#bullet journal setup

[nelsmessynails]

FEBRUARY 2025

[sneakers-and-shakes]

2025 Journal Setup Guide Pt.2

This month I’m back with the promised Part 2 of the 2025 Journal Setup Guide! If you haven’t checked out part 1 yet, here is the link:

Now that we have the prep done, it’s time to actually jump into your journal with all the fun stuff. It’s time to focus on the decoration and aesthetic elements!

Step 1: Decorations/Color Palette/Themes

A lot of people have themed journal setups and there are countless inspiration images out there for the different types of themes you can use. I personally don’t have a specific theme for my year setup (though I will do themed monthly setups).

However, I do have a defined color palette, which is basically my “theme.” My color palette is based on the stickers and washi tape I bought. But you can choose your color palette based on your theme, or other decoration items you have. 

You don’t need to be super fancy with your decoration. Just choose one thing that will be at the center of your color story. 

Then based on that one thing (theme or sticker or decoration idea) choose 3-4 colors to be your main color palette. 

Preferably you should have 2 dark colors and 2 light colors so your headers and boxes can be the darker colors and you can use the lighter colors as second line highlights or background decoration that can be written on top of.

Let me share some examples to illustrate what I mean.

Example: My Theme is 90s school notebook

black, blue, red pens 

doodle type decorations in the margins (hearts, stars, smiley faces)

highlighter/bright pink and blue 

Example: I have night sky related washi tape and star stickers

dark blue, light blue, yellow/gold colored markers

washi tape and sticker decorations

draw moons/stars for bigger spaces

Example: I’m great at drawing cats 

orange, brown, and cream colors (for different types of cats)

main decoration is hand drawn art

light colors to create patterns on cats in the background (splotches in a light gray color)

Each of these examples chooses one thing that will be the center of the color story/other decorations. 

In my case, I got the Sunlight Mystery washi tape and stickers which have a gold and maroon color scheme. So my color palette was deep orange, marron, light pink and light beige. 

I used the Tombow dual-brush pens (Cottage pack) to outline my boxes and for the headers. It was my first time using them but they are worth the hype the journaling community has about them. The light colors were perfect for second-line highlights and since the ink is water based you can layer the colors to get different shades.

The pens I use for journaling are the Papermate Inkjoy Gel Pens. I’ve been using them for about two years now and they are my favorite to write with.  (I will say that with the Notebook Therapy 160gsm notebook paper they take longer to dry than on normal printer paper.)

But you really don’t need to buy fancy things. My first journals were set up with colored pens from the dollar store. As long as you have a few colored pens or markers (can just be the Crayola thin tips) you are set!

Step 2: Outlining

Once you have your decorations and color palette decided then it’s time to crack open your journal and get into it.

Now, if you’re confident, feel free to skip this step and just start with your markers and pens. I, however, do not have that courage so I started with pencil.

Penciling everything in first allows me to visually see the layouts I’ve designed on the actual page and gives me a sense of how much space I have to add decorations.

You can also pencil in any elements you plan to draw before you lock it in with color. 

Here are some of the spreads I have penciled out to give you an idea of what I mean:

Step 3: Pen to Paper!

It’s finally time, after all the preparations, to go in and start adding color to your spreads! 

Grab your pens and markers and start decorating your page. 

I don’t fill everything out right away, I just create the spreads first and then fill them out later. 

Below are all the spreads I have in my start of year journal setup (in order):

Step 4: Journaling

With your journal ready, you can actually start journaling now! Which means writing in your goals and trackers and finally start using all the spreads you have in your journal. 

I plan on doing that next week, going through all my spreads and filling them out before the start of the year. I also need to do my monthly setup (maybe I’ll include that in a different blog post!)

-.-

I hope this helped with your journal setup process and thank you so much for reading! Please feel free to share any tips or tricks you might have for doing a journal setup too!

As we close out 2024, I am so happy that I managed to successfully post once a month for this whole year! It’s been a great goal to reach and I can’t wait to keep the momentum going for next year.

