Back in early July 2020, I wrote a blog post about the Clear Habit Journal from James Clear that I’d ordered. I used the habit tracking pages pretty consistently for a year (it’s designed to be used for a year), noted blog post ideas in it almost daily, but only sporadically used some of its other features.
When a year came and went, I really didn’t want to pay the ridiculous brokerage fees that I paid last time to have it sent to Canada (read the post) so I went without a replacement for a few months. When I booked my trip to visit my parents in California, however, I ordered a new copy and had it sent to my parents so I could bring it back with me.
I started using it last Friday, but this time set it up in a way that I think will have me using it daily.
I’m using the “one line per day” journal pages. There’s a space for a prompt at the top of each page (one page per month) and I’ve started with a prompt from Greg McKeown to write one line each day about the most important thing that happened that day. I can keep the same prompt each month or change it if I feel like it.
I’ve revisited what my daily habits should be after reminding myself about what James Clear has said about habits being closely aligned with your identity. I’m hoping this makes me not only more consistent about marking when I have or haven’t done my habits each day, but also more consistent in doing them.
The bulk of the pages in the journal are dot grids, allowing a lot of freedom for how you use them. In those pages I’ve set up sections for:
- Writing at least one blog post idea each day
- Keeping a list of the books I read in the next year
- Tracking my workouts (which is one of the ideas Clear provides for using the journal)
I’m still using a regular journal for, well, journaling, but using a single volume for the entire year to track workouts, blog post ideas, etc., helps me simplify things, which is something I’m trying to do right now.
