How to start a journal you’ll LOVE USING!

Which one is going to be more important for you, the pen or the journal? That's the question you have to ask yourself first. Being a pen and journal lover luckily has worked out for me because I enjoy using all forms of writing tools. I can go from gel pens, pencils, ballpoint pens, so for me the notebook is going to be what takes priority over the writing tool. And as someone who's journaled for over 15 years, I have finally found what I would call like journal piece, where I have found the ideal notebook and what works when being consistent with the practice, which I will share with you right now. And here's the thing, when it comes to picking and finding your everyday journal that you're going to love using, size really does matter. Because you have to think about how you're going to use this and if it's going to be convenient for what you need it to do. Some of you may enjoy something that's going to be more pocket-sized because it's easy to carry around, it's just more functional for you, it's less intimidating. But for others like myself, something like this I can go through in a matter of a week because I have large handwriting and I don't feel like this is sufficient for my everyday journal. More like maybe just everyday scratchpad or just maybe logging tasks. But for deep dive journalings or to reflect, something like these that are going to be larger could be an option for you and something to consider. In the journaling world, these are the popular sizes that you may come across. We're looking at pocket size. This is A6 size, this is a B6 size, just to give you a visual so you could see and how size does matter when picking out your ideal journal. We have A5 size, which I think a lot of you are familiar with that you will find mainly at your bookstores. Typically, it's the A5 size and then the pocket size. And then this is a B5 size, which is very comparable to like a composition notebook. So that is a very, very important tip and step, I would say, when considering your journal. What size do you know you will gravitate towards and that is going to be suitable for your needs? Maybe you're not an everyday journaler. Maybe you just want to jot down here and there. Something like a pocket size could work for you because it's not as intimidating. You don't have to go through so many pages to actually finish the the booklet. But if you know that you want to kind of get comfy and cozy in a notebook and you don't like to hop out of a notebook as quickly like I do, then you may want to look into maybe an A6 because it's just above the pocket size. And then the B6 is actually right above the A6. So it's kind of like in that sweet spot where it's not as big and intimidating as an A5, but it's not as teeny tiny as like an A6. Now, once you determine what size is going to work well for you, I think this is an important factor to consider and it is if you are team hardcover or softcover. So this is clearly a hardcover and I would say this goes in with, you know, your intentions of how you're going to use your journal. If you know that this is going to be going in your backpack, if you plan on traveling, if you're going to be throwing this around in your purse, like maybe this is something to consider the hardcover because it will protect your pages and it's just definitely a lot more durable. Now when I was falling in love with my journaling practice and really diving deep into daily writing and creating, I was trying to figure out what exactly was it about this particular journal that I absolutely loved reaching for and that's when I realized in time it was actually the cover. Because it's like a soft cover, it just felt very comforting for me. It didn't feel stiff. It wasn't too hard, but another thing about, you know, soft covers for me I realized is that when I'm like on the go or if I'm done with my journaling session, I can literally just put like my pen. Let me use this one because it's like a chunkster. I would just like put my pen here in my journal and I would just close it and then this particular journal is the Moleskine Expanded. Their normal Moleskine is this. They're regular. So the Expanded has like 400 extra pages. But what I loved about that is that I could just put in my pen, my pen of choice or my pencil without having to worry if it has a pen loop or not. But another thing that you can do, of course, is customize your journal so you could love it and use it even more. So I've shown before in the past, consider customizing it yourself. Adding some stickers, some decor, putting a label on it, putting some type of identifier, switching it up, especially if you are finding yourself gravitating towards solid colors like me. I mean, I'm loving black if you could not tell. I tend to go with journals that have that classic black color, but because they're all the same color, the identifier is the sticker or the decoration or the label. So decorating it can be fun in another way that just personalizes the journaling experience for you, but also adding your own little modifications like a pen loop. If the journal does not come with a pen loop or an elastic, you can always do that yourself. You can slit in, you know, little cuts right here and then thread through in elastic, which I've done before in the past with other journals. Say you come across a notebook that you absolutely love, but it doesn't have all the features that you need. Consider, again, just getting your own elastic that you can just stick on here and then the elastic loop along with the elastic closure. You can easily find that like craft supply stores and then just make your own slit right here and then you have your own modification for your journal. Now for the soft cover, that is obviously my preference and aside from the fact that it can work as a pen holder unintentionally by throwing it in there. I also, again, I like that it's like flexible. It's not too stiff. I don't, you know, have to fight to keep the page open and that's another quality that I noticed throughout the years. These are all things I think you'll come across as you experiment and you kind of get to get