My life was changed by just one notebook.
That might sound like an exaggeration, but it is a fact. I went from being buried in overtime to having zero overtime, held the dream of becoming the most knowledgeable NotebookLM influencer, continued posting daily, and reached the point where my goal of publishing a book with KADOKAWA is within reach. At the center of this change was always one NotebookLM notebook.
I call it the "Self-Note."
I briefly mentioned this Self-Note in my recent post, "The Real Manual for NotebookLM" (if you haven't seen it, look here 👇).
https://x.com/ai_jitan/status/2072435662486388890
The idea is to "choose just one notebook to cultivate for a lifetime." The response was greater than I imagined, with many people saying they wanted to know more about the Self-Note.
So this time, I will dive deep into this single theme. From how to create the Self-Note, how to grow it, and how to run the cycle that changes your life. I will reveal everything I actually do, including the prompts.
I'll give you the conclusion of this article first.
Life does not change through big decisions. It changes through a small loop of "verbalizing yourself and measuring the distance to your goals every week." The Self-Note is the device for running that loop.
You set goals but never stick to them. You can't quite put into words what you really want to do. You consult AI, but it only gives back bland generalities. I understand these struggles perfectly—they were all me. And the root of these problems is all the same.
Let's start with that root cause.
Chapter 1: Why Goals Are Not Achieved
Let me tell you a bit about my past.
A few years ago, I was buried in overtime. Chasing the work in front of me, I'd be exhausted by the time I got home, with a growing sense of unease about whether this was okay. Even if I set goals at the start of the year, I'd be swept away by daily life within weeks. I couldn't even clearly verbalize what I wanted to do.
The turning point was meeting AI. When I was able to eliminate overtime by mastering NotebookLM, I regained "time" for the first time. But the real change happened after that. What to do with the time I regained—in the process of thinking about that, I created my Self-Note and began verbalizing myself.
That's when my dream of "becoming the most knowledgeable NotebookLM influencer" finally became words. Once a dream is in words, goals can be set: "Reach 10,000 followers by the end of the year," "Earn 100,000 yen in side income every month." And for a year, I continued posting while measuring the distance to those goals every week. The book deal became a reality.
This wasn't because I had special talent. It was simply the difference between having a system to "verbalize and keep measuring the distance" or not. That's why I want to give this system to those who are in the same place I used to be.
So, why do most people fail to achieve their goals? Let's look at the structure of the cause.
You set a goal on New Year's. You write it in a planner. You forget it in a few weeks. At the end of the year, you look back and think, "I couldn't do anything again this year." Have you experienced this loop? I repeated it for years.
It's not because your will is weak. It's a structural problem. There are three main reasons why goals aren't achieved.
Reason 1: You Haven't Verbalized Yourself
This is the deepest issue. Very few people can put their strengths, weaknesses, values, and what they truly want to do into words.
What happens when you aren't verbalized? First, the goals you set will be off. You'll set goals that society deems good or goals borrowed from someone else. You'll choose a way of fighting that doesn't leverage your strengths. And consulting AI becomes useless. Since the AI knows nothing about you, it can only return generalities that apply to anyone. Answers for you won't come from someone who doesn't understand you. That's true whether it's a human or an AI.
Reason 2: "Purpose" and "Goal" are Mixed Up
Second is the confusion between purpose and goal. These two seem similar but are completely different.
Purpose is "why you do it." A goal is "what you will achieve by when." And the order is important. You can only set a goal once you have a purpose.
For example, "I want to earn money to make my family happy." This is the purpose. Because of this purpose, you can think, "How much money per month is needed to make my family happy?" and "Is that realistically achievable?" leading to the goal of "Earning X amount per month through a side job." The purpose acts as a yardstick, giving the goal's numbers a foundation.
Conversely, a goal without a purpose is just a number. "I want to earn 100,000 yen a month for no particular reason" has no foundation, so the moment things get tough, it collapses with the thought, "I don't really need to do this." People whose goals waver aren't bad at setting goals; they just haven't verbalized their purpose.
