Starting a Bullet Journal

Meaghan asked me about the progress on my bullet journal which reminded me that I've been using the system for almost 2 months now, so I thought I'd review it right here on the blog since it took a little bit of getting used to and tweaking for my own needs. I apologise in advance for the ugly photos of my not so aesthetic journal haha 😅😆

What is a Bullet Journal?

It's a cool system of personalising your planner and organising your life into lists using a plain notebook! The main idea of the BuJo is in it's 'Index', for which every to-do item is marked with a symbol. Unlike a regular planner/diary, it doesn't have a calendar grid/dates and all that spelled out for you so you are free to add in your own monthly/weekly/daily view, and draw up new lists/styles. You can read more about it here. 

The problem with the BuJo

So the thing about the BuJo is that most of us get inspired by the ones that we see on studyblrs (study tumblrs), blogs or Pinterest, and for starters, that's terribly misleading and stressful. We tend to focus on the beautiful BuJos online and kinda strive towards those aesthetics, which might fog up the actual purpose if you're not ready for it (yet). 

Boho Berry's lists (high level Bullet Journaling, very intense)

 BulletJournaling; This user's personal "weekly" view page with a mood chart, timeline for the day, bullet points and items to complete 

 Hayley-Studies; Month, Week, Day view all in one spread. Makes me keen to see the other pages

thestudyplant; very very aesthetic week view

Yup, normal people don't really have those skills nor the patience to keep it up.

How I use my Bullet Journal:

I'm always terrified of screwing up my journals or planners and it's something I've had to consciously remind myself not to care about, which is why the very first thing I did when I started was to list my Bullet Journal Philosophy:

A Bullet Journal Philosophy

Writing it down is the first step to letting go haha so just make a commitment not to stress yourself out more than necessary! It helped me to take my mind off making things pretty!

Future Log:

The next section of my journal is the Future Log. It's just a fancy general term to refer to a place where you put future appointments and deadlines. This would be traditionally known as a "Month View", but different people use different methods; some draw grids, some use the Hope Method, some use a week view. You should check out the Hope Method because it is very innovative but I find it quite troublesome because you can't see the exact appointment at a glance.

I chose to use the traditional month view like this...

...simply because the book I'm using only has 25 lines haha. But I can use the space below for additional notes! I did the numbering for all 12 months right at the start of my journal. Some users prefer to enter the month when the month itself rolls around but that's quite shortsighted to me. This gives me space for appointments whenever!

What I might change:

My Future Log started to clutter: 

(This was when I just started so I just put all the remaining Dec dates together with Jan's) 

Look at the really messy "Rounds" for bidding.

Look at the 19th. Ugh, a MESS!

I'll probably change it to something along the lines of this:

Bohoberry

But I'll change the sections into something like "Important Dates" for things like birthdays, all day events, "Deadlines" and "Appointments", then maybe use the extra space for further details like time and meeting place. 

The Index, Key and Daily Log.

The Index and the Key to be precise. The Key tells you at a glance what kind of items and the nature of the items available in the Daily to-do list:

My Daily Log. 

I started my daily log on my next available page once my Monthly Future Log was done. So using the key to read this list, for the 31st, I completed a Recycling event, pushed forward my Bandits readings and completed half of my Biological Mind notes!

The Index is a content page of sorts. I've used it to mark out the sides of the pages with lists (examples below).

So you see below that the green markings on the edge line up with the same colour on the Index. I've made the Index and Key page a fold out on the back of the journal so I could refer to my symbols, as well as line up the colour codes for the index. 

What I might change:

Probably use washi tape to mark the edge of the page instead of a marker, because accidentally marking the wrong line means an irreversible screw up :-( There's also the option of entering all my lists from here on into a separate collection, because some might involve long term lists that extend beyond the use of this one notebook. 

Adapting the Bullet Journal

This is so important because it's no one else's! Those Aesthetic BuJo's have soooo many features to create "mindfulness" but it's really not necessary when you're just starting out. They also don't take into account study plans, which I decided to insert as a recurring feature for myself:

Since I have my Monthly Future Log to record deadlines and appointments, I don't need to do it again in a week view, so my week view is purely of my readings and lesson preparation for the week. This page comes in wherever I have the next available page.  The line right at the top records the "academic week", in which my preparation for lessons overlap (especially since I start preparing for the following week on Thursdays). 

