We’ve officially reached that time of year: it’s March, and the weather is starting to warm up enough for us to start thinking about spring break! Unfortunately, there are a few weeks left of class before you can say hello to the beach (or your hometown), and staying organized and on top of your schoolwork can be a struggle.
Bullet journals (or BuJos) are a way to organize and track everything in your life–basically your typical planner on steroids. It’s a fantastic idea–a methodical approach to modern-day planning, and all you need is a notebook and a pen. If you’re particularly artistic, you can print off pictures to tape inside, or experiment with your handwriting to find a font that you love. Inspiration pictures are everywhere, and there are plenty of color schemes that are easy to recreate.
Or, if you appreciate a minimalist approach (or if you can’t draw a flower to save your life), sticking to a single color can be an amazing way to keep your life organized in a simple way, making your daily tasks seem much less daunting.
The best thing about bullet journaling is there’s no “right” way to make one! Because it’s completely personalized, you can literally write whatever you want in it. A lot of people use it to keep track of assignments, personal deadlines, and appointments that they can’t miss, but with a little creativity and an affinity for checking off to-do boxes, anything can be done.
Most bullet journals follow some sort of layout: a monthly page, weekly spreads and trackers, and daily pages. Much like a normal planner, this gives it structure so that you aren’t constantly trying to create new pages that will probably confuse you later on. The trackers can be used for basically anything, like how much water you drink in a day or even to track your mood over the course of a month!
All of this being said, bullet journaling is definitely not for everybody. It takes time to create pages, and even though it can help you be more organized, it’s not necessarily better than a typical store-bought planner, or even a post-it that you record your assignments on. However, if you enjoy creating things and you’re motivated by study aesthetics, you might want to try it!