Free Template

Weekly Review System

ADHD Friendly Formats

Microdosing Journal Guide + Interactive Template

Why tracking your microdosing experience is essential, what to record, how to review it meaningfully — and a free interactive journal template you can use directly in your browser, with export to text.

Educational and harm reduction content only — not medical advice. Psilocybin is a controlled substance in most jurisdictions. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.

Tracking is not optional maintenance — it is the core mechanism by which microdosing becomes a practice rather than a guess. Without a daily record, you cannot distinguish real effects from placebo, identify warning signs before they compound, calibrate your dose, or know whether to continue. This guide gives you the framework and the tool.

Why Tracking Is the Most Important Habit in Microdosing

Most people who conclude microdosing "didn't work" for them, or who have a difficult experience, share one characteristic: they didn't track. This is not a coincidence. The effects of a correctly calibrated microdose are subtle and cumulative — they emerge over weeks, not days, and they are far more visible in trend data than in day-to-day felt sense.

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Separates signal from noise

Memory is unreliable for gradual trends. Daily scores let you see a 0.8-point average mood improvement that memory would round to "about the same."

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Catches warning signs early

Gradually worsening anxiety, emerging emotional blunting, and tolerance buildup all appear in data before they become obvious in experience.

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Enables honest dose calibration

Without baseline and dose-day comparisons, you cannot objectively evaluate whether your dose is too high, too low, or correctly calibrated.

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Informs protocol adjustments

Data reveals whether the Fadiman Protocol suits you better than Every Other Day, whether breaks are needed sooner, and when to stop a cycle.

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Deepens integration

The act of writing about your experience makes the integration window real. Insight that isn't captured tends not to persist into lasting change.

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Supports therapeutic work

If working with a therapist, your journal is the bridge between sessions — a record of what arose during the cycle that therapy can build on.

what the research shows

In Polito & Stevenson's 2019 prospective microdosing study, the subgroup with the most consistent positive outcomes shared a single common practice: systematic daily tracking. The subgroup with the most negative or ambiguous outcomes was characterised by irregular protocols and no tracking system. The correlation was stronger than any single protocol or dose variable.

What to Track: A Prioritised Reference

Not everything needs to be tracked every day. The table below separates must-track items (your minimum viable dataset) from useful additions and optional deeper measures. The goal is consistency over comprehensiveness — a 30-second entry every day is worth more than a detailed entry three days a week.

What To Track	Priority	Format	Why It Matters
Dose day or off day	Must track	D / OFF Label	Every comparison depends on knowing which type of day this was
Mood	Must track	1-10 Score	Primary wellbeing measure; most sensitive to microdosing effects
Energy	Must track	1-10 Score	Distinguishes stimulant-like effects from sedation; detects sleep disruption
Anxiety	Must track	1-10 Score	Primary safety metric — rising anxiety on dose days is the most common warning sign
Any perceptibility	Must track	Yes / No + note	Confirms sub-perceptual calibration; yes = dose too high
Sleep quality (previous night)	Should track	1-10 Score	Sleep disruption is a common dose-day side effect; affects all other scores
Focus / cognitive clarity	Should track	1-10 Score	Often the primary goal for work-performance microdosers; tracks cognitive effects
Physical symptoms	Should track	Brief note	Headache, nausea, muscle tension — helps distinguish side effects from general unwellness
One-line narrative	Should track	1-2 sentences	Captures qualitative texture that scores miss; most valuable for weekly review
Dose amount taken	Should track	Weight in mg	Essential if you adjust dose during a cycle; prevents retrospective confusion
Emotional tone / reactivity	Optional	Brief note	Especially useful for RSD tracking (ADHD) or depression-focused cycles
Creativity / openness	Optional	1–10 score or note	Useful for creatively-focused microdosers; harder to score consistently
Social experience	Optional	Brief note	Valuable for social anxiety or relationship-focused intentions
Notable events / context	Optional	Brief note	Explains anomalous scores — a bad day at work, a difficult conversation

THE 30 SECOND RULE |

Your minimum viable daily entry is three numbers and a D or Off label: Mood / Energy / Anxiety (each 1–10) plus whether it was a dose day. This takes 30 seconds and produces enough data to identify trends, catch warning signs, and calibrate dose. Everything else in the table above adds value, but only if it doesn't compromise daily consistency. A simple entry every day beats a comprehensive entry three times a week.

