I have always been interested in the idea of bullet journalling, but the stunningly neat, excruciatingly time-consuming planner spreads shown all over social media put me off starting. That’s not me, I thought; I won’t be able to do that! I have found a ‘messy’ style helps me keep my perfectionism at bay and it would have a field day with those sort of pages. Not to mention that I’d soon get bored with measuring and using rulers.
A video by the original bullet journaler Ryder Carroll popped up on my YouTube suggestions recently and I was quite shocked by the difference between his journals and the ones I’d seen before, no pretty pictures, no super complicated planning pages, in fact he designed it to be quicker than normal journalling. He actually designed it as a system to help him with his ADHD. As someone who struggles to remember things and binge-watches/listens to a ton of podcasts and YouTube videos, having a way to reflect and remember these sources as well as keeping track of my habit change journey, this idea sounds really promising. He has developed a proper system of keeping track of the ideas and information he has recorded without it just becoming a random bin of information. You can watch the video here.
Are you like me….you have 50 notebooks all with 3 pages completed in each? I’ve not been great at consistency. As someone who has really struggled to create and maintain any useful habits in my life, I’m hoping 2023 is the year I crack it (not all of them you understand, but one, maybe two of them) and I’m hoping bullet journalling might be the answer.
So what am I starting with? I’m actually choosing 3. The household chore which is my biggest nemesis, a daily creative practice and journalling (which should help me with the other 2).
Now I’m not starting from scratch. At the beginning of this year I found a very useful resource which I have been using almost daily since early January (this is a record for me!). I’m using a printed version of the digital ‘Hero’s Journal’ (you can find it here).
I picked it because it is different every day. I’d already thought about using a gamification method (and I love fantasy quests) to try and make boring habits more fun and this seemed like a perfect way of doing it. And so far it has been pretty perfect (along with a couple of other methods of rewards for doing the boring chores). However I want a way of incorporating my daily sketches and reflections into my journalling practice and this page doesn’t quite give me enough space. So what can I do?
So as I usually don’t finish things, I’ve decided to continue with the hero’s journal for the 3 months it is designed for, adding extra pages with ‘collections’ of my sketches and ideas from the BuJo system and using a diary with it to plan. I ordered some lovely bullet journals to transition into afterwards.
I need to come up with a way to keep the novelty and I really want to keep up the fantasy quest theme. I’m wondering if I use a D&D or dark arts concept and maybe create myself a sketching or journalling challenge deck of cards to keep things fun and different.
Wish me luck!!
STS
x
P.S I’d love to hear what you’ve tried and if something has really worked for you!
Spindle Tree Studio 