The 16 Best Goal-Setting Journals For 2023. According To An Expert -

If you’ve struggled to reach your goals in the past, writing them down can be an easy place to start. Licensed psychotherapist Kristin Papa, LCSW, explains to Bustle, “Journaling is an intentional practice where people can review what they've set out to accomplish in one location.” The best goal-setting journals are designed to help you implement new habits and boost your productivity. They utilize scientifically proven methods, fun activities, and smart structures to help you get the most out of your day.

Papa recommends a goal-setting journal that has space to reflect on your biggest wins and lessons learned throughout the month. A journal that emphasizes growth in all aspects of life such as family, fitness, fun, or personal development can also be helpful. “At times people tend to focus on one area of their life, but if the journal has you evaluate your accomplishments from a more holistic perspective it allows you to create a more grounded and balanced approach to your goals,” she says. A planner can be an extension of your brain, and these genius planners have been specifically created to help you organize any jumbled thoughts and achieve your goals.

Remember that consistency is key when using a journal to reach your goals. “Building a daily habit to review and write your goals down is a powerful tool to keep yourself accountable,” says Papa. You may also experience some other positive benefits to using a planner once you no longer have to-do lists swarming around in your head.

Whether you're looking to streamline your day-to-day tasks, plan long-term projects, boost your creativity, or achieve career goals, these are the best goal-setting journals on Amazon. Plus, all of them have glowing reviews from real people to back them up.

1. Panda Planner

With over 8,000 reviews, the Panda Planner is helping people get more done every day. In addition to monthly, weekly, and daily sections, it comes with free videos and e-books to show you scientific strategies that can help in all areas of your life. Each week this journal inspires you to review how your previous week went while planning for the one coming up. The daily section includes a morning and evening review for daily check-ins as well. Keep your day structured and organized by listing out your schedule, priorities, and tasks to complete.

According to a fan: "This has changed my life. I use the daily part the most. I love reflecting on what I’m grateful for and excited about. I also love the option of only writing out 5 priorities for the day. It has been tremendously helpful with managing my time.”

2. Freedom Mastery Deluxe Law of Attraction Life Planner

This planner is ideal for those who want to learn how to manifest new and exciting things into their lives. It uses prompts, to-do lists, gratitude sections, and goal-setting to create healthy habits. This wildly-popular goal-setting journal comes with stickers you can outfit your journal with, and even an included video course for how to establish a 10-minute morning routine.

According to a fan: "I have been using planners since elementary school (I’m 43 now)and this is by far the best one I have owned. I’m in my third year with these. Excellent.”

3. The Little More Daily Organizer Planner

This classic journal comes with 328 undated pages, so it's not your classic yearly goal-setting journal. That said, thanks to its flexible design and focus on both monthly and daily goals, this planner is a great pick for anyone looking to set up a habit or reach for a new goal and actually stick to it. It also has space for you to outline action steps for your goal, reflect on your progress, and prioritize multiple goals. This planner comes with a bunch of stickers you can use to set up the cadence of your goals, denote to-do lists, and so much more.

According to a fan: "I purchased the Little More undated planner with the intended purpose of using it to basically track meals and life goals. However, I have found it to be useful on an everyday basis. The simple exercise of writing out my tasks and appointments for the day has helped to solidify them in my mind. I am enjoying remembering my appointments and the associated details rather than responding to an alert that pops up on my phone.”

4. Erin Condren Petite Planner Goal-Setting Journal

This small planner has just 80 pages but is packed with features that are great for setting and sticking to your plans. This journal has a space to describe your goal, outline your "why" (so crucial when making consistent goals), and write out your action plan. The opposite page allows you to set small steps that will eventually lead you to achieve your goal — perfect for chunking out large goals into manageable tasks.

According to a fan: "I'm not one to buy planners for goals but rather I use them for scrapbooking, journaling, habit tracking, etc... After viewing the photos of this journal, I decided to give it a try for some goals. I liked it so much, I bought a second one and shared it with a friend who also bought one.”

5. The 100-Day Goal Journal

The 100-day goal journal is a great option if you find the concept of an entire year a bit daunting. It includes monthly spreads, daily reflection pages where you can start a gratitude practice or check in with your overarching goals, and space for you to reflect on your current challenges and problem-solve for how to move forward. This is a great pick for anyone looking to jumpstart a project, start a daily habit, or channel more productivity in your life.

