Self Journal (v7) GoodNotes & Notability App Template

I've bought BestSelf items in the past and loved their products. While I enjoy a physical product, I tend to carry too much stuff with me. Having this as a downloaded product is just what I need!

This is probably my favorite planner so far - and believe me, I’ve tested a LOT of planners over the years!

The one challenge I have with it is pretty unique to my use case - I use this planner with a digital notebook (Supernote - similar to ReMarkable) so the file format I have to use doesn’t have working links. I’ve worked around this by giving myself a cheat-sheet of page numbers where I need them so I can just input the page I need and jump that way, but having clickable links that work with digital notebooks would be *fabulous*

It’s hard to use digitally when the monthly, weekly, and daily calendars are not side by side.

Love the written v4 Journal. I don't find the v5 as usable for my processes so I purchased the v4 digital version. I am totally disappointed with this purchase. $30 for a PDF that doesn't formate properly in Notability. I purchased Goodnotes 5 hoping that the results would be better. Adding the template was simple but it only shows the first page and appears there is nothing else. It may be a user error, however; it is not intuitive and BestSelf doesn't provide any support, or instruction on how to install or use this $30 template in the apps that it states it works with. At this point, my excitement of having a digital version of my favorite journal has been traded for the disappointment of an expensive PDF that just isn't worth the money because it isn't intuitively usable. I expected more.

In principle, this is a pdf version og og the BestSelf books. I guess I had expected something more ‘interactive’ or adapted to the iPad.

It’s a PDF of the notebook layout & not really practical. However, now that I have it, I just copied it into my own template to use elsewhere.

I purchased goodnotes template last August, but found difficult to use because of page formatting (sometimes 2 pages in one view). Unless some one have iPad Pro larger size, the templates are not optimized for easy use. As it is digital download, I think they should add to provide latest versions (unless drastically changed) for certain period as example 2 years of all fixes that gone into the template.
My recommendation to BestSelf team is to make pages to be usable in portrait mode (exception could be monthly calendar - full calendar in landscape ) and mainly to have one page view while in portrait so that it is easy to use in normal iPad (9.7 / 10.2 inch ones). I will update to 5 stars once the changes happened. I am happy to discuss this further.

Agree with other reviews. This is well-made, but Goodnotes really isn't good at making new pages easily or organizing this the way the original is. There's a learning curve, and it's a bit of a time-waster doing this the right way.

That said, I love it and enjoy it the same. Just think you could do this better. :)

This isn’t even a form. It’s a pdf. I paid $30 for a pdf. Please explain to me why I spent $30 in a pdf when I could have got a hard bound copy for daily Cary. I thought this would be more interactive. It isn’t. Lesson learned. Let me know if an ACTUAL user friendly app makes it on your ten week goals or whatever. It’s 2021 ffs.

The planner has the building blocks but it lacked optimizing for the platform.

This has always been one of my favorite journals and I'm glad to finally have the option to use it digitally. I was disappointed that the template only includes ONE of each page and that it hasn't been formatting as a journal. I've purchased other digital journals - for a lot less than $30 - that format the file so all the pages are there in the necessary order (e.g. a week page, followed by seven daily pages, etc.) I'm less than delighted that I have this copy-paste task in front of me to start using the journal. It also makes the daily quote annoying rather than inspiring. Most digital journals for Good Notes also go to the trouble of hyperlinking the pages. I look forward to a more fully featured version in the future.

This is one of my favorite journals and I have missed it when switching to mostly digital. I'm so happy to have it as a digital version. I was somewhat disappointed that the digital version is simply the single pages from the journal (one of each type). Other digital journals I've purchased (for a lot less than $30) have created the structure (e.g. a weekly page, followed by seven daily pages, etc.), along with hyperlinks between the pages. I wasn't expecting the DIY copy/paste task of creating the journal for myself for the 13 weeks. Additionally, this makes the daily quote much less valuable. Having a different quote each day was one of the things I like about Best Self. Now every day is the same quote forever and always. I look forward to having a fully packaged, hyper linked version in the future.

