This article has been syndicated from Kayla Smith, an InfluenceHer Collective Member. Read the full post here.
Bullet journaling might be the best form of journaling ever — it’s a blank canvas for creating and ideating pages for any and every purpose. From organizing your to-do list to tracking down your budget or water intake, the possibilities are seriously endless.
It’s been a while since I talked about bullet journals (you can read it here!) I’m assuming that you’ve heard about bullet journaling, but if you don’t, I’ll go through a brief explanation.
I’ll be walking through how I set up my bullet journal, how I use it to organize my life and all the things you need to know on how to bullet journal.
How I Started To Bullet Journal
I started bullet journaling from the things I found on Pinterest. I quickly became overwhelmed at the intricate monthly spreads, weekly layouts and formats that would take hours to create. I eventually stopped writing in my bullet journal because there was no way I could write in it on a regular basis.
But after taking a brief break from bullet journaling, I realized that it doesn’t have to be hard. It doesn’t have to be fancy. My bullet journal probably isn’t the prettiest thing you’ve seen, but it is functional. I am a full-time blogger and content creator and the most important thing for me is to stay organized. Since I do social media for other companies, it’s crucial for me to keep everything in running smoothly. Thankfully, the bullet journal has helped a lot! It helps me keep track of allllllll the things. Let’s get into how to bullet journal and I’ll walk you through how I use it on a regular basis.
Bullet Journal Key
In the front cover, you can see that there is the bullet journal key for how to bullet journal. I found that from reading The Bullet Journal Method, I learned how to use the bullet journal key to my advantage. There are different notations on how to mark what tasks I need to do and mark when they’re completed. Honestly, crossing things off my to-do list is one of the highlights of my day!
There are ways I can tell if I need to move things to the next week or the next day by migrating the task. I mark when tasks are scheduled and write notes if I’m listening to a webinar, a podcast or if I have a thought. When I have a phone call with a client I can document that, write down events I want to remember and cross out things that are irrelevant. You can pick and choose how you utilize the bullet journal key but this is the best way I found to set up my bullet journal.
Bullet Journal Ideas
Monthly Spread
At the beginning of each month, I frame out a calendar and monthly tasks I need to get done that month. I wanted to show my calendar. I flipped over to the month of February since that’s the month I’m currently in, but this applies to any month of the year. At the beginning of each month, I list out every single day ahead of time and at the end of each day, I write about something I want to remember about that day.
For tasks, I list things I need to get done throughout the month. This includes campaigns that I’m working on for my blog, post ideas and just a couple other things I need to get done before the end of the month.
You can pick and choose whatever you want your monthly spread to look like whether that’s a habit tracker to see how many days you went to the gym or how much water you drink. You can create a food log too. The options are endless! These are just a couple of the pages I always include in my bullet journal monthly spread.
Weekly Spread
In my bullet journal weekly spread, I have all the tasks I need to get done that week for work and all of my sudden due dates that week if I haven’t finished them, and some for the following week.
Daily Log
Every morning, I list things similar to a brain dump if you know what that is. I write down everything I’m thinking in the morning to clear my mind and then fill out events, notes and tasks for each day. For example, when I woke up, if I went to the gym, my food log since I want to be mindful of that. Also, I include things I do during the day such as what blog posts I worked on, what I accomplished for my clients and other things like that. I’ll continue my daily log until the end of the month if I make sure to block out enough pages or I’ll continue on any empty page after that. If I was smart this month, I would’ve sectioned off the right amount of pages so I can write my daily log all in one spot but I have another page in the way. It’s a pitch series my friend created on how to work better with brands so I wanted to have a good spot for my notes. That’s all I have set up for this month! Honestly, it isn’t anything fancy but it’s just easy for me to keep track of everything that I’m doing.
Why I Bullet Journal
Bullet journaling is something I really enjoy doing and I love being able to incorporate this into my daily routine. I can see everything I need to do and not worry about what’s going on in my crazy life. A lot of people prefer filling out their tasks on a phone or a computer and I have that too but I found that for myself that it’s really hard to keep track of things. When I write things down, it solidifies in my brain. If you haven’t tried bullet journaling or you’re interested in it, let me know what your experience is or what questions you have down in the comments. Let me know if you liked this blog post and if you want some more blog posts about how to bullet journal.
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