According to a fan: "This has to be one of the best goal accomplishment tools I've ever seen. It is a no-nonsense approach that is easy to do and will keep you on track toward whatever goal you set. For the money, I was not expecting much in way of quality but I was pleasantly surprised. The book is beautifully bound with high quality, ultra smooth, white paper and even goes with a very nice ribbon for marking your page. I recommend this journal without reservation.”

6. Clever Fox Planner

If you need a boost in productivity, the Clever Fox planner is designed to help you do just that. Included are pages for self-awareness and gratitude, a vision board, a space to list out yearly goals, a mind mapping page to plan out your goals, and over 50 dot grid pages. Additionally, there are weekly layouts for all 52 weeks of the year and 12 monthly calendar pages. In the weekly spread, you’ll be able to track your wins, to-do lists, habits, and areas of improvement.

According to a fan: “Absolutely love this planner, and it's been a lifesaver in helping me keep track of so many things! I love how it's so customizable to however you want to use it while still having a helpful skeleton for how to categorize things. The quality is also incredible for the price!”

7. BestSelf SELF Journal

This epic planner includes a daily gratitude acknowledgment, places to track your goals on a weekly basis, and even features inspirational quotes interspersed in the pages to keep you motivated. This 13-week undated journal is excellent for shorter-term goals, and for getting into a daily practice.

According to a fan: "This journal is designed to help you accomplish 1 to 3 goals within 13 weeks. It allows you to really think about what you want, how you want to accomplish it, and requires you to develop a plan. The pages are clean and offer a variety of sections to complete on a monthly, weekly, and daily basis for those 13 weeks. I've had goals or resolutions that didn't work out because I didn't have a plan or a way to keep accountability, but now I have a plan and a way to keep track of my progress.'"

8. Transcending Waves Planner

The Transcending Waves Planner is specifically designed to help you achieve balance in your life. It allows you to plot your to do plans, dates, gratitude levels, expenses, and even helps to eliminate bad habits. It's also beautifully constructed with leather and thick rich pages, and it comes in six beautiful colors.

According to a fan: "This planner/journal combination is great for people that struggle with time management and motivation as a result of mental health conditions. It made a big difference for me. It helped me stay focused on my goals, and gave me a chance to reflect at the end of my day/week/month. Despite the time commitment to do the planning and journaling, I found that I was more productive on days when I took the time to work on it. Highly recommend this product!”

9. Bloom Daily Planners List Planner

So you're big into lists, and lengthy writing prompts just stress you out. No problem. The Bloom Daily Planners To-Do planner organizes your whole day with quick, simple lists — what to buy, what to eat, how you'll exercise, and of course, your most prioritized to-dos. It comes in three gorgeous designs and reviewers say, "Greatest creation for crazy busy list-making moms like me!"

According to a fan: "This planner is amazing for my daily needs. It helps me hold myself accountable for the things I tell myself I need to do. I feel obligated to try and fill in every box. Being a stay-at-home mom is honestly more work than I ever imagined, and this helps me keep my sanity. I challenge myself daily to do everything I need to do, but I always make sure that I get my top priorities done."

10. The GoGirl Planner And Organizer

No goal is too big or too small when you have a planner like the GoGirl planner to help you accomplish them all. Reviewers love how this journal encourages work-life balance by including space for even your health, romance, family, spiritual and recreational goals. Additionally, you can set up to five yearly goals and use the mind mapping page to strategize your plan for achieving them. Each week you will be able to list out priorities, create to-do lists, and track your daily habits.

According to a fan: “I use this planner as my daily reminder of upcoming events. Also, I love that it has a section to plan weekly/monthly/yearly goals. This planner really focuses on personal growth to get your life together. I am definitely getting another one for next year!”

11. The Phoenix Journal

The Phoenix Journal allows you to set goals week by week and list sub-efforts underneath each goal so you can stay motivated by checking off small steps toward your larger achievements. It also provides you with checkboxes to remind you to make your goals specific, actionable, and measurable and even has a spot for you to write what you're most excited for the next week. This specific journal is 12 weeks long and undated, so keep this in mind when shopping.

