What Size of a Journal Should I Keep?

For those of you who keep or want to keep some sort of a physical Journal, a common question I get asked is what size (pocket, half-page, or full-page) of a physical Journal is best to use? Having heard that question from a handful of you, I’ve decided to put my answer into a brief blog post below – starting with my experience with different sizes of journals. (I hope to write about other attributes of a journal – pages, binds, dated vs undated – in future posts).

My Experience with Different Journal Sizes

Journaling began from my intrinsic desire to write things down so I can do something about instead of them looping in my head. Thus, I began writing them down on anything that was available to me – posted notes, line papers, printer papers, and then eventually to more structured daily journals.

As of today, I keep multiple journals of different sizes for different purposes. For example, my main journal is dated by day (black) to structure and plan each of my days, the big Journal (blue) is more for free-form thinking about a bigger idea, the last journal (with rings) is my gym Journal where I track my exercise details.

Likewise, I encourage you to focus on writing down as much as you can that occupies your mind with whatever you have currently available and then go back and adjust the different types of journals you use. This process may repeat itself every few years. Furthermore, over the years you’ll realize that is not only about one size and type of the journal but as you start doing more, you will start using different sizes of journals.

Criteria for Selecting a Journal Size

Assuming you have written or journaled for a week or so to critique yourself, go back and evaluate yourself to make sure you have been having enough space to write freely and clearly. When I critiqued myself, I realized I didn’t have enough space to write out my larger thoughts about a project, thus, I started using the large blue journal you see above.

Lastly, don’t make it any more complicated than this. Our minds have the tendency to distract us with less-important tasks (procrastinate, fear of starting, trying new things etc). The brand, quality, dated vs dated, look, and feel factors matter much less than your willingness to write and articulate yourself – which is by-far the most important factor.