Choosing Your Tracking Format

Recommended

Digital — notes app or spreadsheet

Daily entry in Notes, a dedicated app, or a simple spreadsheet. Scores in columns, narrative in adjacent cells.

Always with you on your phone
Easy to review trends over time
Searchable; can copy to therapist
Low friction — 30 seconds possible
Screen dependency may not suit everyone
Requires basic spreadsheet setup

Alternative

Physical notebook

Dedicated paper journal, ruled or dot-grid. One page or half-page per day. Score table at the top, free-write below.

No screen; tangible and private
More conducive to reflective writing
No battery, no app, no accounts
Cannot easily graph trends
Easy to lose or forget at home
Harder to share with therapist

ADHD Friendly

Voice memos

30-second voice note each evening: "Day 4, dose day, mood 7, energy 6, anxiety 3, noticed I was more patient in meetings." Transcribe weekly.

Zero writing friction
Captures tone and nuance
Usable even when writing feels impossible
Requires weekly transcription
Harder to scan for patterns quickly
Privacy considerations in shared spaces

ON USING DEDICATED MICRODOSING APPS |

Several dedicated microdosing tracking apps exist (Microdosing Tracker, Journey, and others). They can be excellent — the best ones include built-in protocol scheduling, score graphing, and export functions. The consideration is data privacy: your microdosing record is sensitive health information. Review the app's privacy policy before committing, particularly around data sharing and cloud storage. A local spreadsheet or the template below involves no third-party data handling.

FREE MICRODOSING JOURNAL TEMPLATE

Please feel free to use and adapt our microdosing template. We hope that it will get you started, finally see little changes and track any personal growth. Microdosing takes time and its very personalized to each person's daily life experience. Find what works for you in your lifestyle and vibe. If you need to change up protocols, take a look at our guide for more information.

Date

day type

Dose Day / Off Day (Circle One)

dose taken in mg

mood (1-10)

energy (1-10)

anxiety (1-10)

sleep (1-10)

focus (1-10)

perceptible (yes or no)

protocol day (e.g. day 4)

Day 4

Physical symptoms (headache, nausea, tension — or none)

e.g. Mild headache around 3pm. Otherwise no physical symptoms.

Today's notable experience — one or two sentences

e.g. Felt slightly more patient in a frustrating meeting. Hard to tell if that's the microdose or just a good day.

Anything to investigate or adjust next dose day

e.g. Try dosing 30 mins earlier tomorrow. Check whether afternoon slump is dose-related.

The Weekly Review System: Turning Data Into Decisions

Daily entries give you the raw material. The weekly review is where that material becomes useful. Set aside 10–15 minutes at the end of each week — Sunday evening works well for most protocols — to look across the week's entries as a whole.

The five weekly review questions:

What is the average mood/energy/anxiety on dose days vs off days this week?

Calculate the mean for each. Even a 0.5-point difference is meaningful if consistent across multiple weeks. No difference after 4 weeks at the same dose is a legitimate signal to adjust upward by 0.02g.

Were there any dose days with perceptibility or side effects?

Single instances may be situational. Two or more in a week is a pattern that warrants dose reduction before the next cycle resumes.

Is there a trend direction across the weeks so far?

Compare this week's averages to week one. Improvement, plateau, or decline each have different implications for protocol decisions — continuing, breaking, or stopping.

What narrative themes appear across multiple entries?

Scan your one-line notes for recurring language. "Felt less reactive," "difficult to focus," "more patient" — recurring phrases reveal trends that scores alone may miss.

Is there anything in this week's data that warrants a protocol change?

This is your decision gate. Based on what you see, note explicitly whether you are: continuing as-is, adjusting dose, adjusting timing, or preparing for a break. Write this as a one-line protocol note at the bottom of the review.

THE REVIEW IS THE MOST VALUABLE 15 MINUTES IN YOUR CYCLE |

Most people who track daily but never do a weekly review still conclude "I'm not sure if it's working" at week six. The daily entries are the raw material; the weekly review is where patterns become visible. If you only do one thing from this guide beyond filling in the basic scores, make it the weekly review.

Reading Your Data: What Patterns Mean

After 3–4 weeks of consistent tracking, your journal will contain enough data to identify meaningful patterns. Here is how to interpret the most common ones.

Dose days consistently score higher than off days

This is the signal you're looking for — it suggests the dose is producing sub-perceptual benefit. The difference doesn't need to be dramatic. A consistent 0.5–1 point elevation on mood or a 0.5-point reduction in anxiety across four weeks of dose days is a real and meaningful finding. It confirms your dose is in the right range and the protocol is worth continuing.

