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This Is My Year Journal: A Review and How to Use It

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I’m so excited 2016 is finally here!  I’m ready to embrace everything this new year has to offer…it’s going to be an AMAZING 366 days!  Anyone else claiming this for themselves?

I decided to purchase a gift for myself this past Christmas and I’m so happy I did!  My gift of choice?  Myleik Teele’s “This Is My Year Journal”.  I plan to use it to keep myself organized throughout the entire year.  I know you may be thinking, “How can a journal help keep you organized, shouldn’t you be using a planner?”  I’ll explain how to use the journal shortly, but first let me tell you the one thing I’ve learned about keeping a journal, then I’ll tell you who Myleik is.

This Is My Year Journal- A Review and How to Use It

Journaling: The one thing I’ve learned and Why I Do It
I’ve learned that when I record my thoughts, feelings, ideas, and actions from the past in a journal, I put yourself in a position to forge a better plan for my future.   To me, keeping a journal can help me stop guessing…and start going and doing.

Who Is Myleik?
Myleik Teele is the creator of CurlBox, one of the top-selling beauty subscription boxes for natural haired curly girls. Over the years, she’s acquired a huge social media following, not only due to the success of CurlBox, but also her tough-love advice she’s been giving to women, like myself, through her podcast over the years.  I love Myleik’s “tell it like it is” attitude.  She uses just the right words and tone of voice without sounding too “preachy” or “bossy”.  She discusses everything from how get out of a slump to offering practical (and realistic relationship advice) to sharing how she started earning over six figures working for herself over the last few years.

Reflection
The journal was in my mailbox when we came back home from our first-ever family vacation to Florida.  I was so excited to crack open the journal to see what was inside!

The first 11 pages include notes and advice from Myleik including: her plans for 2016, how to take an assessment of the prior year, how to move past being average, discovering which “season” of life you’re in right now, making self-care a priority,  8 tips to make sure this is your year, how not to fall, how to use her old journals in the new year, and finally a personal handwritten note from Myleik.  The remaining pages are blank lined pages with space for you to write.

I started using my journal on the morning of New Year’s Eve and have been using it ever since.  However, figuring out exactly how to use this journal required me to do a bit of research on my own.

I heard Myleik say in previous podcasts that her journaling method was outlined in her first journal, but I don’t own her first journal.  She also mentioned you could listen to one of her previous podcasts to learn her journaling method.  Well, I had no idea which podcast it was even after scrolling through all of them in iTunes.  So what’s a girl to do?  I simply asked someone.  Ask and ye shall receive, right?  Yep, I found someone online via Instagram who I knew purchased her first journal and simply asked them to send me a screenshot of the journaling method.  I have no idea who the person was, but she gladly sent the screenshot my way so now I’m able to share Myleik’s journaling method with you.  Ready?

How to Use This Journal

Left side of the journal – Use for journaling
Right side of the journal – Use to create lists

Tips for Journaling
Write: Use the left side of the page to journal thoughts, write down numbers, save Instagram names, websites, apps, books titles, random thoughts, ideas, quotes and whatever else you come across that day.

Tips for Creating Lists
Date: This seems like a no-brainer, but you always want to be sure that you enter the date, month, and year.

Prioritize: Start with the highest priority for the day as #1 and work your way down.

Highlight by Importance: Once you start working on the list you’ll do one of two things: If it’s a task that needs more steps to actually be completed, you highlight it YELLOW.  Myleik likes this color because it’s the brightest and it allows you to see the task clearly.

Make Notes on Next Steps: If you have highlighted the task with yellow, you can also make notes beneath it in another color pen (Myleik uses red or pink) with the notes on the “next step” you’ll need to do. For example, “Left a message with the assistant, check back tomorrow.”

Orange Means You’re Done: If you complete the task, highlight it with orange. Orange means you’re 100% done with it.

Carry Tasks Over to the Next Day: Once the day is over you can set yourself up for the next day by carrying over all of your YELLOW tasks on the new page in order of priority.

This method will keep you organized with your priorities on the top of your list each day.

Example Notes
1. Call with Jackie at 2:00pm today
2. Speaking engagement – Send my biography to the event organizer
3. Plan my birthday trip – Hawaii? California Coast? Dubai?
4. Go grocery shopping
5. Write and mail thank you cards
6. Read for 60 minutes today
7. Call mom at 6pm today to discuss family vacation
8. Schedule doctor appointments for the kids
9. Meeting with accountability partner Friday at 7pm
10. Hair appointment Saturday at 10am

If you own this journal and don’t know how to use it, I hope you’ve found this post to be helpful.  Happy Journaling!

