Ten Self Development Tools To Help Beat January Blues | Wellness Guide

In 2023, the incoming dreaded Blue Monday will fall on 16th January. In preparation for the date and before the never ending month of January begins, here are ten fantastic self-improvement tools we have in our shops. We're big fans of checking in with ourselves, and we have some fab tools to kit you out with everything you need. Below are journals, books and more jam packed with advice and techniques that we have tried, tested and loved here at Papersmiths. We highly recommend all of these ten tools to either help lift your mood, or become your best self this January and beyond.

1. The Progress Journal

This journal allows you to set goals, track them and review your progress. It's like a physical progress chart where you can see yourself growing. The journal starts with a daily page, where you record the date, your goals for the day, and how you spent your time. You then move to a weekly goal page, where you track your progress toward your goals. This is followed by a monthly reflection page, where you take a look back at the previous month and assess how you did.

2. The Goals Journal

Whether you are setting goals for the first time or have a few in mind already, this goals journal is perfect for you. Featuring ten short-term goals, ten medium-term goals and five long-term goals, this book is ideal for anyone looking to take action. All goals are summarised in one place with space for you to write your own personal motivation. You can also add photos and sketches. With a hardcover in soft pink, this book is one that you would be proud to display on your desk or carry around with you.

3. The Calm Workbook

4. Motivation Cards

Motivation is a tool for increasing our effectiveness. It contains 52 exercises designed to train our brains to find their bearings and generate their very best efforts. Our minds are not machines, and are prone to distractions, indecision and cognitive biases – but these can also be worked around and overcome. Each exercise prompts us to engage in activities and thought experiments that help us to surmount mental blocks and formulate strategies for solving problems and achieving our goals. 

5. Relationships

This book starts from a different premise: that love is a skill to be learnt, rather than just an emotion to be felt. It calmly and charmingly takes us around the key issues of relationships, from arguments to sex, forgiveness to communication, making sure that success in love need never again be just a matter of luck. 

Few things promise us greater happiness than our relationships - yet few things more reliably deliver misery and frustration. Our error is to suppose that we are born knowing how to love and that managing a relationship might therefore be intuitive and easy.

6. Sleep Journal

It’s just as important to maintain a good sleeping pattern as it is to ensure you eat and drink well, or get enough exercise, as it is to apply yourself towards your work or goals. Sleep can make all the difference to your mood, motivation and progress. The brand new Sleep Journal from MiGoals contains a page per day to track your mood and sleep patterns. It has dedicated space in the morning to record your dreams and focuses, and sections at night to reflect on and rate your day and record what you're thankful for.

7. Do/ Agile book

Today's world requires a new type of toolkit. One that helps build mental resilience, a growth mindset, and a positive outlook. Once that's in place, you can do practically anything. Do Agile is about resetting our minds and moving forward. Tim Drake shows us that to work effectively in any organisation – and in life in general, we require a mindset that is open, alert, engaged and positive. And importantly, aligned with our core principles. 

8. Who Am I?

This book is designed to help us create a psychological portrait of who we are with the use of some unusual, oblique, entertaining and playful prompts. The book is filled with exercises to help us develop our self-understanding within key areas of our lives - helping to create a rich picture of our existence. It has chapters on psychology, relationships, sex, work, utopia and more.

9. The Positivity Playbook

A feel-good fun book filled with activities to help lift your mood and improve well-being. Packed full of 30 different illustrated activities to help you learn more about yourself and how you work. This is a great book for being more positive. The book features a selection of fun activities including meditation exercises, journaling prompts, a feelings audit and many more.

10. The Gratitude Journal

This Gratitude Journal is a brilliant tool for building a happy and fulfilled life and staying present in the moment. The everyday struggles of life can take their toll on us all and this is the perfect way to really see what is important and be thankful for what we have. With a series of gratitude exercises and worksheets, it will help form a positive mindset and help you to become more focused on the things that matter the most.

We hope that one of these tools will help you organise your life a little better, having a better understanding of who you are and what you need to thrive.

You can shop the full self-development collection here if you want to browse more.