Reason 3: No One Reviews the "Distance" to the Set Goal
And this is the biggest reason. I'll say it clearly: The biggest reason goals aren't achieved isn't talent or willpower; it's "not reviewing the distance to the goal you set."
Think about it. A car GPS reaches the destination because it keeps measuring the current location after the destination is set. If the current location is unknown, you will never arrive, no matter how accurate the destination is.
Our goals are the same. If you set a goal in January and the next time you remember it is December, that's the same as driving for 11 months with an unknown location. You won't notice if you're off track, and you can't make corrections. It's natural that you won't achieve it.
The Solution: Solve These Three with One Notebook
These three causes seem like separate problems, but they can be solved together with one system.
- 1. Verbalize yourself and stock that information.
- 2. Derive and write goals from your purpose.
- 3. Review your current location every week and add to the record.
Doing these three things in one NotebookLM notebook is the "Self-Note."
And what happens when you connect this notebook to AI? An AI is born that understands all your strengths, weaknesses, purposes, goals, and your journey so far. The plans that AI creates are no longer generalities. They are dedicated answers just for you.
Let's start building it.
Chapter 2: Verbalizing Your "Everything" (Building the Foundation)
The foundation of the Self-Note is verbalizing yourself. Stock all information about yourself—strengths, weaknesses, experiences, past, future, dreams, the core of your messaging, personality, and values—as text.
Specifically, use these 9 items as a guide:
- Strengths: Things you do more easily than others, things you're often praised for.
- Weaknesses: Patterns where you tend to stumble, situations you want to run away from.
- Experience: Your work and challenges so far, and what you gained from them.
- Past: Formative experiences. Events that shaped who you are today.
- Future/Dreams: What you really want to become. Who you want to deliver what to.
- Core of Messaging (for creators): What you post, to whom, and with what stance.
- Personality: Are you impulsive or cautious? When do you perform best?
- Values: What you value and what you find unforgivable.
- Current Status: Your current job, time, and available resources.
Don't worry about filling everything out perfectly. These items are just a map. And you don't need to write them from scratch. Let the AI draw them out. There are three methods, each taking only a few minutes.
Method 1: Digging into ChatGPT/Gemini "History"
If you talk to AI regularly, that chat history is the best material. Your daily consultations with AI contain a massive amount of your struggles, thoughts, interests, and values recorded unconsciously.
The procedure takes 5 minutes. Open ChatGPT or Gemini and send this prompt:
I want to verbalize my thoughts. From my past chat history, thoroughly analyze and comprehensively output all information related to my messaging, such as my experiences, feelings, purpose, target audience, formative experiences, philosophy, and expertise.
Copy the output text and paste it as a source in NotebookLM. With just this, fragments of your brain are systematized and installed.
Method 2: Digging with Grok × X (A trick for X creators)
For those posting on X, there is an even more powerful method. Using Grok (X's AI), your past posts can be turned into a "book of philosophy."
Open Grok (requires X Premium or higher) and send this prompt:
Analyze the content of the following account and thoroughly verbalize and output the creator's philosophy, core, purpose, target audience, and values. Account Name: [Name] ID: [ID]
Take the output text to your NotebookLM source. The amazing thing about this is that the AI objectively verbalizes "unconscious preferences" and "hidden cores" that you hadn't even noticed yourself. Your daily posts speak about your philosophy more than you think. It feels like having it shown back to you in a mirror.
Method 3: Just Talk to a Voice Recorder
If you have no AI chat history or X posts, there is the most primitive and strongest method. Just talk about yourself into a voice recorder.
Open a recording app on your phone and talk about yourself for 10 minutes. Things that made you happy or frustrated in your work so far. What you're good at and bad at. What you want to be in the future. What you can't stand and what you want to cherish. You don't need to speak beautifully. It's fine if it's just as you think of it, even if it's messy.
Transcribe the recording (NotebookLM can take audio files directly as sources, so you don't even need to transcribe) and put it in the notebook. Even if you're not good at writing, anyone can talk. And spoken words carry true feelings that don't come out in writing.
