Redefining My Bullet Journal System
The bullet journal is probably something youâre no stranger to. Itâs been circulating around the internet for a while, and itâs one of the main subjects of studyblr posts. However, when I started college last semester, I found that I no longer relied on my bullet journal to organize my tasks and structure my responsibilities anymore. Instead, I tried out a bunch of productivity/task-organization apps: Taskade, Actions by Moleskine, Any.do, Todoist, Wunderlist. None of them seemed to have what I needed, so I decided to give the bullet journal method another try.
The first thing I reflected on was why I stopped in the first place. At first I thought it was because the method itself allowed for a lot of freedom and Iâd get confused as to what things to include and how to structure everything. But then I realized that it was in fact because I had previously been bullet journaling for other people instead of myself. Since I had what one could call an âartsy bullet journalâ, I tended to focus more on the artistic aspect so that it would get more likes and reblogs after I posted it, when I should have been focusing on how it can organize my life. I realized that the bullet journal is a tool; the focus should be on life itself, not the bullet journal, but you can use the bullet journal to add value to your life.
At the beginning of the year, I deconstructed my organizational needs and attempted to apply that to my bullet journal method. I stopped looking at other peopleâs bullet journals and started thinking about my own needs and preferences. I thought about how I would best organize my time so that I could accomplish all of the things I want to accomplish in the different aspects of my life.
Supplies
The fact that I only have 2 main supplies allows me to bullet journal anywhere, anytime.
The Structure
The Practice
Simply having the tool to organize your life isnât enough - you should also have a practice, a habit, for using it.
Going Forward
One thing Iâd like to work on is future logging. As of now, I think in terms of months, since the my main commitment at the moment is my education, and monthly planning has worked out for me. But I think if Iâd like to tackle on larger projects - e.g. my YouTube channel that I just started - Iâd need to do a lot more future logging.
Another useful thing I want to try out is to summarize my journal entries in the form of notes. Recently Iâve been audio journaling (15-20 minutes of me talking to myself), and itâs been pretty effective. However, I have no way of âskimmingâ the entries like I would a written journal entry. Summarizing them would help me retain main ideas of each entry and remember the things I said that are or could potentially be important and useful.
Final Thoughts
If you donât think your bullet journal is adding value to or improving productivity and organization in your life, I think you should reconsider the way youâre approaching the system. I found a method that works for me; yours might be different. While it can be beneficial to draw inspiration from other people, do whatever helps you the most, not what other people tell you you should be doing. After coming up with an appropriate structure, make sure you maintain the practice. Â
Iâm going through a very similar phase with my bullet journal, so thanks for sharing what you did differently! It inspires and helps. :)