Thank you again and see you in 2025!

[productiveandfree]

Bullet Journal Beginner Setup and Productivity Tips

Productivity systems is always an interesting subject. 

The reason for this is there is actually no perfect system out there, though many people might still try to convince you of otherwise. 

The best system, however, is the one that aligns with your goals, your priorities, and your lifestyle. 

And so, this is precisely the reason why I was drawn to bullet journaling in the first place. This method is completely customizable to fit anyone’s needs — it’s both fast and flexible. 

According to Ryder Carroll, the inventor of the bullet journal system, this is an analog way to track the past, organize the present, and plan for the future. 

Free Spacing Guide for A5-sized Planner

If you count spaces in your planner way too often, then this guide is for you!

Simply select "actual size" when printing and place the guide behind your planner page. You'll be able to see the markers through the page and choose which to trace. 

No sign up or purchase necessary. 

Here are five things to do to get started with bullet journaling:

Get a pen and a notebook.

Assign an index page where you can list down anything you write on whichever page of your notebook.

Number your notebook pages (if they aren't numbered yet).

Use bullets and signifiers to classify and easily recognize everything you write on your notebook (examples are provided in the video but feel free to use your own).

Remember to always go back to your index page to keep track of what you write down.

And just like that, you already have your own basic productivity system. 

How?

By writing things down and keeping tabs on them, you're clearing your mind to facilitate a higher level of thinking. This is when you're able to reach a level of focus that permits you to do deep and meaningful, high-value work. 

Now that we've covered the essentials of bullet journaling, let's talk about what actually goes in those pages. According to the bullet journal website, a section of anything you write on your notebook is called a collection. 

Here are the four core collections of bullet journaling:

Index

Future Log

Monthly Log

Daily Log

Again, the Index is where you jot down the page numbers and the corresponding description of whatever you write on whichever page of your notebook. 

The future log is where you list events, holidays, birthdays, appointments, meetings, to-dos, and more. This gives you a bird's eye view of what's to come and what to expect. 

The monthly log is where you gather all your tasks and assign them to specific days. This ensures that everything gets scheduled and prioritized in their own time. 

The daily log is where you can rapid log all your tasks, notes, ideas, etc. on a particular day. Don't forget to classify them with bullets and signifiers. Also, if you plan to migrate a task, write it down on a future date or if you schedule it, make sure to jot it down in your future log. 

As I mentioned early on, whatever you do with your bullet journal is completely up to you. So aside from these four core collections, here are other examples of what you can put in your notebook:

Weekly log

Habit tracker

Reading list

Gratitude log

Mood tracker

Brain Dump / Ideas section

Client list

Project list

Content calendar

Blog/Vlog stats

House chores

Expenses list

Grocery list

Meal planner

Favorite recipes

Fitness log

Quotes page

TV show or movie list

Travel list/places you want to visit

Word for the day

Student calendar

Study/Homework progress

and many more.

There is a new term introduced over in the bullet journal blog called a Stack. A Stack is simply a group of collections. For example, if you were to ask me what my stack is, it's the following:

Future Log

Monthly Log

Weekly Log

Monthly Trackers

Keystone Habits

Gratitude Log

Reading List

Blog Mapping and Stats

Expenses List

Ideas Section

Adventures List

Once you get the hang of bullet journaling, you'll find that it's actually a really effective productivity system. Aside from writing things down as I mentioned earlier, here are seven tips on how to increase your productivity using this system. 

01. Write down your goals

It's no secret that having goals is crucial to being productive. This is how you know you're spending your valuable time, energy, and attention on things that really matter. But do you know what's even more powerful than having goals?

It's having goals that are written down. 

Since your bullet journal is something you already write on on a regular basis, it's only logical to map out your goals in there as well. 

> You can list your goals according to what, why, how, and by when. 

> You can have a wish list and match each task to a particular reward. 

> You can have a checklist to see if your goal aligns with goal-setting strategies such as SMART, Stretch, BSQ, or OKR. 

> Or, you can simply have a statement of what you want to achieve each month, day, or week.