I'm not technically challenged by any means, but importing this PDF (which is all it is) does nothing in GoodNotes but allow you to scribble on the cover page.

I enjoy using BestSelf Book/Template. I would recommend making the PDF Template identical to the books. It flows a lot better. I would also recommend providing the multiple pages for months/weeks/days to not create any confusion around duplicating templates. Providing multiple templates for the days would also bring different quotes for different days and not the same quote from duplicating the template.

I enjoy the BSC journals but I note they’d sold out so I thought I’d give a soft copy try. Turns out it’s impossible to use and very user unfriendly. If your intention is to print it out it might work but it’s not really compatible with an iPad.

The app was clunky and required that I purchase the Goodnotes application. I did not find the value I was looking for. I still prefer the paper journal.

Good idea with room to improve.

I really like the format of the pages and the philosophy of the BestSelf Journal. Unfortunately, the template experience left a lot to be desired. It was pretty confusing to try to figure out how to import it into the GoodNotes app and how to get started with the journal. As well, figuring out that I had to copy the original pages and then creating each individual day’s page by copying the original template nearly 100x was a tedious and intimidating experience. Some specific digital template instructions would have been very helpful and made for a smoother experience. I ended up ordering the physical version of the journal and have been using that happily. Now that I’m accustomed to the format of the journal I may try using the digital version again after I finish this 13 week period as I would prefer to keep everything on my iPad.

First I didn't realize that I needed the Good notes app in order to open this template (I was hoping it is just a regular pdf document that I can open in my Adobe software). So you have to spend an extra 10$ for the Good notes app on top. I didn't like that that was not communicated clearly on their website and I thought I bought the whole package since I was not familiar with the application.
Positive things: Good notes app is totally worth the cash. It is amazing actually! So the digital version of Journal can be used over and over again, as you can delete and write as many times as you want. And you can always make the copy of the document as well. It's eco friendly and very practical. With Apple pencil and ipad paper texture layer feels like you're writing on an actual paper and can totally replace the printed version. So I'm pretty happy with that. And you can import just any pdf into the Good Notes app and scribble on top of it.
Negative: A huge disappointment for me was to realize that there's no weekly planner. Only the monthly planner (and they didn't even bother to adjust the pdf for the digital use, so there's an empty space and lines missing in the middle of the table that was left purposefully for the print). All this goals, aspirations, action points and that kind of stuff and no week to week planner. I love planning out the week ahead of me and not having that this feels almost like a waste of money. The second thing is that you're paying 30$ for a 14 pages pdf template (not counting the introduction and instructions pages), which is the same price as the hard printed copy of the same document. That doesn't sound right. Sure you can use it over and over again, but having in mind that the applications usually cost around 10$ and they require a team of people to develop and maintain it, this price for a pdf template seems like a rip off.Good thing in this is that I ended up loving the Good notes application! Designed a bunch of planners (weekly one that was missing), challenges and sheets myself and I use it every day.

First I didn't realize that I needed the Good notes app in order to open this template (I was hoping it is just a regular pdf document that I can open in my Adobe software). So you have to spend an extra 10$ for the Good notes app on top. I didn't like that that was not communicated clearly on their website and I thought that the whole package is included, since I was not familiar with the application.
Positive things: Good notes app is totally worth the cash. It is amazing actually! So the digital version of Journal can be used over and over again, as you can delete and write as many times as you want. And you can always make the copy of the document as well. It's eco friendly and very practical. With Apple pencil and ipad paper texture layer feels like you're writing on an actual paper and can totaly replace the printed version. So I'm pretty happy with that. And you can import just any pdf into the Good Notes app and scribble on top of it.
Negative: A huge disappointment for me was to realize that there's no weekly planner. Only the monthly planner (and they didn't even bother to adjust the pdf for the digital use, so there's an empty space and lines missing in the middle of the table that was left purposefully for the print). All this goals, aspirations, action points and that kind of stuff and no week to week planner. I love planning out the week ahead of me and not having that this feels almost like a waste of money. The second thing is that you're paying 30$ for a 14 pages pdf template (not counting the introduction and instructions pages), which is the same price as the hard printed copy of the same document. That doesn't sound right. Sure you can use it over and over again, but having in mind that the applications usually cost around 10$ and they require a team of people to develop and maintain it, this price for a pdf template seems like a rip off.
Good thing in this is that I ended up loving the Good notes application! Designed a bunch of planners (weekly one that was missing), challenges and sheets myself and I use it every day.

