habit tracking to connect routines to mental health.
40%
Simple streaks and stats
Highlights streaks and basic statistics about consistency over time.
60%
Qualitative emotional patterns
Surfaces recurring emotional themes and patterns, mainly qualitative rather than model-driven.
Role of AI
What the AI actually does
100%
Coach and Scientist grounded in your model
AI Coach and Scientist are grounded in the Four Rings model and tied directly to journals, projects and baselines for personalised, explainable insight.
75%
AI for mental-health prompts
AI prompts and reflective analysis inside mental-health workflows.
70%
AI layered on classic journaling
AI prompts and summaries layered onto diary entries to ease writing and review.
85%
Conversational AI for feelings
Acts as a supportive conversational partner focused on emotional processing.
Life model & framework
How your life is structured
100%
Four Rings for every entry
Uses a Four Rings model so every entry, project and insight is anchored in a clear structure.
20%
Mental-health lens
Offers a mental-health framing rather than a full life model across domains.
20%
Timeline of moments
Organises life as a chronological diary rather than a structured model.
20%
Emotion-first framing
Frames life mostly through feelings rather than a formal framework.
Privacy & data ownership
Who controls your journals
100%
Local by default, no account
Journals, baseline, scoring and analytics run on your Mac. No sign-in required; entries live in your secure Calendar so you keep control.
60%
App-managed data
Designed with mental health in mind, but data and accounts are managed through the service.
60%
Cloud-synced diary
Syncs entries through its own infrastructure; great convenience, less local-only control.
60%
AI-first cloud model
Built as an AI self-care service that relies on remote processing and storage.
Local-first (Mac)
Where your data actually lives
100%
Local-first Personal Science
Designed as a local-first Mac app with no account required, so your data lives on your device by default.
10%
Primarily cloud-linked
Built as a mobile service that relies more on online infrastructure than a local-first Mac architecture.
10%
Cloud sync as default
Optimised for cross-platform sync across devices, not local-first storage.
10%
Service-centric AI app
Runs as an online AI service rather than a local-first Mac application.
AI anonymiser & data flow
How AI sees your identity
100%
Optional anonymiser for AI calls
Strip names and identifiers before any AI request leaves your Mac, so you can use advanced AI while keeping identity and data separate.
10%
Standard AI processing
Uses AI within its own workflows; anonymisation controls are not the core design focus.
10%
AI add-ons without anonymiser
AI features are layered onto a diary, but there is no dedicated anonymiser for AI calls.
10%
AI-first, identity not separated
Focuses on AI conversation; separating identity from prompts is not the primary design goal.
The Bottom Line
Dlog beats the competition
Dlog wins because it treats your life as a system. It unifies journals, projects, analytics and AI in a single Four Rings model, runs locally on your Mac, and gives you privacy-first, explainable insights. Others excel at mood support, diaries or AI chat; only Dlog blends structure, evidence and control so you can run safe real life experiments without giving up your data.
Secure
Privacy and safety
Your Personal Science stays personal.
Dlog is designed for people who care deeply about privacy. Journals and analytics stay on your Mac by default. You decide what, if anything, is sent to AI.
Local-first journals
Dlog stores entries as calendar events on your device. There is no account layer or central Dlog server with your data.
Anonymiser for AI
When you send content to Coach or Scientist, you can apply an anonymiser that replaces names and places while keeping your story readable.
Transparent processing
AI providers are used purely as processors. Dlog does not use your journals to train its own models or build marketing profiles.
You stay in control
You choose which journals or projects the Coach or Scientist can see. You can work entirely offline if you prefer to use Dlog without AI.
Affordable
Pricing
Built for deep use, priced like a simple app.
Dlog is designed to support serious Personal Science without heavy subscriptions. You can start with a free trial, then keep using it for the price of a small coffee.
Dlog for Mac
$6.99/month
Includes a monthly token allowance of 100K for Coach and Scientist, plus all journaling, projects and analytics features. You can purchase an extra 1 million tokens for $5.99.
- 14-day free trial – no credit card required. No sign in.
- Full Personal Science engine
- Local-first, no account required
- Coach and Scientist modes included
FAQ
Questions about Dlog and Personal Science.
Do I have to understand statistics to use Dlog?
No. You just write Dlogs the way you would write a normal journal. Dlog does the scoring and modelling for you, then explains the results in plain language.
What is the difference between Coach and Scientist?
Coach is focused on what to do next: planning days, choosing between options and making progress on projects. Scientist is focused on structure: what has changed, which patterns repeat and what appears to drive your well-being and productivity.
Can I use Dlog without AI?
Yes. You can use Dlog as a standalone journal and projects app entirely offline. Coach and Scientist are optional layers you can turn on when you want them.
Is Dlog suitable for universities and teams?
Yes. Dlog can be recommended as a private tool for students and staff, or used in pilots where individuals opt in to share anonymised Four Rings metrics for aggregate insight.
Will there be versions for other platforms?
Dlog is currently focused on providing the best possible Mac experience. Other platforms may follow based on demand.
Try Dlog
Begin your Personal Science
Turn your days into Scientific evidence, not just memories.
Start journaling and planning in Dlog, then invite Coach and Scientist to help you understand what really drives your life. One quiet Mac app, no accounts, your data on your machine.
Designed for students, researchers, founders and teams who want to optimise their lives with research grade science.