Bullet journaling is a great way to intertwine hectic schedules with your artistic side! Here are a few reasons you should start bullet journaling and a few tips to get started.
If you’re anything like me, you probably buy a new planner each semester. You jot down the important dates from each of your class syllabi along with some birthdays and holidays off from school. But, somewhere in the middle of October, or in my case by the end of September, the planner no longer makes it to class and falls to the bottom of my “important” paperwork stack. Does any of this sound familiar? Yes? Then bullet journaling is definitely a must try!
Bullet journaling allows you to create your own planner! Since you are the designer of your planner it is completely customizable based on your own individual needs. Your planner will be focused on your interests and is a direct reflection of what’s important to you. For me, this encouraged and motivated me to use it a lot more than a regular planner because I felt extremely connected to it and it had things I actually cared about planning. It also creates a space for you to plan your weekly and monthly schedule. This ritual becomes therapeutic and extremely relaxing during stressful periods! Another plus is that while you’re designing your planner you get to choose your favorite colors, themes, and any other cute things you want to add – like little cartoons or doodles.
A few tips I’ve learned:
Necessary Tools
You’ll need a nice notebook or journal without lines. Some people prefer for there to be dots rather than just plain paper, but that’s a personal preference. A fine tip pen and a pencil. A ruler. And lots of colored markers or pencils in your favorite colors.
Learn from others
There is an entire community of people who bullet journal on YouTube and Instagram. They share designs that they found useful for their specific needs which can help you learn about what would flow better for your own needs. For example, if you’re concerned with not having enough space in a monthly chart or a typical calendar view, then opting for a weekly or even a three day per page option might work best. Watching how others laid out their planners helps see how other people who went for this layout utilized it. A few YouTubers I found useful are AmandaRachLee, JennyJournals, and LauraLiz. There are many others out there but these are a few good people to start with.
Trial and Error
Sometimes a layout you think will work perfectly just doesn’t for some reason or another. Don’t get frustrated — keep working on it until you find a layout that is a good fit for you. It helps to practice a design on a sheet of scrap paper before adding it to your journal or keep some white out handy. Even drawing the cute little doodles can be a bit of a process, so I like to sketch everything in pencil before attempting to make it a little permanent.
Theme
Think of a theme before you begin sketching that you’d like to use to unite the week or month. I like to have a different theme for each week. It could be as drastic as drawing purple flowers for a week then switching to doodles of little puppies, or as simple as just swapping which color palate I’m using. The theme should be something that you’d enjoy seeing for a few days or weeks.
Bullet journaling is an active process, but the result is a planner reflecting your own values that will surely help motivate yourself to use it!