To learn more about Myleik or purchase one of her journals visit her website.

Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.  I purchased this journal with my own money.  All opinions expressed are my own.

Your turn: Do you journal?  What are your best tips for staying organized?  Feel free to share in the comments.

Join the Conversation

38 thoughts on “This Is My Year Journal: A Review and How to Use It

  1. Thank you for this. Your “Ask and ye shall receive, right?” line in this post really rang a bell for me. I have this journal as well as like you, didn’t know how to use it because I didn’t purchase the first. Just yesterday, I thought to myself “find out how to use it”. And this morning, My posts your website on her snap. Ask and ye shall receive indeed!

    Thank you for this post!

    1. Hi Lily, I’m so happy you found it to be helpful! I had it for a couple of days before I came up with the idea to find someone who purchased her first journal. Cheers to an awesome 2016!

  2. Thank you for doing this! Very helpful.. Who needs a planner when you can have both with this great journal. 😜

  3. This was an awesome post! I hopped on the chance to purchase this journal (missed the last one like the other commenters did). The quality is amazing and I can’t wait to get started with it. Your post helped a great deal. I’m obsessed with Myleik and happy that others are sharing her journal.

    1. Hi Jia! I agree, Myleik is so dope and down-to-earth and the products she and her team produce are amazing! Glad you thought the post was helpful. Cheers!

  4. Thanks so much for sharing this! Like you, I didn’t get her first journal so this is super helpful. Now I’m even more excited to dive into my journal. Also, LOVE your blog, #blmgirl!

  5. OMG! Thanks so much for sharing because I missed the deadline to order the 2016 journal. This blog post just made my day so that I can get started with my goal of being more organized and productive in the new year.

    I live in Florida, where did you visit for your family vacay?

    Tia #BLMgirl

    1. Yay! So happy I could help, Tia! We went to Orlando – we own a timeshare down there right next to Disney. Thanks so much for stopping by. I’m going to subscribe to your blog. I’m so impressed you actually managed to stick to that 52 week savings challenge last year. I’ve tried before and failed miserably. I saved a good amount of money, but then eventually I had to dip into it for one reason or another. I need some tips from you!

  6. Great recap! I own her first journal and I bought the second one! 🙂 The task list approach and moving them to the next day really does work. Happy journaling! #blmgirl

  7. I love journaling! I haven’t tried her journal, but it’s definitely worth looking into it. I love a functional journal with an actual purpose. Thanks for sharing! #BLMGirl

  8. Sounds simple enough but I always fall out of love with keeping up with things…. It doesn’t seem to stick with me. It all goes south about mid March. I have to find a way to actually motivate myself to prioritize.

    1. Yes, I think it’s safe to say many people (including myself) eventually fall off the wagon or start slipping. It’s all a part of being human. However, I think you have to get to a point in life where you decide you’re just not going to settle or slack anymore on the things that truly matter to you. As long as your “WHY” is big enough that should be all the motivation you need to keep going. Just my thoughts. Happy 2016!

  9. I have a few journals but never wrote in them, this year I said I would start journaling. Unfortunately I have not started yet, 6 days in, but Im going to get with it very soon. Im just so unsure what I need to say to myself

  10. I keep a prayer/gratitude journal, but I’m thinking of starting a separate personal everyday journal as well. Journaling any form has always been very relaxing and beneficial for me. Will have to check out Myleik’s journal.

    1. Love gratitude journals! I used to have one, but now I think I’ll start including things that I’m grateful for in my current journal. Thanks for the reminder, K. Elizabeth!

  11. Thank you so much for this post! I got my journal last week, read your post, then went out and got more pens and highlighters to try Myelik’s journal method (which I already know I will love!) Cheers to an amazing 2016!

  12. Hey! I absolutely love this post. I read it right after it was posted. However, I’m just getting back around to it. How can I purchase this journal?

  13. So glad I had this link in my email I just received my journal Friday and this breakdown is a life saver! I’ll be sharing this with a few of my girlfriends who just ordered their journals this week we all missed this the first one.Thank you!

  14. I love this because I definitely bought the journal and thought the exact same thing! LOL. And then I met Myeik in Philly and completely forgot to ask about that. haha! So this post is so on time. I have been using it for reflection and goals, but this post is so helpful. Thanks for being thoughtful enough to share.

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