Dose days and off days are identical across four weeks

Either the dose is too low, the effect is too subtle to detect at this measurement grain, or microdosing isn't producing measurable benefit for you personally. Check your dose first — if you're below 0.1g with a moderate-potency strain and have been consistent, a small upward adjustment to 0.1–0.12g is reasonable. If you've already tried multiple dose levels and the pattern persists, this data is telling you something important about whether this practice is serving you.

Anxiety scores rising over weeks

This is the most important warning pattern in your data. A consistent upward trend in anxiety — particularly on dose days — is a clear signal to either reduce your dose or take an early break. Do not normalise gradually rising anxiety as "part of the process." This pattern in your data is the early warning sign the journal exists to catch.

Dose days worse than off days

If dose days consistently score lower for mood, higher for anxiety, or produce physical symptoms — and this pattern holds across multiple dose days — the dose is too high, the protocol is not suited to your neurology, or a contraindication issue may be present. Stop the cycle, take a full break, and review the risks and contraindications guide before restarting.

Strong early weeks, fading weeks 4–5

The classic tolerance pattern. Early cycle benefits fading by weeks 4–5 is expected pharmacology — it is the signal that your break is approaching, not a reason to escalate the dose. Your break will restore sensitivity, and the next cycle will likely reproduce the early-cycle response.

ADHD-Friendly Tracking Approaches

ADHD presents specific challenges for journaling: executive function deficits make routine maintenance hard, working memory makes retrospective recall unreliable, and emotional dysregulation means the tracking system itself can become a source of shame if missed days accumulate. These adaptations address each of those challenges directly.

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Stack it with an existing habit

Attach your daily entry to something you already do every evening without fail — brushing teeth, making tea, plugging in your phone. The habit rides on the existing trigger rather than requiring a new one.

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Voice memo first, text later

A 30-second voice memo in the moment is infinitely better than a written entry that doesn't happen. Transcribe to text once a week during your review. The data is in the audio, not the transcription.

3️⃣

Three numbers only

Mood / Energy / Anxiety (1–10) plus D or Off. That's five pieces of information. If you track nothing else, track these. Everything else is enhancement, not foundation.

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Phone widget or lock screen reminder

Set a recurring evening reminder that appears as a notification. "Journal check-in" at 9pm — not a calendar event that can be dismissed, but a notification from a notes app widget that sits on your screen until you act.

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No shame for missed days

Missing a day doesn't invalidate the data you have. Record "missed" with a reason rather than leaving it blank — even this is data. Perfect compliance is not the goal; sufficient data for pattern-detection is.

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Accountability partner check-in

A brief weekly text to a trusted person — "dose day today, mood 7, doing well" — creates external accountability without requiring elaborate self-monitoring. The social commitment supports the tracking habit.

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Pre-label your calendar

At the start of each cycle, mark all dose days in your calendar immediately. You won't need to calculate where you are in the Fadiman cycle on a Monday morning — you already know because it's in your calendar.

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Lower the bar intentionally

Tell yourself the goal is 70% completion, not 100%. A 70% completion rate over 6 weeks is 29 entries — more than enough for meaningful pattern detection. Perfectionism about tracking is itself an ADHD obstacle.

Warning Signs to Watch for in Your Journal Data

Your journal is a safety monitoring tool as much as an efficacy tracker. These patterns in your data warrant immediate attention — not anxious overinterpretation, but a clear-eyed response before they compound.

PATTERN IN DATA	WHAT IT LIKELY MEANS	RECOMMENDED RESPONSE
Anxiety score trending upward over 2+ weeks	Dose is too high, or current life stressors are amplifying baseline anxiety	Reduce dose by 30% or take an early break; review if stressor-related before resuming
Perceptible effects noted on 2+ dose days	Dose is consistently crossing the sub-perceptual threshold	Reduce dose by 40–50% immediately; hold new lower dose for 2 weeks before evaluating
Dose days consistently scoring lower than off days	Protocol is not working for your neurobiology at this dose/strain combination	Stop cycle, take full break, restart with different dose level or consider whether to continue
Sleep scores declining on dose days over weeks	Dosing too late in the day, or dose is stimulating enough to disrupt sleep	Move dose time to before 9am; if persists, reduce dose
Mood / energy scores gradually declining across all days	Emotional blunting from over-cycling, or tolerance saturation	Take an immediate break regardless of where you are in the cycle
Narrative entries increasingly negative or catastrophic	Emerging psychological distress that the microdose may be amplifying	Stop cycle; contact therapist or support person; review whether to continue
Dose days feeling identical to off days after weeks 4–5	Tolerance buildup — expected pharmacological signal	This is your break signal, not a failure; take your scheduled break

