Category: Productivity

How to Use Your Notebooks in 2026 to Improve Your Life

From top to bottom: single project notebook (blog drafts), single project notebook (study notes), single project notebook (D&D planning), work-in-progress notebook, work planner, personal planner, journal

Hi there, do you have a big stack of beautiful, brand new notebooks just waiting to be used? Do you have goals and plans for the new year? Do you want to improve your life in many different areas? Great! This post is for you.

Go grab a handful of those notebooks. We’re going to take the dust off them and get them to work for you. Remember: a beautiful notebook looks even better once it’s full. Notebooks are meant to be used as tools, not stared at like art objects.

Here are a few kinds of notebooks you should keep in 2026:

  • Journal – this is an absolute must for everybody. I know it’s hard to be consistent – believe me I struggle with it daily – but journaling is a habit that is guaranteed to pay back dividends. I start mine daily with a list of things that I’m grateful for, and end with a mini review of the day (did I fulfil my five ACT values?). In between is a running log of the day, and sometimes a section where I work things out on the page. Don’t post your opinions and thoughts on social media – write them in your journal instead. A journal will give you peace of mind, perspective, joy and a safe place to vent. Don’t take it out on people, put it on the page. I currently use a Stalogy 365 B6 for my journal, though for years I have used limited edition lined Large Moleskine hardcovers, and I may yet return to them.
  • Work In Progress notebook – this is the newest addition to my notebook rotation and I wish I had started a notebook like this sooner. What is a Work In Progress notebook? It’s where I spend time working on things in my life that I want to reflect on and change. You can do this in your journal, but as I’m dedicating time and effort this year to make some significant behavioural changes I wanted the place to work through these things. This is also a place where I reflect and take notes about the non-fiction, history, philosophy and self-help books that I’m reading, and it’s a place where I take time to consider my values and purpose in life. Heady stuff that we’ve been encouraged to abandon in this cynical and commercial age – much to our detriment. You can change and evolve, it’s worth investing time in trying to become a better version of yourself, and consistent daily work and reflection in this area is worth doing. I highly recommend keeping a notebook dedicated to this endeavour.
  • Planners – I believe that the best planner is the one that you customise for your needs. This is why I recommend not buying a pre-formatted planner, and instead making a planner yourself. I keep a work planner and a personal (home) planner and I recommend that you do the same – keep work at work and home at home whenever possible. Take into account that you’ll have to experiment to see what works for you, and that there will be a level of compromise that you’ll have to grow comfortable with. There is no “perfect” planner – there is a planner that works for you. Planners don’t replace reminders or calendar appointments – they’re there to give you a broader view of your week, month and year, and let you make some long term plans.
  • Single Project notebooks – “Single Project” notebooks are exactly that – a notebook dedicated to a single project or area in your life. It can be a hobby (I have one dedicated to my D&D plans, and I used to have one dedicated to my running), an actual project that you’re working on (I’m studying for a certification so I have a dedicated notebook for my study notes), or an idea that you want to develop. I try to select a notebook that fits the project that it’s dedicated to in terms of size, format, cover and number of pages. My running notebook was a Field Notes, my study notebook is a Midori MD notebook. If it’s something that you’re working on for a while and that’s important to you, I recommend dedicating a notebook for it.
  • Daily To Do List – I don’t use a notebook for this at the moment, but I used to use a large squared Moleskine for this. I currently use Kokuyo KB A4 loose leaf paper that I cut in half to A5 size. These lists are disposable to me, so I have no problem crumpling the daily list away and tossing it into recycling. You can use a notebook, index cards, loose leaf paper – but I recommend keeping a hardcopy, analog version of your daily to-do list. Why? Because to-do apps give you excuses to pick up your phone, because writing things down makes you stop and consider what you’re committing to, and because you’ve got all those pretty notebooks and pens and it would be a shame not to use them.
  • Scratch pad – keep one at hand to doodle on, for quick capture and to test out pens and inks.

Hopefully this will help you get more enjoyment and use out of that big pile of notebooks in your closet. Let me know if this helps or if you have more ideas on how to use your notebooks.

How I Use My Notebooks: New Streamlined Weekly Review Format

A few months ago I published an overview of my new weekly review format. I had been successfully using it for a few months at the time, and I have since continued to use it until about a month ago. Since then I’ve tweaked it a bit to streamline things and speed up the review process. If you found my previous review format a bit confusing or elaborate, you might want to try my new one.

The new review format consists of four questions that I answer at the end of every week before I build next week’s plan. I write down my answers in my regular journal (currently the Stalogy 365 B6) using last week’s plan as a reference. Here are the new questions:

  • What Worked – no change from last time, except that I allow myself to elaborate more and I don’t emphasize the order of the things that I did and that I want to keep doing. I discovered that it doesn’t really matter if something worked because I changed things, remained consistent or stopped doing something, the only thing that really matters is that it worked. Being more loose here allows me to spend more time reflecting positively on the week instead of worrying about writing things in a certain order.
    An example from the past week – exercise. I got a 10k in, my first speed run since my last race, two gym sessions, two swimming sessions, two rucking sessions and a bunch of walking and NTC pre and post workout stretches. Prioritizing these sessions in my weekly plan, doing them first thing in the morning and setting out workout clothes and gym/pool bags the night before really aided my success.
  • What Didn’t Work – this changed slightly to not only include things that didn’t work due to planning, priorities, “life” or infrastructure but also things that cause me anxiety or distress that need some rethinking.
    An example from the past week – I went back to watching YouTube videos as a “self soothing” source of comfort. We live in stressful times and I’m going through a stressful period at work, so it’s clear that I need something to provide this “warm blanket” function. The issue is that I oftentimes use reading as a source of comfort, and I’m currently reading a book that is purposefully designed to induce anxiety in the reader.
    Note that at this point I’m not focusing on what to do about the things that didn’t work. My point is just to acknowledge them and if relevant name the feelings they induce.
  • What’s Next – this is the biggest difference from the previous review format. Here I write down what I plan to try and keep or change or observe in the coming week. This feeds directly into my weekly plan, and will help me get the most out of last week’s experiences.
    So in the case of the examples above, I’m going to keep to an identical general exercise plan in the coming week, and I’m going to add a “comfort book” to my current reading rotation.
    If anything more long term needs to happen due to these reviews I will just add it to my quarterly plan. The point is not just to blindly follow a plan, but to try things, observe, reflect and change them if needed.

You’ll note that I removed the “people of the week” section. I just found it redundant, as these three questions generally cover it.

As usual, I’d love to hear more about your weekly review formats, and if you found this helpful.

My New Weekly Review Format

I previously discussed how I plan my quarter, my week and my days, but there’s another side to planning: reviewing. The goal isn’t to set out a plan, then attempt to follow it and disregard any successes or failures in the process, but rather to take the time to figure out what tweaks and changes need to take place for your plan to work better for you. And remember – the plan works for you, you don’t work for the plan.

I’ve tried various review formats over the years, some were more successful than others, but here’s what I’ve come to realize: the weekly review is more crucial to the success of a quarterly plan (a 13 week year) than a quarterly review. I still perform a review of the previous quarter before planning the next one, but the weekly review is where the keys to happiness lie.

After a good amount of trials and errors, here’s the weekly review format that I’ve been using over the past few months and that has been working:

The weekly review format
  • What Worked – this is where I write down things that I did differently (first priority), consistently (second priority) and well (third priority) during the past week. The focus is things that I can learn from to take with me to the next week and to weeks following it.
    An example from the past week: I changed my running form, and had a faster series of runs that also felt better. This change required effort, but the results mean that it’s something I want to keep doing. The effort was worth it and it’s something that I want to emphasize for next week’s plan.
  • What Didn’t Work – this isn’t an opportunity for me to beat myself up. The point is to notice where my plans were too ambitious and need refactoring, where the context changed and my plan lacked enough flexibility to account for that, and where I need more infrastructure. What’s infrastructure? It’s the things you do ahead of time to help you build up consistent success: plan the next day every day, put reminders for everything, set out clothes for tomorrow (particularly exercise clothes). Have present you help future you make the decisions you want them to make.
    An example from the past week: I did not do well with my social connection goals. I didn’t take into account the fact that I had several busy evenings that week, and so ended up not making the calls that I wanted to make. I was more careful to add time for morning phone calls and visits into my schedule, and I cut down on the number of calls that I planned on making, which made this week much better. Context is crucial when planning. (Yes, you need to schedule these things and not do them spontaneously because otherwise you won’t do them. You’ll tell yourself that the Like on the Instagram post counts as staying in touch with your friends. It doesn’t. It counts for a billionaire’s bottom line.)
  • One Win – this may seem redundant, as the “what worked” is there, but I still think that this is important. We don’t take the time to celebrate our wins, even tiny ones, and then we feel depressed and go on shopping sprees, social media binges, etc to get a bit of a dopamine hit. Even if your week sucked, there was something in it worth celebrating. I try where possible to make it something that I did, but sometimes its something that happened to me.
    An example from the past week: I had a tough conversation with someone at work that ended up in us reaching a compromise that is much better than I thought that I could achieve. We both felt better after that conversation, even though neither of us wanted to have it.
  • One Challenge – this is something that I learned this week that is worth gearing up and preparing for. It’s a chance for the “anxiety” character in your mind to be productive in a safe environment. I don’t always fill this in, but I want it to be there to let me have space for this if I need to. An example can be feeling like you’re about to be come sick or are maybe are on the verge of an explosive situation at work or at home. This is a chance to note it, figure out if it’s a real challenge or an imagined one, and prepare to avoid it or deal with it.
    A past example: I felt a shoulder strain coming on, so I changed my training days and exercises around. Another example: I talked to my boss about my need to have a bit more variety in my work after I realized that I was getting progressively bored with the tasks that I was given.
  • People of the Week – so important – this is for people that made your week or that you want to particularly remember after the week you’ve had. They can be friends that came to your rescue, colleagues that made your day, family members that were there for you, or mentors and heroes that helped motivate you. I try to make it people that I know personally and not figures from the news or celebrities. No examples here, as this is too personal.

I write this review on Friday or Saturday in my regular journal, longhand. I then check if my weekly plan needs to change due to it. It takes me about 30 minutes, because I spend time thinking about it. Focusing on the wins and positive people in my life, working to continue with the successes and mitigate the failures, and looking with clear eyes and a level head to the challenges ahead helps make me happy. That’s the point of these reviews, and that’s why I do them.

Do you do a weekly review? What format do you use?