LiLi Kathleen Bright

I used to bullet journal consistently, and then I just stopped. I don’t remember why. When life was getting overwhelming, I started again this week. And I’ve been familiarising myself with lots of resources to help me.

Get started with a bullet journal of your own

If you’re interested in learning how to bullet journal, I recommend:

1. Start with the official How to Bullet Journal video (4 minutes, captions available in English & 23 other languages)
   This was enough for me to get started. But if you want more:
2. Continue with How to declutter your mind — keep a journal — TEDxYale talk (13 minutes, captions available in English & Russian). And, if you want even more:
3. Read The Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll
   I’m listening to the audiobook & simultaneously reading the ebook, in short bursts, which is helping me absorb the info even whilst tired or distracted

Weekly planning by bullet journal

And I do daily logs as well for making notes etc.

Ideas for weekly journalling

And there’s so much variety for weekly spreads. If you want inspiration, check out these variations:

• Positively Britt’s weekly + daily combo includes a detailed time trackers, as well as an overview for the whole week
• If you like using stamps, maybe you’ll enjoy INKBYJENG’s weekly log
• Want to track a bunch of things? Check out The Journal Garden’s weekly log
• planningwithkay has 3 weekly spreads you can peruse:
  • the minimalist clearly separates events from tasks, with space for tasks and notes;
  • the tracker has a lot of space for tracking time & habits;
  • the nostalgic for getting reflective on a daily & weekly basis;
  • the doodler for oodles of doodles;
  • Kay’s spread separates business and personal tasks

Each of these are very different from my weekly log. I got inspired by Kay’s spreads and so I have some idea about how I want to improve mine next time.

I’m going to try out incorporating the highs & lows of each day into future reviews & retros.

Also, remembered that I find it super helpful having a ‘next week’ section too. I squeezed mine into this week when I needed one.

Practical, over pretty

I use plain paper now. I used to use a dot grid, but I’ve been wanting to draw more, and I find I draw lot more when the page starts of totally blank. By drawing I just mean quick & easy doodling.

Otherwise, I keep it pretty simple and don’t use habit trackers or straight lines any more. And, as last time, what I have in my head whilst I’m bullet journalling is practical, over pretty.

I’m excited to continue bullet journalling when I start my new job in September. It’s really helping me. 😊

Other useful resources about bullet journals

• what I was doing wrong in my bullet journal (video, 20 minutes) by Rachael Stephen – this is what got me back into bullet journalling earlier this month, thanks Rachael!

What next?

I’m excited to explore 10 year planning. Sounds wild to me, lol, let’s try it. I heard about it in one of the many bujo videos I watched.

Other stuff I’m thinking about this week:

• 10 Year Plan, including a day in the life
• Goals, including how success will be measured
• 5 min journalling

I think that’s enough from me for now. Happy journalling!

Edited to add: Tips from The Bullet Journal Method 📘

So far, the most helpful thing from the book was being tasked to write down a list separated into 3 sections:

• doing
• should be doing
• want to be doing

Reminded me both of the Jot, Bin, Pants method of novel planning and of the Liberating Structure Ecocycle Planning. But I digress.

Once you have the list, go through each item and work out when you want/need to do it.

Planning, for example…

Some items from my list, narrating some of the reasoning I used:

• Studying
  • I have an assessment due every 2 weeks, including this Sunday
  • I’ll probably not be at home Fri/Sat
  • I’m doing a lot of travelling & walking on Sun, so probably will be exhausted when I get back
  • Therefore, I need to finish & submit this unit by Friday PM
• Emergent Strategy
  • I want to continue reading this book
  • I’m reading 3 other books
    • Artist’s Way has a fixed deadline
    • Hidden Life of Trees I want to lend to a friend
    • Bullet Journal Method is helping me get things done
  • Postpone continuing ES until August, when I expect to have finished at least 1 of the books in progress
• Learning about mortgages
  • I have no time this week
  • I have space next week
  • Scheduled next Thursday morning, when I’ll be home in order to take a video call that afternoon

Schedule

Once you’ve done this for everything on your list, you can schedule them in the relevant places. Helped me lessen the nagging feeling that I ought to be doing stuff I wasn’t doing and/or had forgotten things. Great way to get started with this bujo thing.