If you frequent Pinterest or YouTube, you might find it hard to miss the bullet journal trend.
While some of us (myself included) are not artists who have practiced calligraphy or watercoloring, I think that we can at least admit to wanting to be more organized. Here’s a quick definition of bullet journaling (for those that like to highlight, underline, and study definitions like me):
bullet journaling: a way to record the past, organize the present and plan for the future
In other terms, it’s a way to combine your sticky notes, to-do lists, reminders, appointments, random thoughts, etc. that are piling up in all different places/spaces into one small portable journal. Think of it like an agenda on crack, and an agenda that you can completely personalize to your own way of thinking and your own needs.
For example, in my bullet journal I like to go grocery shopping and plan my meals for the week ahead of time. So, I dedicated a page to meal prep/planning. You don’t even have to be crazy creative here. I actually just searched for the keywords on Pinterest and made an exact replica!
In addition to the obvious monthly/weekly/daily page in most journals, bullet journals can include “habit trackers”. A habit tracker is basically a list of little things you’d like to keep track of or make sure you’re doing every so often. For example, mine includes doing a face mask, having a vegan day, doing a coconut oil treatment on my hair, writing a blog post, posting a video, exercising, etc. You can then fill in the little squares and track how many times per week or month you are doing those items. For me, I try to make sure I’m exercising at least 3x a week or doing a face mask 1x a week for example. Whatever works for you!
To get started on your own bullet journal, here’s what you’ll need:
- A journal (preferably one with dotted pages), I bought the one that seemed the most popular on the internet, a Leuchtturm1917 dotted
- A pen
- A ruler
- Optional: colored markers, colored pencils, etc. (you can be as basic or fancy as you want)
And that’s it!
Here are my favorite BuJo YouTube videos that helped me get started:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuaaotSpifM (for the very non-artistic person, just straight pen, paper, and organization. Also the best place to start in my opinion as she talks just basics)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7ciFe-U-aE (part 2 of the video above, goes into habit trackers and everything outside of monthly/weekly/daily)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmstU61NUr4 (for those who love to doodle and create beautiful artwork, shows how you can really create a theme)
A great time to start a bullet journal is at the start of a new year, but it doesn’t have to be! Whenever you want a fresh start. For me, I’m starting a new job soon and wanted to keep track of things in the best way possible!
Have you started a bullet journal? I would love to know!
Taylor