02. Identify your ideal productive day and compare it with your actual day

Since we all have 24 hours in a day, the simplest way to do this in your bullet journal is to create a time map and visualize what your ideal productive day looks like — what are things you should be working on and what are activities you should not be doing. 

Then choose a regular day and log everything you do in each hour or half-hour. Afterwards, compare the two lists and evaluate where you need to improve on. 

Are you spending too much time checking emails? On social media? In meetings? Watching tv? You might be surprised how much of your day is actually spent on distractions and multi-tasking instead of deep work. 

03. Track your habits and activities

This is a favorite among many bullet journalists since we already know the habits we should be developing and the activities we should be doing on a regular basis. 

Simply search 'bullet journal tracker' in Google or in Pinterest and you'll find beautiful and inspiring layouts from others. 

Some things you can track are your keystone habits, your fitness, your meals, your projects, your blog/vlog stats, finances/expenses, your morning routine, and your evening routine. 

When it comes to habits, I highly suggest identifying the habit loop. According to Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit, a habit consists of three steps: the cue, the routine, and the reward. By establishing what triggers a habit and what reward we associate with it, we'd get better at developing or reshaping our habits. 

04. Identify your SMITN

SMITN is just a catchy acronym I came up as a thought trigger to remind myself whenever I wasn’t prioritizing. It stands for:

Single Most Important Task Now

As I mentioned earlier, a huge portion of our day is usually wasted on distractions and multi-tasking. But if we always highlight our single most important task now, then we can more effectively act on things that actually move the needle. 

This is related to concepts found in Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy, The One Thing by Gary Keller, even Essentialism by Greg McKeown. 

So, in your bullet journal, it’s as simple as marking your top priority, high-value task with a star or an asterisk and making sure you work on it before your other activities. 

05. Schedule a regular review period

It can be as simple as listing what you need to do 'more' of and 'less' of. Or your can review different areas of your life and rate them using a scale of 1 to 10.

This is what some bullet journalists call the level 10 life or wheel of assessment, which was taken from The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.

You can even make a simple “stop doing” list to recognize which activities hinder your self-development and are essentially time-wasters.

The concept is that since we will always have areas of our lives that we can improve on, why not check in with yourself on a regular basis — yearly, monthly, weekly, even daily if you’re up for it. 

06. Make a "go over later" list

Again, it’s really difficult to be productive when you’re constantly bombarded with distractions all day long. 

But what if that distraction is a brilliant idea that just popped into your head? How do you turn that off when you’re trying to focus and get things done? 

Well, one simple but effective way is to acknowledge the idea and write it down in a “do later,” “brain dump,” or “go over later” list. 

This way, you’ll have a record of the idea and still be able to choose to work on it later when you’re ready to devote 100% of your time, energy, and attention to it.

07. Have a gratitude list

When it comes to productivity, sometimes it’s NOT about achieving more, being everywhere, and doing everything. 

A lot of it is saying NO to things that don’t really matter and instead, being content with who you are, where you are, and what you have. 

I love the question posed by Tim Ferriss in his latest book, Tools of Titans, where he asks, 

Could it be that everything is fine and complete as is?

He was talking about how our obsession with being productive can sometimes make us more anxious, stressed, and lose sight of what’s really important. 

This is related to what Productive and Free is all about. Our aim in being productive is NOT to simply do more work, but so we can be free to pursue the things we love. 

And so in your bullet journal, my last suggestion is to list down and contemplate on things you should be grateful for or simply, to recognize and celebrate your small wins on a regular basis. 

Over to You

Now as I mentioned many times before, what you do with your bullet journal is entirely up to you. And so, the same goes with these seven suggestions —

If something is unnecessary, eliminate it. If something isn’t entirely applicable, improve it. And if something works, use it. 

[unbulletjournalbanal]

Bonjour 2024 ! ⏰

Cette année j’ai décidé de faire un bullet journal plus minimaliste. Je n’ai plus beaucoup de temps pour faire des pages très travaillées et plus l’envie non plus…

J’ai décidé également d’y mettre plus de souvenirs.

