books

The Hero’s Journal review

writing
Written by chloesmith

Note: While the author has received a journal in exchange for this review, this is still the author’s honest thoughts. 

Staying organised isn’t the easiest at the best of times, and sometimes every little helps. Whether that’s an app, digital planning, or a paper planner. 

Believe me when I say I’ve gone through a lot of paper planners in an attempt to be organised, and I’ve typically not been successful. In many planners, I’ve found there’s not much pulling me back to it – to motivate me to keep using it every day.

Image credit: The Hero’s Journal / instagram

That’s where The Hero’s Journal is different. The entire premise of it is captivating on its own – it’s basically Dungeons and Dragons in planner form, where you’re going on an adventure and completing your own personal quests as you go. You can even level up depending on what you’ve achieved! 

It has beautiful art that changes every day too, almost like a flip chart animation, and I can’t wait to see what happens every day. The art can also be coloured in, so you get a relaxing activity to do every day, too! There’s also a storyline involved so as you keep using the planner, you get the added bonus of being told a really cool story in small parts through the art as well. 

There’s space to detail your ‘quest’ – and ways you can seize the day, or complete your daily tasks – and to take notes every day. There’s also space daily ton say what your ‘threats’ are – things that might stop you from doing what you want or need to do every day, as well as your ‘allies’ – what can help you every day. 

The planner is also undated – meaning that there’s no need to stress if you don’t use it for a few days – you can just jump back into the story and start planning again with no issue, which is fantastic – but it has such an immersive and captivating story that it’s not difficult at all to keep going back to it. 

There’s also space to say what you’re grateful for daily, which is a great way to help with gratitude and your mental health, and a lovely little addition to the planner overall. There’s also a new motivating quote every day, which I found a great touch as most of them came from fantasy works, and honestly quite motivating. 

Overall, it’s a very well-made planner – the paper and cover are of great quality and the planner comes in a variety of colours and storylines too. You can be an adventurer or attend a magical school, so the possibilities and stories are endless!

It’s also got some great additional features, like a back pocket – and every planner also comes with a free bookmark that doubles as a habit tracker, which is really useful! 

It’s certainly a very unique planner, and a refreshing difference if all you’re used to are regular old planners or bullet journaling. I’d definitely recommend at least trying out the PDF if you’re curious, since it’s really charming alongside generally being a well-made, helpful planner and useful way to stay on top of things.