The bullet journal is something that has taken millennials by storm, with everyone from youtubers to students to serial planners using them. For those of you who aren’t familiar, a bullet journal is essentially a diary that you have complete control of, so you morph from ‘passenger to pilot’ of your own life. You’re free to organise your time into weeks, months, days, or even plan your entire year. You can use it to track your habits, set goals, compartmentalise your tasks, and generally have a better grasp on your hectic schedule. However, they can be something that brings stress to your life if you don’t keep on top of them. So, bullet journaling, is it worth it?
One of the ways I find them really useful is that you have complete freedom over how you set out your time. Normal diaries can sometimes feel restrictive; trying to fit everything into the tiny boxes provided for you feels impossible. The beauty of the bullet journal is that you decide how much space is allocated to a specific day or week, and if you mess up your calendar, you can just rip the page out and start again! Basically, the freedom you get, both on the page, and in the way that you can rip the pages out, makes planning your time more fun and less of a chore. Here’s a look at my own journal, and how I’ve organised my weeks and months…
Heres my monthly spread. I’ve colour co-ordinated everything so I can use the same colours on my weekly spread to keep track of when (and if!) im completing certain tasks.
Second, the method of recording the tasks you’ve completed, cancelled, or rearranged makes it easier to still feel in control, even if plans change. There’s nothing worse than writing out a to-do list, and not being able to cross anything off. With bullet journaling, you can simply move missed tasks or appointments over to the next day by putting an arrow next to it. Similarly, if you complete a task that you arranged for another day, you can put an arrow facing backwards next to that one, to show that you’ve completed it already. Also, with the use of arrows, you can see what types of tasks you are rearranging or failing to complete, and address why it might be that you’ve been doing this, and how to counteract it. For example, I was always rearranging the day that I would prepare for one of my seminars, so I realised I needed to devote more time to that work and be strict with myself, to make sure I completed it.
Here are some bits from my journal again to give you an idea of how I plan my time! I colour code each task or appointment to make it easier to see how much I have to do, and what sort of tasks.
There is an actual bullet journal brand where you can buy the journals from, but realistically, you can use any notebook. Grid, plain, or dotted notebooks work best, but if you only have lined, that works too. I only say that because there’s a lot of drawing boxes, and the lines can sometimes restrict how much space you can use! I personally use a plain notebook that I got from Tiger for £3. The Bullet Journals are around £13 just to compare, but its completely up to you what book you choose!
Personally, I think the concept of bullet journaling is great. It helps you to take charge of your time and stay on top of an always busy schedule. Some of the techniques I think are a little unnecessary, and unless you’re super devoted to journaling, can cause more stress than they’re worth. Habit tracking, whilst it’s a great idea, can be something that’s tricky to uphold and some of the impressive designs that Youtubers boast are amazingly pretty but aren’t essential to the function of the journal. Obviously that’s jut my personal view and you might find decorating yours really helps, which is great because in all honesty, mine looks super boring! This is just what works for me. I definitely think you should give it a try, especially as us students have rather unstable and hectic schedules. Theres no need to fork out for a branded journal either, so there’s no excuse to not get started!