Sabrina Klindworth Bullet Journals became a fad or a craze a couple years ago (2017-2018 ish) and that was where I first got my start. While I had a hard time incorporating it into my college life freshman year, after going strong for two months over the summer, I decided to give it another go since it’s 2021 and I’m stuck inside due to a pandemic. I also noticed myself making to do lists on sticky notes of the homework I had due and other tasks I needed/wanted to get done during Fall Quarter since the days blurred together in online classes. The average sticky note is not that big and I decided over Winter Break that it was time to go dust off my old bullet journal since I would have more space and feel less guilty for throwing away a post-it every week. While I am not an expert bullet journal-er who calls it their “bujo”, I have been going strong for almost four weeks now (not very long but hey it’s a start) so here is what I have learned works for me and what doesn’t based on my past experience. What you need to start a bullet journal Technically all you need is the actual bullet style journal to get started. The appeal of the journal itself is nice for someone who wants to do a lot with the space but doesn’t like the format of traditional planners. There is a grid of dots on each page so if you want to write as if in a lined journal you can, or you can doodle and space letters large or small or create boxes. I am not a drawer or a writer so I tend to only use my bullet journal as a way of keeping track of different habits and my weekly to-dos. If you are a stickler for straight lines having a ruler would be helpful and using colored pens and markers are a good way to easily spice up your bullet journal. I like to use Papermate Flair pens, however my bullet journal has thin pages so you can see the ink bleed through in certain light. In this way not all bullet journals are created equal. Some have heavier pages so ink or even paint doesn’t bleed through, if art is more your thing. Before using pen, I plan out my spreads in pencil first to make sure I like the layout before it becomes permanent or to practice new lettering styles. I also love to use washi tape in my bullet journal to help fill empty space and spice up my journal with color and designs. Finding Inspiration Bullet journals are super flexible in how you set it up, which can also be intimidating if you don’t know how you want it set up. When I first started I watched a lot of YouTube videos on bullet journaling for inspiration and I still look up different handwriting styles to mix things up. Main thing I learned: your bullet journal will not look as pretty as other people’s and that is ok! The most important thing is that it functions for you, and a plus is making it look pretty. For me, trying to make it pretty also helps me want to use it more. When starting a new month, I like to pick out a color scheme for that month. Each of my months already has a single color coordinated to it (I’ll explain why later) but finding two other colors to match that one and three washi tapes that go helps keep a simple theme for my month. Then each of my spreads looks cohesive and pretty, plus it makes it simpler than trying to find color combos each week, if you are using colors in your journal. My Set-Up This is not the way that everyone should have their journal set up, but it’s the way mine works for me. I have a Year at a Glance spread in the beginning of my journal with important dates for each month, such as birthdays and holidays (on left below). I then have a spread to track what books, shows, and movies I watched over the course of the year. Books get its own page and I’m just writing the title and author of the book, while shows and movies have separate columns and I’m just writing the title and maybe the season of the show (on right below). I’ve also chosen a specific color pen for each month and will use that pen to create bullet points next to each thing I did in that month so I can loosely track when I watched or read what. This is something new I’m trying as previously I wrote down books, shows, and movies I wanted to watch and many I never got to which was disheartening so this is more positive and allows me to look back and remember. Other people have written the date they watched the movie or started the book/show and then the finish date but I didn’t want to feel rushed to finish a show or book so I personally decided not to do dates. I then have my monthly spread for January, which is basically a large calendar of the month, again writing birthdays and holidays for that month but also any meetings or appointments (example of February, my most recent spread, below top image). I also include a habit tracker and gratitude tracker as part of my monthly spread, each on their own pages. The habit tracker is a mini calendar and you color in the box or draw a dot to mark that you did that thing on that day (below bottom image). There are a thousand different ways to do a habit tracker, such as bar or line graphs, and you can track all sorts of things like how long you slept each night or water intake. Mine is pretty simple and I only track activities that I did or did not do, such as wash my face in the morning or do something non-electronic for fun and de-stress time. It’s also helping me tackle some goals of 2021 by tracking when I eat fruits and vegetables, since I’m terrible at that. Another one of my goals is to work on being more positive in 2021 so I have my gratitude tracker to help. I’m going to try to write one thing I’m grateful for each day of February so I have something to look back on at the end of the month of the small things that made me happy to build a better appreciation for them and build a more positive mindset. All of my monthly spreads follow this same format. After the monthly spread, you have the weekly spread. This is my to-do list part where I have things I need to get done each day. I use keys to know whether I completed my tasks or not. A crossed off box is fully completed but I use a slash if I only did half the work, such as only reading half the articles for a class. This cues me to know that I might need to work more on that task another day. If I completely don’t get to a task, I draw a little arrow next to the box indicating that I’m moving the task to another day. There are a lot of different symbols you could use in your journal, but these ones are simple and easy for me to use. I like being able to plan tasks for different days of the week and having only so much space limits me in how many tasks I can do so I’m not overwhelming myself. In addition, I add my classes as tasks so I can cross off that I went to class, but this also acts as a placeholder for my time so I’m not putting too many tasks and can visually see how I plan for my day to go. Wrap-Up
There is a lot of thought that can go into a bullet journal, such as looking at examples, trying new things, and planning your spreads. It can also take some time, but making it into a relaxing activity can help decrease the stress of the week. (I like to create new spreads with YouTube or music in the background.) I personally feel a lot more organized since starting and it has been helping me stay focused on my goals for 2021. I hope that this article helped a little bit by breaking down different aspects of bullet journaling and makes it seem a lot less confusing. If you were able to find inspiration to start your own journal or get back into it, I wish you luck! Just remember that this is about what is helpful for you, not adding additional stress, so relax and have fun.
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January 2024
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