From my 8th grade journal
I'm reading this tonight at the Happy Ending series -- the curator, Amanda Stern, wants people to read and do things they haven't before. I think this self-motivating journal entry from when I was 14 qualifies.

March 25, 1982 To reach personal & spiritual perfection one must achieve a proper foundation [to] lay it on. One must live a clean, healthy life and have high morals and be virtuous. That is, you do not have to be divine to be perfect. Or do you [.] Benjamin Franklin tried to be perfect, using his little booklet with 13 virtues to combat the many temptuous [sic] evils. But he was defeated. That is not to say he was a better person in the action of this deed. He was happy to see himself improve day after day. What Franklin did (and so [many] countless others did) I must do. I am certainly not a good person. Far from it. But then all human beings, being driven by their human weaknesses, aren’t good either. So I shall try to be a good and wholesome person, imitating Our Lord Jesus Christ and the brilliant thinker & philosopher Socrates. Both kind of introduced things to us (ignoring any leanings to my Religion) that greatly improved the human race. I may not go that far, but as far as I’m concerned I’ll be satisfied with strictly internal, personal pleasure. Oh how I’ll be tempted. To just throw away all responsibilities and turn to Satan. That, I must admit, is very tempting. But it is through accepting our responsibilities and working toward richeousness [sic] that we shall achieve satisfaction and Eternal Life. Every step you take towards richeousness [sic] is a step on the flight of stairs to God. But I sure hope I won’t trip on the way up into the infinite flight.