familiar with certain brands and makers, but for me, I need a journal that can lay all the way flat. So that way I am not like fighting against the page. It just lays there for me and then when I'm ready to journal, I can journal on, you know, this side or I can journal on that side. I'm not having to fight against it and pressing down my wrist and making sure, you know, like it stays down. So that's really, really important and another reason why I find myself returning to the particular journals that I love, but these are all important factors that play into your journal practice that you may not notice. The feel of it, the cover design, you know, the actual design of the binding. Another important thing that I consider too is the page design. Now, I know not everyone is picky like I may be, but I realized again in the last, you know, couple of years that the reason why I could never finish a journal in the past was because of the page designs. A lot of my journal friends, they love the lines and I noticed for me that was very, very distracting. I felt very limited, especially when it comes to grids. I, you know, what worked for others was not working for me and I could not understand why my brain could not connect and gravitate towards these popular, well-known formats and layouts that everyone else loved and that worked very well for them and it was because of the design of the pages. They were very distracting. It felt very limiting and as someone that has large handwriting and someone that just kind of likes to write fluidly and intuitively, sometimes I just want to write off into the corner or sideways. I just felt like the lines and the grids and even sometimes the dot grids can just be limiting and why I could never really connect and stay in one journal for so long and that is where a lot of my subscribers here, you guys realize, I have kind of found, I think, planner and journal piece through finding this particular notebook that is blank. I know blank is not everyone's favorite, but this is just what really works for me. It's blank, it's soft cover and it's this right size where it's not too tiny. It's not too big. It's just enough for my large handwriting and to just dump out all of the ideas and the projects and just kind of the review of the day that I, you know, wants to pour into these pages. Now another important factor that I did not even realize was a thing until recently was the scarcity. How rare is it to come across the journal or the notebook that I will absolutely love or that I have fallen in love with because there are brands and certain notebooks and paper qualities that I have enjoyed but that are unfortunately like no longer the same or in production or just do not make anymore. So that also limits, you know, my creativity and me using it because now it feels rare. Now it feels kind of, um, kind of, yeah, scarce and I'm afraid to use it because I know it's no longer in production or the quality has changed. So you want to think about how accessible is the notebook that you have come across. Is it something that you just happen to randomly find at a thrift store or at a discounted department store? Or is it something that you can find regularly, you know, at your local bookshop or at your big box store, um, stationery shop? Now, another thing to also keep in mind is that what may work for the mass majority may not work for you. And that's something I have definitely learned throughout the years is, you know, just because something is trending or hyped on social media, there could be a reason, yes, definitely, but just because it does not work for you or did not click for you, do not feel bad, do not feel guilty, and certainly do not feel like you have to drag your way through the journal because you've invested in it. It's definitely okay to, you know, put it back on the shelf, revisit it another time, or just maybe just have it as a nice dust collector, um, on your bookshelf. And sometimes, too, you invest a lot of money in something and you realize that because it feels so precious or because, again, it's no longer in production or it was kind of like a one-off thing, you are now, you know, intimidated to really use it to the fullest abilities. And that's why I can find this pretty much at any local bookstore or even online and there's no problem. Plus, I always get these on clearance or discounted, um, and that always works well for me. Now, speaking of clearance, this is my daily planner that I found for $3 last year that I shared with my subscribers here. And I will be setting this up next. It is a daily agenda. Maybe there are certain features on the page that you just don't connect with, um, and you were kind of maybe hoping that the dates weren't there or certain icons. In this case, again, because this was only $3, I knew I could reuse this in some way. And maybe I don't want to use this as an everyday journal. I'm sorry, as an everyday planner. But I can definitely still use the lines as an everyday, like, journal. So these dates do not have to be there, but I still scored and I came across a win for $3. And I can just use this correction tape, which apparently is almost out because it's getting me some trouble. But I will show you guys how I use my planner in the next few videos if you're interested. But I hope this has helped you decide and inspired you on how to find the one. How to find the journal that you are going to love connecting with, using. It doesn't have to be every day. It could just be whenever you feel pulled to use it. But something to consider. What is going to be more important for you, the journal or the pen? Again, for me, the journal is priority. The journal is life. And I can work around the paper quality because as you have seen, I have so many pens that I can choose from. But the journal is the thing that's going to matter most. This is the one that's going to archive all of my memories and my daily events and my ideas. And I want it to be in something that I enjoy looking at and flipping through and something that I'm just going to be inspired and motivated to connect with. So let me know your thoughts and I'll see you in the next video.