Trying to create the perfect self-improvement journal!

Self-improvement has been one of my priorities in the last two years but it seems to be only for some periods of time. I start strong and motivated but after a while I start to forget my goal and go back to my original state of mind. I’m not saying that I haven't changed at all, I have, but my progress is much slower because I only dedicate myself for a short period of time. For that reason, I decided to create a journal to keep me going.

There are a few online journals that you can buy but I wanted to make something a bit more elaborate and personal, plus it’s cheaper 😉.

My main objective with this journal is to remind me of the objective and keep me on track, so, I decided to make check box calendars for every objective (ex: Sleep schedule; Reading; Working out; etc) where I cross of a box every time I successfully complete a task, creating a chain of “X”’s that shows me how much I have done and thus make me feel like I will lose all that progress if I stop (fear psychology). (I got this idea by the “Don’t break the chain” story about Jerry Seinfeld and I’ve decided to use that as the journal’s name)

Next up I’ve decided to make a Routine page where I try to plan my daily routine as best I can, which I have to read every day. The objective with this one is to solidify all the next tasks in my routine and help me automate my actions this making them easier to accomplish.

Since planning the day seems to be a very successful strategy I’ve decided to dedicate most of the unused space in the Journal as a day planner where, in the morning (or night, not sure yet), I write all the main tasks I want to accomplish that day. This is supposed to help me organise my objectives and make them clearer.

Now that the easy part is done, I must admit that I don’t feel this is complete and I want your opinions about it and what I should change or add… Plus I have to keep in mind that applying this in the real world will be hard since I often have unavoidable tasks that I can’t control. I really hope you found these ideas stimulating and I am very interested in reading about your opinions and possible improvements 😊. Have a great day!

To clarify: my journal fiscally consists in a Notebook where I dedicate certain pages to calendars, my routine, planning, etc… I glued the calendar to their designated pages and I write everting with a pencil so I can later change it and improve it.