My Daily Log thus bounces off my Monthly Log and this log. It sounds like a hassle to switch around so often, but having bookmarks help me to track my items for that day. I take a few minutes each day just to check if I have anything on, or if I need to do work. If I do, I start a new entry on the next available page. I'd write the date and day, then enter the events if any, then set targets for that day. 

Many users of the BuJo like to flaunt their habit tracker, but I'm too poor with habits to make such a commitment HAHA. It seems to help people floss more and drink more water though, so if you're keen, add a weekly/monthly habit tracker too!

They also like to record their moods and have a daily gratitude section. It's a good habit, but I changed it to a "Happy List" and a "Lesson List" to take away some of the pressure. There are some days when you just feel okay, or you don't think there's much to say, so I don't think there is a need to make it a daily thing. I find it might even be counter-productive and might make the BuJo difficult to use consistently if you force yourself to enter moods/gratitude. That being said, I make sure to have enough space and flexibility to entertain thoughts I might want to jot down under my daily log. 

Tips for Using the BuJo:

Choosing the Notebook and Style:

I'd recommend getting a square grid, dotted or blank notebook instead of ruled lines because I find ruled lines a little too static for me. The rest also provide more flexibility in doodling. Square or dots provide guidelines for when you are filling in the bullets like this:

recycledpaperstars; a good example of a very simple but beautiful journal

Users are torn over the brand of journal to use too; some prefer the Moleskin, others like the Leuchtturm. I'm currently using a Monologue A5 96 page Ruled Notebook given to me by my friends, otherwise I wouldn't have spent money on it because I'm a cheapskate. 

And here's the next thing they don't tell you about the system: how to use it the antsy, nervous, cheapskate way.

I had been looking for square/dotted notebooks for a while and I realised that Muji has a nice collection! They've got a thick $8 version and a $1-$2 version the thickness of an exercise book. The downside is that both can be flimsy without a hardcover, but it's definitely less of a hassle to bring around if it's thin. If you're a new user, it's also less stressful to use a cheap and thin notebook to begin with to find a good style for yourself before you move on to a more expensive journal.

When I started out with my BuJo, I was allocating pages in my notebook to various uses, for lists, calendars, daily view. Then I realised that that was totally defeating the purpose of the flexible BuJo! 

Look, this was me in the first week of trying to maximise the space, also too lazy to use colours. 

My Bujo nowadays is pictured as my Daily Log further up my post. It's a lot neater and focused and I have all the space in the world to make additional notes. Once I'm done with this notebook though, I'm intending to use the thin Muji notebooks because I can switch up my styles a bit more and get "fresh beginnings" more often. Less commitment and less cost!

Some bloggers use multiple notebooks to store different information, e.g. one for Monthly and Daily view, one for a collection of lists! A great video I watched (at 1.5 times the speed) was this one, a great tutorial on how to get started. She uses the multiple notebook method but it's easy to adapt to your own style.

Start Simple:

Start with simple layouts and tools before you include more colours and designs and washi tape and all of that. I've been using a Uni Jetstream ballpoint pen because it's cheap and it writes sooo smoothly, and a grey mildliner. Colour coding is really helpful but I only do it when I really need to, because attaching only my jetstream to the BuJo makes note-taking extrememly efficient.

Hack your own book

You can use your BuJo with post-it notes, highlighters, phone applications to get around particularly busy days or to make extra markings. My personal hacks include

 This cute animal face stamp from Daiso to log in simple moods. 

It's fun and therapeutic to stamp okay.

And this calendar template I made which makes exam planning more efficient if your to-do lists came with a view of how many days you had left to assign studying to. HAHA Will probably follow-up with another post once my studying camp week comes around and I've had a chance to test my BuJo during Mid-Terms week! Materials: Washi tape, Hole puncher

Don't be afraid of screwing up!

Much easier said than done, but the key is just to get started! The BuJo is all about flexibility and transformation so don't worry about getting consistent with a style or a format right away. Don't let it take away from the main focus of productivity and organisation if that's your purpose! 

Yay okay I had fun sharing some of my Bullet Journaling experience and I hope it was helpful for whoever still reads this lolol. A good refuel for my productivity focus now that Mid-Terms are rolling around. See ya!