A Real Example of Using the
Soontancheojeol A5 6-Ring Binder
The easiest way to understand a journal system is not to read more theory, but to see how records actually move through a real day and a real month.
The Soontancheojeol Journal is not a system where every page must be used every day. The point is to open the page you need at the moment you need it, then let the record lead into the next judgment and the next action.
Imagine One Person’s Month
The goal is not to fill every page, but to keep the right records connected
Imagine someone who will be working on an important personal project over the next three months.
At the same time, they have a work schedule, want to restart exercise, and have several tasks that have been postponed for a while.
Previously, they wrote every thought and obligation into one long to-do list.
That meant important appointments, ideas they might want to pursue someday, and items waiting on someone else’s reply all became mixed together.
not everything goes into the action list.
Long Projects Begin in the Project Schedule
See where today’s work sits inside the whole project before focusing on today
Create an online course from April through June
April: overall planning
May: content production
June: revision and release
Before breaking the project directly into Daily Log tasks, look at the entire period in the Project Schedule.
This helps you understand which stage of the larger project today’s work belongs to.
Keep Future Commitments in the Future Log
Do not let work that cannot be done yet weigh down the current list
June 20 — Planned project release
If it is still April, this is neither today’s task nor this week’s task.
So place it in the June Future Log.
This keeps future commitments from repeatedly appearing in the current Daily Log before you can act on them.
At the Start of the Month, Bring Only This Month into Monthly Log
Choose the scope you will actually handle now instead of copying the whole future
When April begins, review both the Future Log and the Project Schedule.
Items brought into this month
April 8 — company meeting
April 15 — hospital appointment
Complete the overall plan for the online course
Restart exercise twice a week
The important point is not to copy every future plan into Monthly Log.
Bring in only what you will actually deal with this month.
Use Weekly Only When the Week Needs It
A support page for simplifying a complicated week
Most of the time, Monthly and Daily may be enough.
But suppose your company schedule overlaps with your personal project and the week becomes unusually complicated.
Three priorities for this week
1. Finalize the course outline
2. Submit the company report
3. Exercise twice
Keep the Weekly page focused on the essentials.
You do not need to rewrite every Daily task on the Weekly page.
Record the Actual Day in Daily Log
Record what actually happened, not only what you planned
Example record
• Draft the course outline
× Revise the company report
○ 2:00 p.m. team meeting
- It may be better to reorder Chapter 3 of the course
≈ Focus was poor in the morning but improved in the afternoon
! One title idea looks promising
Daily Log contains not only planned tasks, but also events, notes, thoughts, and changes in condition that actually occurred.
That gives Review more useful evidence later than a schedule alone could provide.
Do Not Automatically Move Every Unfinished Task to Tomorrow
Distinguish a still-valid task from a repeatedly stuck task
Suppose “record a sample course video” was not completed.
If one busy day prevented it but the task is still clearly valid, you can migrate it using >.
But if the same task keeps remaining unfinished several times, do not treat it as ordinary migration.
→ Record the sample course video
If it keeps returning, mark it as something that needs a new judgment: “Why am I still not doing this?”
A task missed once can be moved. A task missed repeatedly should be planned again.
Do Not Turn Every Thought into a Task
Separate ideas, waiting items, and postponed items
New thoughts keep appearing while you write Daily Log.
Separating these items prevents the actual action list from becoming unnecessarily long.
Record Small Wins on the Success Board
Record moments when you moved again, not only final outcomes
April 12
“I finally started recording the sample video I had postponed for a week.”
The project is not finished yet.
But restarting something you had repeatedly avoided is still worth recording.
A small win does not have to be the final result. It can be evidence that you started moving again.
At the End of the Month, Read the Records and Check the Direction
Look at how the month flowed, not only how much you completed
At the end of April, quickly reread Monthly and Daily records.
Where was I going this month?
The project planning went better than expected, but I kept delaying the recording stage. I focused better in the afternoon than in the morning, and recording became easier when I broke it into smaller pieces.
This kind of note is more useful for the next plan than simply counting how many items were completed.
RE-PLAN the Work That Repeatedly Remains Unfinished
Do not copy the same unfinished task directly into the next month
Finish the course intro video
If it was postponed repeatedly throughout the month, check the reason before writing it into next month again.
Change it into a form that is more likely to be executed next time.
The Next Month’s Plan Comes from the Previous Month’s Record
Planning and Review are not separate activities
Now prepare the May Monthly Log.
The plan does not begin from a completely blank emotional reset.
Instead, bring in what April’s Review and RE-PLAN taught you.
Schedule important work during the afternoon period when focus was stronger.
Break large recording work into smaller 15–30 minute units.
Keep new ideas unrelated to the current project out of the active action list.
In this way, the past record becomes material for the next plan.
Seen as One Flow, the System Looks Like This
No page exists completely on its own
The Goal Is Not to Fill Every Blank Space
It is enough if you can return when you need to
Some weeks you may not use Weekly Plan at all.
You may miss several days of Daily Log.
The Success Board may remain empty for a while.
That is okay.
The purpose of the system is not to complete every form without interruption.
Even if recording stops for a while, it is enough if you can find your current position again and return to the next action.
Take just one task today and move it through the system
First decide whether it is something to do now, a future commitment, something you are waiting on, or something to reconsider later.
If you act on it today, record it in Daily. If there is even a small step forward, add it to the Success Board as well.
Do not try to use every page. Just decide where one record belongs.
Journaling Is Not About Filling Pages. It Is About Keeping the Flow Connected
Future commitments stay in Future.
What belongs to this month moves into Monthly.
What actually happens today is recorded in Daily.
Items that are not current actions are separated into Idea, Waiting, or Postpone.
What went well goes to the Success Board.
What repeatedly gets stuck goes through RE-PLAN.
Then those results return to the next plan.
The journal is the tool that keeps that flow connected.