According to a fan: "For years I have been in search of the perfect journal for work. I’ve tried literally 100s of dollars in journals, binders, books, etc. This journal has all the key components and nothing unnecessary.”

12. Legend Planner Daily 90-Day Journal

How could you go wrong with a name like that? The Legend Planner has 90 days filled with beautiful designs, clean, undated layouts, and stylish fonts. It breaks your time down by weekly and monthly intervals so you can track your goals, schedule, and habits. It's also got free bulleted space for creativity — and comes with tons of bonus stickers.

According to a fan: "I set a 90 day goal and used this planner to track my progress by the month, week and day. It worked perfectly for my purpose. The planner is excellent quality with a good feel to the pages. It was very legible and had plenty of space to write. It helped keep me focused and gave me the ability to easily evaluate progress. I would buy another in a heartbeat.”

13. Moleskine Classic Dotted Notebook

“For my goal setting and yearly planning, I love using this dotted Moleskine journal to create lists, calendars, and charts and graphs where I can track my progress,” wrote Amy Biggart, Bustle Senior Editor. “It's definitely more of an empty template than other goal-setting journals I've seen or tried, but the dots make for easy guides and allow me to really customize the way I track my financial, personal, or reading goals. I buy a new one every year!"

According to a fan: “I love Moleskine notebooks and I think this may be the best yet. It stays flat when writing. The margins and line widths are perfect. I use pilot g2 pens and they don’t bleed through. Worth the money!”

14. Papercode Daily Planner

This 90-day planner from Papercode taps into both the visual and logical parts of your brain. Start by writing down up to five yearly goals and affirmations. Then flip to the next page to plan out exactly what you want your life to look like in the near future by creating a built-in vision board and mindmap of how you’re going to get there. On a weekly basis, you’ll be to set goals for each day and track your success and shortcomings.

According to a fan: “I used this planner all through 2022 and I've never been able to stick with a planner for a full year (ADHD). Not only did it work very well for me, I'm about to purchase one for 2023! The setup and amount of pages work great and the fact it's undated means I don't feel bad if i miss a week or two of filling it in.”

15. The Pursuit Goal Journal

The Pursuit goal journal keeps the reason behind your goals at the forefront. Before you even jump in, there’s space to brainstorm and develop a written plan for how you’re going to actually achieve your goals and your ultimate “pursuit.” The rest of the journal focuses on small daily wins. Each month has an objective, each week focuses on three targets, and each day has room to check off three individual tasks. This journal follows a detailed approach that’s also practical and realistic. There’s even room to reflect on your progress and modify as you go.

According to a fan: “This is hands down the best planner I have ever used. It gives just enough help with honing into your larger goal and then you keep reminding yourself of it as you continue in your journey. The checklist method for the tasks is definitely effective. I am about to finish month 5 in my first Pursuit journal, and I just ordered my next one. This resource has been an absolute game-changer for me.”

16. Mountain Planner Pro

This daily planner prioritizes your schedule with half-hour time slots from six in the morning to nine at night, plus tasks, priorities, and daily missions. There's also a little room for self-care, too — you can write down what you're grateful for and what you're hoping for, and reviewers love the monthly and weekly spreads, too.

According to a fan: "Bought this planner recently and I'm enjoying it immensely. It helps me stay on top of my goals. I got a new job recently and was a bit overwhelmed with all that was going on so I ordered this to help me get things under control. Its definitely been helping me stay on top of all my goals-both short and long-term. A great feature is that it has monthly, weekly and daily schedules.”

Also Great: The Vision Board Book

While it’s not a journal per se, the Vision Board Book is a great alternative for manifesters, scrapbookers, and those who prefer to set visual goals rather than written ones. It’s filled with over 700 words and images that help you to visualize your ideal life. The categories include food, lifestyle, home, finances, social, wellness, and more — plus there are a few pages of individual letters so you can create your own words. Finally, the photos are inclusive and vivid.

According to a fan: “Gorgeous, high-quality pictures (it almost hurt to cut it up!) to really help visualize your dream life. Lots of variety also.”

The Expert

Kristin Papa, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist who practices in California, Florida, & Puerto Rico.

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