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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.

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