J’espère que vous apprécierez mes pages malgré tout et qu’elles continueront de vous inspirer. 💭

On commence l’année avec la page de garde (évidemment), mes objectifs et le calendrier de l’année.

[mossy-studies]

there was a lot of resting in the meantime, but im finally ready to post again 💚

[rainbowsnsunnies]

Bullet Journal - Beginner Tips and my first bujo

A couple of days ago, I asked for tips from the tumblr bujo community for first-timers and little hacks that help with the overwhelm a newbie feels while starting their first bullet journal (the passive pressure to make your bullet journal eye-catching is unreal!). As always, the studyblr community and the bujo community here was super helpful and they gave me some amazing tips and advices. I thought of compiling it into a post for later reference and as a basic guide for someone who is just starting out and could do with some extra tips.

Don’t blindly follow spreads, customise them to fit your OWN needs, there’s no one-size-fits-all

Your first bujo will almost never look like the ones you see on Studyblr/Pinterest. Accept it, you’re just starting on the journey. You’ll get better with time

MAKE SPREADS THAT YOU ARE ACTUALLY GOING TO USE (this was repeated quite a few times, so I wanted to highlight this), the more spreads you abandon (like unnecessary habit trackers, or daily spreads when you really don’t have much day to day), the less likely you are to continue with the journal.

Have a pen you like and keep it along with the bujo always, this helps jot down quick notes and increases the chances of you using the journal

Don’t be afraid of changing things and spreads every now and then to suit your needs at the moment, it helps you find your style and keeps things fresh. This is also why it is necessary to not make too many months at once, you may not like the spread later and then you’ll be demotivated. Take it one month at a time.

You absolutely do NOT have to make it super artsy, make is as plain and minimal or as colourful and artsy as you like. Again, suit it to YOUR needs, don’t just ditto someone else’s spreads (unless it exactly suits your needs)

Feel free to get creative with washi tape/stickers if you like (Amazon is your best friend for stickers)

Pick one spread at a time and then keep adding one or two each month as you continue using the bullet journal so you don’t feel overwhelmed

Remember that functionality>>aesthetics, if its pretty but not useful to you, its not really an efficient planning system for you. If you just want to use it as a way to channel your inner artist and creativity, by all means, do it. But if your main purpose is to get organized and use it for planning, functionality should be your priority (bujo is supposed to make your life easier, not a task that you dread)

If you have the time, note down what you want to actually use the bullet journal for and what spreads will be useful to you. You can find loads of inspiration and help on Pinterest, Tumblr, Youtube, even Instagram! Don’t be shy to take some notes 🙂

Don’t over commit to ALWAYS have an aesthetic bujo. Some months you might find the time to decorate it, some months you might not. Don’t beat yourself up if you can’t make it aesthetic consistently

(Thank you to @baugloophows @boot-prints @dixeyray @obsidian-rain @ptowzapotato @mersari89 @dungeonsandfierceorangecats @lunarstudiesblog @nexusnai @space-clown-bitch-boi @smokee78 @abigmothinalittleworld @seekcoffeeandfindhappiness for the advices :) )

Here is my first bullet journal, if you want to see

I am using my old diary that a previous employer gifted me for my bullet journal since I'm just starting and don't want to spend a fortune in getting a new one (I went online to get a new one, and not gonna lie, for a community that claims to be super flexible and cheap and fit-your-own-needs, its kinda expensive, I'm sure there are cheaper planners at Target. But again, the system in itself does not ask you get a brand new expensive journal, even an old school notebook will do)

Now, I'm not an artist and in no way, am capable of sketching or doodling or drawing but since I had the time and energy to do it right now, I tried making an artsy cover page. It is inspired by lootengstudio on youtube. I really liked the idea of including butterflies since it symbolizes transformation and I am kind of undergoing a major transformation currently.

