Why We Recommend
an A5 6-Ring Binder
If you keep journaling long enough, one thing becomes clear: life changes from month to month, while a fixed planner always asks for the same amount of space.
The main reason Soontancheojeol recommends an A5 6-ring binder is not because it is easy to decorate. It is because the pages themselves can move as the amount you write and the shape of your life change.
Life Does Not Take Up the Same Amount of Space Every Day
But many planners give every day the same amount of room
Some days contain almost nothing you need to do.
Other days are crowded with overlapping schedules, notes, and problems that require thought.
But a predated planner gives each day a fixed amount of space.
Even if half the page remains empty, you move on to the next day.
And when you need more room, you have to squeeze everything into the space you were given.
the amount of page space should be able to change too.
A 6-ring binder solves this problem very simply.
Use as much space as you need, and add another page when you run out.
Do Not Force Your Records to Fit the Planner
Let the planner move to fit your records
Fixed pages
The order and amount of space are already decided, so your records must adapt to the planner’s structure.
Movable pages
Add pages, remove them, or change their order according to how much you need to write and what you need right now.
This difference is larger than it may seem.
One reason people stop using a recording system is that they have to keep following the system’s fixed structure.
Soontancheojeol approaches it in the opposite direction.
Do not force the person to fit the system. Let the system fit the person as they are now.
Use Only as Many Pages as Each Type of Record Needs
Different kinds of records do not need the same amount of space
A Future Log may need only a few pages.
A Monthly Log may also use only a few pages each month.
Daily Log, on the other hand, can vary greatly from one person to another.
One person may use ten pages a month. Another may use thirty.
If Daily Log or note space runs out, insert as many pages as you need.
You do not need to carry pages that serve no purpose for you.
Move frequently used pages forward and adjust the structure as you learn how you actually use it.
That Freedom Makes Daily Log Truly Flexible
There is no rule for how many pages one day should use
In the Soontancheojeol Journal, Daily Log does not require a rigid daily template.
Record today’s tasks, appointments, events, notes, thoughts, and condition quickly when they matter.
If today needs only three lines, write three lines.
If a busy day needs two pages, use two pages.
Do not write just to fill empty space.
Write when there is something worth leaving on the page.
You Can Rebuild the System as Your Records Expand
You do not need a perfect setup from the beginning
When you first begin, Monthly Log and Daily Log may be enough.
As you use the journal, new pages may become useful.
You do not need to include every page from the beginning.
Add them when the need appears.
Even a Setup That Does Not Work Is Easy to Fix
The page structure itself is also a hypothesis
When setting up a planner, we often try to create the perfect structure from the beginning.
But after using it for a month or two, you may barely touch a page you thought you needed.
You may also discover that a page you never expected becomes necessary.
That can be inconvenient in a fixed planner.
In a 6-ring binder, you can remove pages, add new inserts, and move sections around.
Use it, then keep changing it into the planner that fits.
This is the same idea behind the Soontancheojeol RE-PLAN philosophy.
If the original plan does not fit reality, you do not call it failure.
You redesign it.
The structure of the journal can work the same way.
Keep Only the Records You Need in the Active Binder
Let records accumulate without making the current binder heavy
As Daily Log pages accumulate, the binder gets thicker.
Older Daily Log pages can then move into a separate archive binder.
The active binder can keep only what you still need now.
Records you use now
Keep the current Future, Monthly, Daily, Review, and frequently used Lists here.
Past records
Move older Daily Logs and completed monthly records into a separate binder.
You are not throwing the records away.
You are separating what needs to stay active from what only needs to be preserved.
A5 Is a Practical Balance Between Writing Space and Portability
Large enough to write comfortably without becoming excessively bulky
6-ring binders come in several sizes.
Soontancheojeol uses A5 as the basic reference size.
It gives more room than a small notebook for schedules and tables, and it provides enough space for Daily Log writing.
At the same time, it is not excessively large as a desk-based journaling tool.
Pages such as Future Log, Monthly Log, Project Schedule, and RE-PLAN also benefit from having enough room to see several pieces of information at once.
Movable Pages Make It Easier to Connect the Records
Planning, action, and review can stay inside one binder and still move where needed
In the Soontancheojeol Journal, no record exists completely on its own.
Items seen in Future move into Monthly.
Actual actions are recorded in Daily.
Later, those records are reread through Review and RE-PLAN.
A 6-ring binder keeps these pages inside one system while still letting you move them into the positions that are most useful.
Choose a Planner You Can Revise, Not a Planner You Must Perfect
That is why Soontancheojeol chooses a 6-ring system
Soontancheojeol does not ask you to follow one plan unchanged until the end.
If the plan does not fit reality, you revise it.
You reduce what is unnecessary and add what is needed.
Your recording system should be able to do the same.
A planner you can keep revising will last longer than a planner that has to be perfect from the beginning.
That is why the Soontancheojeol Journal recommends an A5 6-ring binder instead of one permanently fixed book.
Find one page in your current planner that feels inconvenient
Is the space too small?
Is it a page you almost never use?
Is there a page you need that is missing?
Then ask:
“If this page were not fixed, how would I change it?”
That question can be the beginning of a recording structure that fits you better.
Your Journal Is a Container for Your Life
Life does not always move in the same shape, so there is no reason your journal should.
When life gets busier, add pages.
Remove records you no longer need.
Move important pages closer.
Then rebuild the structure again when time changes what you need.
The goal is not to create the perfect planner from the beginning.
The goal is to maintain a structure that can record your current life and still give you a place to return when you need to begin again.
Let the planner move to fit your current life and the way you need to record it.