SEEK SUPPORT IF YOUR JOURNAL SHOWS |

Any entries describing persistent perceptual disturbances beyond dose days, paranoid or delusional thinking, significant dissociation, worsening suicidal ideation, or signs of mania (racing thoughts, reduced sleep with elevated mood, grandiosity). These are not data patterns to manage alone — they are signals to contact a healthcare provider immediately. Safety first, always.

frequently asked questions

Q1: Do I really need to track every single day, including off days?

Yes — off days are your baseline. Without them, you have no comparison point for dose days. The entire analytical value of tracking depends on being able to compare dose-day averages against off-day averages. An entry on an off day takes the same 30 seconds as on a dose day and provides half of all your useful data. People who track only on dose days consistently overestimate the effect of the protocol because they have no baseline to compare against.

Q2: What if I miss several days of journaling?

Do not try to backfill — retrospective mood scores are unreliable and degrade your data quality. Simply mark the missed days as "missed" and resume from today. Partial data is still useful data; a week with 5 out of 7 entries is analytically meaningful. What matters is that the entries you do have are honest records of what you actually observed on that day, not reconstructions from memory. Missing days is normal, especially for people with ADHD or demanding schedules — the goal is consistency over time, not perfection.

Q3: How do I know if my scores are accurate or just reflecting expectation?

You cannot fully separate them, and that is okay. The key discipline is to score how you actually feel before checking whether it is a dose or off day — make it a habit to write your scores before looking at your protocol calendar. This reduces the confirmation bias where knowing "it is a dose day" inflates your mood score. Over weeks, if the pattern is real, it will appear even on days when your expectation is neutral or negative. Placebo effects are real and informative — they do not invalidate your data, but knowing about them helps you interpret it honestly.

Q4: Should I share my journal with my therapist?

If your therapist knows you are microdosing — which is strongly recommended — sharing your journal data can significantly enhance therapeutic work. Your journal provides longitudinal data about what surfaces during cycles, emotional patterns that may not be visible within a 50-minute session, and a window into your integration process between appointments. The narrative entries are often more useful for therapy than the numerical scores. If your therapist is not yet informed about your microdosing practice, your journal can serve as a structured way to introduce that conversation.

Q5: How many weeks of data do I need before drawing conclusions?

Four weeks minimum — that is approximately 28 entries on a Fadiman protocol, including around 8–9 dose days and 19–20 off days. This gives you enough data to calculate stable averages and identify genuine trends rather than single-day fluctuations. Two weeks of data is sufficient for basic dose calibration decisions — whether the dose is too high or too low. Six weeks is enough to evaluate honestly whether the practice is serving your stated intention well enough to justify a second cycle. Do not evaluate after one week regardless of how strongly you feel about what you are experiencing.

Q6: Is a 1–10 scale too crude to capture subtle microdosing effects?

For individual days, yes — a 1–10 scale is blunt, and a single score tells you very little. But averaged across many days and compared across dose versus off day categories, the resolution becomes sufficient for detecting real patterns. The aggregate average of eight dose days versus twenty off days on a 1–10 scale can reliably detect a 0.5-point difference, which is a meaningful and consistent signal. The alternative — longer narrative entries or validated psychological scales like the PANAS or PHQ-9 — produces richer data per entry but significantly lower daily compliance. A simple entry every day beats a comprehensive entry three times a week every time. The simplicity of the scale is a feature, not a limitation.

Continue reading

Explore the other cluster pages in this guide series.

How to start microdosing safely — complete guide →

Set and setting — mindset and environment guide→

Beginner's dosage guide — finding your MED→

Microdosing mistakes and how to recover→

Microdosing and ADHD — tracking adaptations→

Medical & legal disclaimer: This page is for educational and harm reduction purposes only. It does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Psilocybin is a controlled substance in most jurisdictions. The risks described here are drawn from self-report surveys, observational studies, and pharmacological reasoning — not all are established through controlled clinical trials. Individual risk profiles vary significantly. Consult a qualified healthcare provider before making decisions about your health, particularly if you take medications or have any medical or psychiatric condition. If you are experiencing a mental health crisis, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988.