(like I said, I'm no artist, but I tried)

The second page I made was a monthly cover page, again, I tried to make one inspired by Pinterest but I'm quite sure I did not imitate it well enough (I mean its a penguin of its own kind and puts God's own creation to shame, hahaha)

The next spread I made is a 6 months or half yearly goals plan. I used to have yearly goals earlier and it has never worked out well for me since I tend to put off everything till the end of the year and then cram everything in the months of November-December and end up getting nothing done. So I'm hoping breaking the year in 2 will help me achieve more, but we will see how it goes. I'm not adding a picture of the spread here since it is quite personal.

Next, I drew a schedule page. As I'm studying from home these days, it does get quite hard to separate study time from rest times. So I broke down the day into hourly blocks and kind of, time-blocked my day (for the week). I'll repeat this spread every week, depending on how different my commitments are each week. (not sharing it again for personal reasons but here is an image from Pinterest so you can get an idea)

Is your bullet journal even a bullet journal if you don't have a habit tracker, haha. The next spread I made is a habit tracker, pretty basic with squares for each habit. Only thing I did different that I haven't really seen in any of the spreads online, is that I've put a countdown for 'strikes', that is the times I miss a particular habit. I've put 3 strikes, meaning I can mark a habit as done even if I have not for 3 times, since my days get super hectic somedays and I genuinely cannot find the time to do everything that day (like say I have an essay due and if I haven't been able to work on it, I may skip my night skin care routine and instead use the time to work on my essay) and it doesn't really mean I avoided or neglected the habit, its just that it was impossible to do it that day. So I have allowed myself 3 strikes (in total, and not 3 strikes for a single habit) after which, I'll leave the habit unmarked. (again, not sharing it for personal reasons, again, a picture from Pinterest so you can get a basic idea :) )

The last spread is a weekly/daily spread. Weight loss is a major goal of mine this year, so I want to track my weight and other parameters at the start of each week. I've included a little record of the numbers (and a 'eat take-out food' coupon to ensure I eat home made food most days of the week). I usually have a lot to do day-to-day, so I've made daily spreads. Its pretty basic, just a to-do list incorporated in the bujo.

I hope this post inspires you to start your own bullet journal and is helpful in beginning your journey.

Good luck!

[bookmarksandbonfires]

My 2023 Bullet Journal Set Up

I've had this finished for a couple days but I can't stop wanting to share it so... Here goes:

My future log is split over three pages. I've done the little leaf dividers in all four of my previous bujos, and I really like them bc otherwise I feel like it's very utilitarian. I am trying to decide if I should decorate the months like I usually do (on/around the text I usually do a little doodle--January is snowflakes, May is roses, December is holly, etc) so idk let me know what you think I guess?

Trying a few new things this year: I watched like a million 2023 set up videos on YouTube and saw a couple 23 23s in 2023 spreads, and while I've done level 10 life the last couple years I didn't feel like it's really working for me so I decided to try 23 23s instead. (If you want to know what my 23 things are, I have them figured out now but it took me ages.) I've also included a 2023 cover page, which is a piece of cardstock I taped in. Not pictured are the back of it and the page underneath; taped to the back of the cover page is a letter to myself for 2024, and opposite is my word of the year: assured.

The next two pages are my period tracker (a new inclusion in the start of year set up, as I usually leave it to later in the year, as a collection between January or February weeks. I also set up a wishlist and gift list, which I usually leave to sometime in October-December but figured I'd go ahead and include it up front this year. My last page is a budget spread, which I've never used before but I'd really like to get into budgeting as I like become more of an adult, so my first step is going to be tracking my monthly income and expenses here. I also have a monthly envelope for monthly expense tracking and like receipts and things, but I don't really know how it's going to work for me because I've never used anything before.

And that's my start of year set up! I'm using a leuchtturm 1917 with 120 gsm paper, which is new bc normally I just use a normal 1917. I wanted thicker paper this year but I love the features of the leuchtturm so this was a good compromise for me. I also got some new pens for Christmas, which I used lots in my set up too. And I'm loving using my journal already, so hopefully that keeps up too. Here's to a great 2023!

[trnqulitybase]

my film journal eternals page