This "Thought File" becomes the strongest material for any AI.
Any of the three methods is fine. Combining them is even stronger. I want to tell you one important thing about this "Thought File" you've created.
This is not just for NotebookLM. It is the "strongest self-introduction material" you can give to ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or any AI that appears in the future.
AI performance will continue to improve. But no matter how smart an AI is, if it doesn't know you, it can only return generalities. Conversely, if you give it this thought file, any AI instantly becomes a partner that understands you. While AI tools may change, your verbalized data is a lifelong asset. Once created, it becomes a weapon you can use throughout the AI era.
Chapter 3: Writing "Purpose" and "Goal" Separately (The Unwavering Core)
Once you've verbalized yourself, the next step is to put a "core" through your Self-Note. That is purpose and goal. If this is vague, even the most impressive notebook will just be a diary.
Write the "Purpose" First. The Goal Comes After
As written in Chapter 1, purpose and goal are different. Purpose is the reason "why you do it." A goal is the destination of "what you will achieve by when." And the purpose always comes first.
I'll use myself as an example. I have a dream of "becoming the most knowledgeable NotebookLM influencer." At the root is the desire to increase the number of people who can regain time through AI. Because of this purpose, goals like "Reach 10,000 followers by the end of the year" and "Publish a book with KADOKAWA" gain meaning and foundation. Because the numbers are waypoints to fulfill the purpose, the power to chase them arises.
So, first write this in your Self-Note:
[My Purpose] Why I do it: (e.g., To earn money and gain time and mental leeway with my family) The view beyond that: (e.g., Working in a way that allows me to participate in all my children's school events)
It doesn't have to be beautiful words. Write your true feelings. This purpose will be the anchor that pulls you back when your goals seem to waver in the future.
Set Goals with a "Deadline" using the SMART Framework
Once the purpose is written, it's time for the goal. There are only two rules: Always set a deadline, and use the SMART framework.
SMART stands for the five conditions of a good goal:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant (connected to the purpose)
- Time-bound (has a deadline)
"Work hard to earn from a side job" is not SMART. "Create a side income of 50,000 yen per month by December 31st" is SMART.
However, setting a goal that meets all five conditions on your own is surprisingly difficult. So, let the AI do this too. Throw this prompt into your Self-Note (which now contains your purpose and thought file):
Based on my purpose and the stocked information about me (strengths, weaknesses, situation), please help me set a goal using the SMART framework.
1. Propose 3 goal candidates based on my purpose. 2. Evaluate the "achievability" and "connection to purpose" for each, based on my strengths and weaknesses. 3. Finalize the most promising goal into a single sentence as a SMART goal with a deadline.
Make it a goal that is not unrealistic but within reach from my current situation, yet brings me closer to my purpose.
This is where the verbalization from Chapter 2 pays off. An AI that knows your strengths and weaknesses will propose a level that is realistic "for you" and yet worth the challenge. The accuracy is completely different from general goal setting.
Chapter 4: Making the "Current Location" Visible with a Yearly Roadmap
The purpose and goal are set. Next, we "visualize" the path to the goal. We will create a Yearly Roadmap.
Why a Roadmap is Necessary
With only the goal of "50,000 yen a month by December," you can't judge if you're on track or behind in July. What you can't judge, you can't correct.
So, we break the goal down into monthly milestones. By placing signposts like "XX by the end of July, YY by the end of August...", you can always measure where you are now and how much of a gap there is to the goal. It's like the "route display" on a GPS. This is what makes the "review" in the next chapter work.
Roadmaps Can Be Created with a Single Prompt
You don't need to groan and make this yourself either. Just throw this prompt into your Self-Note:
Based on my stocked purpose, SMART goal, strengths, weaknesses, and current situation, please create a "Yearly Roadmap" to achieve the goal.
1. Working backward from the goal, set monthly milestones (the state I should have reached by the end of that month). 2. Narrow down a "priority theme" for each month (don't cram too much in). 3. Add a brief countermeasure for months where I might stumble due to my weaknesses. 4. Keep the design reasonable. Overloading is the root of failure.
