The Ultimate Guide to Keeping A Journal (2020)

About this video

Part seven of the creator’s annual ultimate guide to keeping a journal, showing how he sets up his 2020 journal. He frames journaling as where self-development input is applied and internalised — like diet alongside workouts — and as a place to coach yourself and a yearbook-like log to check progress against past years’ journals. Setup: write your name, year, and mission/motto on the front; calculate days remaining to age 90 from 32,850 total days (his figure is about 22,500) as a mortality reminder; put the year’s top 1% quotes and lessons inside the front cover. Put goals on the back cover divided into work, rest, and play (also described as grind, body, spirit/adventure), and rig goals to be winnable rather than unrealistically 10x. He recommends swapping to a fresh journal each year — his is a blank, hardcover 8.5x11 sketchbook with 220 pages, because lines feel like school and it travels with him. Inside, he uses loose sections rather than rigid bullet journaling: courses/masterminds, coaching calls, YouTube ideas, a 52-week tracker (about 25 pages), a freedom section for anything else, and a small brain dump section. For brain dumps, return a day later and ask what advice you would give someone else in your exact situation. Journal from inspiration, not obligation, with no fixed frequency target.

Key takeaways

• Front cover setup: name, year, motto, days left to 90 (32,850 minus age x 365), and the year’s top 1% quotes and lessons inside the front
• Back cover holds goals split into work, rest, and play — keep them ambitious but winnable so you build momentum instead of discouragement
• Start a fresh journal every year, even with blank pages left, as a clean start and an annual record you can review in 10-20 minutes
• Organise loosely into sections — courses, coaching, content ideas, a 52-week tracker, freedom notes, and brain dumps — instead of a rigid system
• Use the brain dump plus the question ‘what advice would I give someone else in my exact situation?’ to coach yourself, and journal from inspiration not obligation

Episode details: published December 26, 2019 · 23:56 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Clark Kegley’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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