This is a perfect digital version of the journal which thrills me! However it is essentially a large pdf file. Nothing is linked... so you need to scroll through pages. The content is certainly valuable, but for a $30 digital planner you should get at least some rudimentary links to jump from month to month. There are many good wellness planners available that are a lot better structured for GoodNotes planners available for half the price. I’m pretty disappointed that I’m going to need to do a lot of work to make this a well functioning planner. 5 stars for content... 0 stars for digital format

It is really cool to have this on your iPad (if you have Apple pen ofc). You can easily delete and/or start a new journal as many times as you want, scribble, delete...pretty cool. Very practical, very eco friendly.
Huge disadvantage is that there is no weekly planner. Only monthly. It’s hard to believe - all these weekly reflections and goals and other cool stuff, but no day to day weekly planner. And for me personally that’s so important cause I use it a lot. I like to break my week into days and plan it out.
If you exclude introduction and instruction pages, it is a 14 pages pdf document and it’s worth as much as a hard copy. And in my opinion that’s overpriced. Sure you can use it over and over again, but it’s a simple pdf document, not an app or a video game (for a comparison) that requires a team of people to develop it and maintain it.
You also have to spend additional 10 dollars to download a GoodNotes app in order to run and use GoodNotes. The app is actually pretty handy and practical and worth the money.

Mixed feelings. I love my paper journal and was excited to try this digitally. But I discovered I don't like journaling on my ipad and GoodNotes doesn't sync to a PC.

Basically this is a scanned file of select pages of the journal. So you get the same quote at the top of every daily page.

Was not worth the cost. I should have just scanned my own pages.

But if you don't have the journal already and you know you like using GoodNotes this would be great.

The experience is a bit off. I understand that it's a remaking of the physical notebook. The challenge with a digital notebook is that it doesn't have the same page turning interaction -- its a swipe experience so making each of those different pages in your template each a book in itself with multiple copies in it so that that part of the book can be updated daily makes more sense.

Maybe a tab function in your template will help keep the experience a little more fluid -- like a kindle book table of contents.

I have loved using the GoodNotes BestSelf journal. The updated version for GoodNotes has all the main parts of the BS journal. It is easy to upload and start using. I do miss the different quotes on the daily planning page, but I appreciate the flexibility to build my own ‘book’ for each 13-weeks.
I’ve always enjoyed using my BS Journal, but never liked that it was one more item I had to carry around. I would recommend this for anyone who prefers having all their productivity tools in an electronic format.

Simply Awesome!
The digital format is a great tool. It is a great way to capture all your thoughts.

The overall experience I had with the GoodNotes version of the Best Self Journal was excellent. Full Functionality and no technical glitches at all. It’s everything you want from the Best Self Journal right in your tablet.

The only thing keeping me from using it on a regular basis is the longevity. I have paper and bullet journals going back over 6 years. But I have had at least 2 or 3 new iPads in that same period and the majority of the documents and especially GoodNotes have been lost, mot compatible with an upgrade, or in a file that is no longer functioning. I have books on my shelf that I read 30 years ago that I can access at anytime but I can’t look at pictures or video of my son’s 1st birthday because they are on a CD-Rom that I cannot access.

I am all for the use of digital technology to progress society but there is still something to be said for ink and paper to last through generations.