Add the resulting roadmap to your sources with a titled date. Now, your Self-Note has both a "destination" and a "route."
This completes the setup of the Self-Note. To be honest, you could do this with other goal management techniques. But from here on is where the Self-Note truly becomes a "life-changing device." The heart of this system is in the next chapter.
Chapter 5: The Weekly 1-Hour "Review" Changes Everything (Most Important)
This is the most important thing I want to convey in this article. It's so important you could just read this part.
As written in Chapter 1, the biggest reason goals aren't achieved is not reviewing the distance to the set goal. Conversely, if you can make reviewing a habit, the probability of achieving your goal increases dramatically. And the Self-Note shows its true value when it functions as a "place to store" these reviews.
All You Do is Talk for 1 Hour a Week
I recommend securing just one hour every Saturday or Sunday for review time. You might think, "An hour?" Don't worry. All you do is talk into a voice recorder.
What did you do this week? What was the result? Do you feel closer to the goal, or further away? What went well? What did you stumble on? What do you want to do next week? Speak these as they come to mind into your phone. You don't need to summarize them beautifully. It's okay if some venting gets mixed in.
Then, add that recording (or transcription) to the Self-Note source with a titled date, like "Review_2026-07-05." That's it.
The point is to talk rather than write. If you try to write, you'll get too formal and won't continue. If it's just talking, you can do it while walking or after a bath. Keeping it in a form you can continue is more important than anything else.
The More You Store, the More the Notebook Grows with Your Journey
As you accumulate these weekly reviews, something you can't get anywhere else will build up in your Self-Note: the record of your journey.
What you did, what happened, how you felt, and how you corrected it. This chronological data isn't sold anywhere in the world. It's your unique primary information. And when you connect AI to a notebook where this has accumulated, the AI can answer based not only on "you now" but also on "your trajectory up to this point."
"You stumbled on the same thing three weeks ago. This pattern might be caused by your weakness in XX." Such an observation can only be made by a Self-Note that has stored your journey. Storing reviews is about cultivating and handing over the best advisor to your future self.
Don't Aim for Perfection. Just "Measure the Distance"
One word of caution: a review is not a self-flagellation session. Don't make it a time to blame yourself, thinking, "I failed again this week."
All you're doing is measuring your current location, just like a GPS. Did you get closer to the goal, or further away? Put the facts into words and record them. That's enough. If you find you're off track, just redraw the route. Noticing the deviation is itself the achievement of the review.
One hour a week. Talk and store. This quiet habit will take you to a completely different place a year from now.
Chapter 6: Connect with Gemini to Decide "What to Do Next Week" (Execution Loop)
Once you've stored your review, here's the final piece: converting the review into the next action. This is where Gemini comes in.
Why Gemini?
NotebookLM is a brain that excels at accurately summarizing stocked information. On the other hand, Gemini is better at planning specific measures, like "So, what specifically should I do next week?" This is because it's a task of brainstorming and building options from scratch.
So, we divide the roles. The Self-Note (NotebookLM) holds "all your information and journey," and Gemini thinks of the "next move." This collaboration is the complete form of the execution loop.
Procedure: Connect the Self-Note and Have It Output Next Week's Tasks
It's easy. Open Gemini, select NotebookLM from the "+" in the input field, and link your Self-Note. Then, send this prompt:
Based on all the linked Self-Note information (my purpose, goals, roadmap, and past reviews), please create an action plan for the coming week.
1. Check my current location and the gap with the roadmap from the latest review. 2. Propose no more than 3 tasks to do next week to close that gap. 3. Make the tasks at a "definitely achievable level." Don't make me overreach. 4. If there's a point where I might stumble due to my weaknesses, add a brief countermeasure.
With this, an AI that understands all your strengths, weaknesses, purposes, and journey will create a weekly plan just for you. It's on a different level from general task management. If it knows you tend to quit after three days, it will design something reasonable; if it knows your strengths, it will choose a way to leverage them. This precision is possible only because you've linked the Self-Note.
