I’m a sucker for planners. And journals. And prompts that get me to dissect my feelings and goals and move forward, which is why the second I heard the latest collection of Rachel Hollis Start Today Journals and Priority Planners were out, I had to scope them out. My review of the Priority Planner has gotten so much attention that I felt I wasn’t the only one curious about her Start Today Journals, so I put on my face mask, armed myself with hand sanitizer, and hit up Target (pssh, like I needed an excuse to go to Target, honestly).

What Is the Start Today Journal, Anyway?

Rachel Hollis has become a two-time New York Times bestseller for her books Girl, Wash Your Face and Girl, Stop Apologizing, and she’s built an entire lifestyle brand around her writing. For years, she’s followed the same journaling prompts every morning, which she attributes to much of her success in actually reaching those goals (in addition to being a hardcore planner and doer). The Start Today Journal series is just the printed version of that practice.

What’s Inside the Journal?

There are a few different cover designs, but the contents are the same: For 90 days, you’re asked to share five things you’re grateful for, ten dreams you made happen (which seems intimidating at first, but they can be small—or tiny, tiny steps toward a bigger goal), and a line where you jot down your one big goal you’re pursuing for that quarter of the year.

Is It Worth It?

If you’ve been stuck in a rut and feel like you can’t move from daydreaming to doing—or you’ve been really down on yourself for not making said progress—the Start Today Journal could help jumpstart you into a more proactive, positive mindset.

For me, the price point was a bit too high for what the journal contained. If it had more of a variety of prompts to really help me think deeper, then I’d be more inclined to shell out $20 for the book.

That’s also because I know my thought process, and that I’d be likely to get lazy after the first few days and just start repeating the gratitude and dream parts, just to check “fill out journal” off my list, then get frustrated that I can’t think of 15 original things every day (not that you should do that; I’m just weird that way and would want to find 15 new items, which totally misses the point of the journal). When that happened, I’d likely quit, because that’s what I’ve done with previous gratitude journals. For me, the Priority Planner and a blank journal to scrawl my thoughts, stream-of-consciousness style, is more helpful.

But I’ve heard plenty of people who swear by this method and have seen huge results (I mean, look at Hollis’s career!), so don’t let me hold you back from trying something new. If it works for you, maybe it’ll convince me to finally get out of my own way with gratitude journaling.

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