The Best Self Journal is part daily planner, part weekly planner and part project planner!

Quick facts

• Size: 5.75″ wide x 8.5″ high
• 2 pages per day
• Daily schedule from 6am to 9pm
• Weekly overview (1 page)
• Weekly reflection (1 page)
• Different inspirational quotes throughout
• Undated – start / stop planning anytime
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Gender neutral
• Sewn binding with hardcover
• Numbered pages for each day
• Monthly calendars at the front
• Lasts 13 weeks
• Undated
• Navy or charcoal cover
• 14 dot grid notes pages at the back (some are perforated)
• Elastic band to keep it closed
• User guide included
• No tabs
• Attachable pen loop
• Wall calendar

Price: $36 USD + shipping

Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase this notebook using my affiliate link I’ll receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only affiliate with products I use and recommend.

Let’s take a closer look!

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The Cover

Like most hardbound notebooks, the Self Journal has the usual plain hardcover in a neutral color, stitched binding and elastic band to keep it closed.

Approx 0.75″ thick’

The planner comes in a gift wrap box with a wall calendar, guidebook and attachable pen loop.

It’s worth noting that the journal only lasts for 13 weeks and buying enough copies to last you an entire year will probably cost more than 1 planner that covers 12 months. For this reason, I think this planner would make a good companion to your regular day to day planner or use it to replace your everyday planner when you’re working on a big project.

There are no dates so you can stop and start using it anytime.

Goal Setting

First up are the 13 week roadmap pages with 1 page for up to 3 goals followed by a ‘my commitment’ statement page.

Monthly Calendar

Next are the monthly calendars all clustered together at the front of the planner.

Week starts on whatever day of the week you like. Plus there are there are no dates on the monthly calendar so you can start using it at anytime during the year.

Weekly Planner

Starts on Monday.

This planner has a 2 page weekly overview section followed by 2 pages per each day.

Different to most planners (although I expect to see this happening a lot more often), is that the writing space is dot grid throughout instead of lined.

Saturday and Sunday share the same amount of space as 1 weekday which I’d normally say is a con, however since there’s so much room on the daily pages to plan things in detail, you probably wouldn’t fill the daily section of the weekly spread anyway.

Goals & total for the habit tracker is handy, although the writing space for each habit / activity is small.

There’s also a reflection section (one of the few planners I’ve come across that include this <3)

Daily Planning

Different to most daily planners, the Best Self Planner has 2 pages to plan each day

The schedule runs from 6am to 9pm which 2 lines for each hour if you wanted to plan half hourly. Or if you’re like me and don’t to plan by the hour, you could use this as a numbered priority to do list instead.

Extras pages

At the back of the planner is a page signifying the end. I found it odd that it didn’t include some sort of review pages, it just jumps straight into the dot grid notes pages at the back.

There are 14 dot grid notes pages at the back of the planner. Some are perforated if you want to tear them out and add them to your normal daily planner, pinboard etc.

Tabs

There are no tabs but there are 3 built in ribbon bookmarks in different colors.

Pen Testing

I ended up gifting this planner so didn’t do a pen test, however, the paper quality doesn’t seem very good. You can see the printing of the back side of the design through the pages and they have a yellowish tinge to them.

Pros of the Best Self Journal

• 2 pages per day (more than most daily planners)
• Weekly overview and reflection pages in addition to the daily layouts
• Cheap shipping to the USA and also Australia
• Gender neutral
• Pages lay flat
• 3 ribbon bookmarks
• Undated – start planning anytime
• Numbered pages
• Attachable pen loop
• Undated wall calendar comes with the planner

Cons of the Best Self Journal

• No cover personalisation
• Plain design on the inside pages (and the printing is a feint grey)
• No extra pages
• Only 2 color covers to choose from
• Ghosting of the design on the back side of the pages
• Yellow / cream paper
• Expensive if you use for entire year (each planner only lasts 13 weeks albeit you can stop and start as it’s undated so it may last longer)

Would I use this planner?

No. I prefer to use weekly planners. I work a day job and use a separate planner for that so really only need a planner for weekdays evenings and weekends. The format is scheduling – on the rare occasion I use a daily planner, I prefer list style format.

This planner would be ideal if you need a lot of space to plan your day as it has 2 pages compared to the usual 1. It would also make a good project planner that you can stop / start using at your own pace as it’s undated.

For being a goal setting / project planner, I was surprised by the lack of structured project planning / breakdown type pages. I also think the planner is overpriced. If you use it all the time you’d need about 4 to see you through an entire year (each planner lasts approx 13 weeks).

They have a free PDF version (with a watermark) of the planner if you want to try it out before buying (or make a DIY planner using discbound)…

If you like this planner, it’s available on Amazon (affiliate link)

More planner reviews:

• Plum Paper Horizontal Lined + Notes (and a comparison or colorful versus neutral)
• Milligram Weekly Agenda Planner
• Blue Sky Noteworthy Planner

Planning Tips:

• 10 Things I don’t put in my planner (and why)
• 6 Useful ways to efficiently plan your week using highlighters 
• 50 Tips for writing a better to do list that will make you more productive

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