Demonstration: An AI That Understands You Answers Like This
I'll show you the actual vibe of how different it is. For example, if someone working hard on X posts sends this prompt, the plan that comes back might look like this:
I've checked the latest review. According to the roadmap, the target is XX followers by the end of the month, but you're currently slightly behind. However, the review says "interacting in the reply section was fun." Your strength is "polite interaction with people" rather than content planning. We will leverage this. There are 3 tasks for next week: 1. Continue replying X times daily for 7 days (this is already a habit, so it's definitely achievable). 2. By Wednesday, rewrite and repost just one past post that had a good reaction. 3. Don't prepare any new projects next week. Past reviews show you tend to lose steam in the latter half of the week when you cram too much in. Let's go all-in on "consistency" this week.
Notice the comment "Past reviews show you tend to lose steam when you cram too much in." This is a pattern the AI read from the reviews you've stored. A general AI could never say this. It builds tasks based on strengths and anticipates weaknesses. Because you've given the AI everything, it can be your ally to this extent.
Tip 1: Keep Using the Same Chat
When running this loop in Gemini, try to keep using the same chat every week. Since the memory of the conversation accumulates, the AI will carry over the context of "how things went this week compared to last week's plan." The dialogue will deepen as the weeks go by.
By the way, if you want to set plans with other AIs (like ChatGPT or Claude), there is a way. They can't link directly to NotebookLM, but you can send "Summarize my current situation and the gap with my goals" to the NotebookLM chat and copy-paste that output. As long as the Self-Note is growing, you can run the loop with any AI.
Tip 2: Make Tasks at a "Definitely Achievable Level"
And I'll say the most important thing about task design: Don't make next week's tasks difficult. Make them at a level you can definitely achieve. This is an ironclad rule.
It might seem surprising. But the purpose of this loop is not to produce dramatic results in one week. It is to keep the "Plan → Execute → Review" cycle running without stopping. If you pile up unachievable tasks, you'll have consecutive weeks of failure, reviewing will become depressing, and the loop itself will stop. That is the worst outcome.
So, it's fine even if it's just "completing" something that's already a habit. For an X creator, "Continuing X replies a day for 7 days" is a perfectly fine task. Even if they are small, records of achievement will accumulate every week. That accumulation makes reviewing fun and becomes the fuel to keep the loop running. It's about a small step that doesn't stop, rather than one giant leap.
The Completed Weekly Loop Diagram
Now, all the pieces are in place. Your week will start to rotate like this:
One hour on Saturday or Sunday. Talk about this week's review into a voice recorder and store it in the Self-Note with a date. Next, link the Self-Note to Gemini and have it generate no more than 3 tasks for next week.
During the week, execute those with all your might. Then, at the weekend, review again. When this loop starts running, "measuring the current location" and "course correction" are built into your every week. You will no longer reach the end of the year having just left your goals as they were.
Summary: Life Changes Through Small Weekly Loops
I've told you everything from how to create the Self-Note to how to run it. Finally, just once more, the core of this article:
Life does not change through big decisions or dramatic events. It changes for those who quietly keep running this small loop: "Verbalize yourself, derive goals from purpose, and every week, measure the distance to the goal and correct the course." The Self-Note is your dedicated device for running that loop.
Through this loop, I was able to escape a daily life full of overtime, put my dreams and goals into words, and continue posting for a year. It wasn't because I had special talent. I just kept measuring my current location every week.
That said, you don't need to do everything starting today. The first step is just this:
Today, open a recording app on your phone and talk about yourself for just 10 minutes.
What has happened so far, what you're thinking now, and what you really want to become. Make that the first source of your Self-Note. From there, your loop begins.
NotebookLM and Gemini are evolving so fast. The integration is becoming more and more convenient. Rather than trying to keep up with the latest on your own, it's overwhelmingly faster to learn from someone who is practicing it.
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Mastering NotebookLM with E-tan
Announcement: Release of the book "The Ultimate AI Work Speed Guide: NotebookLM Immediate Skills"
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