Journal Set-Up

Welcome to Conscious Collective, I’m so glad you’re here! I figured I’d take a few moments to show you how I set up my journal in case you are wondering where to start.

I create tabs at the top of my journal for year, quarter, month, week, and day. In the year section, I put in templates — Year At A Glance, Goal Setting, Vision Board, Family Mission Statement — anything I want for the entire year, even things I might want to store in that section after I get done with them and won’t be looking at them on a regular basis. Next is quarterly — Rolling Quarters, Ideation Worksheets — basically breaking down the year into quarters. Next is month — things I will refer to on a monthly basis such as Books I Want To Read, Movies I Want To Watch, Things I Want To Learn, Bucket List, Quotes I Love, Wish List. Next is week — The Weekly (rhythm, exercise plan, etc) and Ideal Week. Next is Day — the section I flip to every day — Daily Rhythm, Take Action List, Prayer Page, and Grateful Page.

I create tabs on the side of my journal for each month. I print these pages as I need because I go through different seasons of what templates I will and won’t use — This Month (single page and spread), Action Tracker, and day-to-day pages such as Daily Logs, Daily Journals, and Graph Paper.

I create a smaller cardstock insert page with holes punched a bit higher than the rest of the pages so it sticks out of the top of the journal so I can easily flip to the current day.

In the back of the journal, I keep an art journal and extra pages.

I use the 8x5x11 templates with the discbound system because I love the way it looks and it’s super easy to add and take away pages as you go. I currently have a hard plastic page from the office store as a cover until I can find an ethical and sustainable source. You could also use a three ring binder or 6-hole A5 binder. For more on choosing a size and style for your journal, click over to this post.

I hope this breakdown is helpful for you to get your journal set up. Be sure to jump on our Facebook page and community Pinterest Board for more guidance, inspiration, and to share what works for you.