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Starting a Bullet Journal: 5 Prompts to Launch your Journey

The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UPRM chapter.

With the start of a new year, we tend to look for new habits to improve our daily lives. Here, I present to you a habit worth considering: the art of bullet journaling. Over the past decade, this habit has become popular for its versatility— a perfect combination of a planner and diary, also serving itself as an artistic outlet. A bullet journal is ideal for scheduling your days, tracking activities, moods, and so much more. 

When it comes to getting started, it might be difficult to know what spreads will be useful to you. Everyone bullet journals differently, and what might work for others might not work for you. My number one tip for bullet journaling is to experiment because you can always just take out the spread for the next month. This is why I’ll provide some prompts to help you get started. 

Entertainment Tracker

The beauty of this prompt comes from all the different variations and customizations you can make. From books, shows, and movies to concerts, you can track just about any type of entertainment with this prompt. I personally like writing down the entertainment I consumed, the dates, plus my ratings, making it more fun for when I’m looking back over the year. 

Budget/ Expenses Log

A must for college students, this spread is great for keeping your finances organized. It can be intimidating to start an expense log, but remember that you don’t have to write down every single expense; you can start with different categories like subscriptions, dining out, etc., to give you a better idea of what you would like to log. Keeping track of my expenses has honestly been a game-changer. It’s incredibly useful to pinpoint your impulse spending and overspending in certain areas. 

Brain Dump

The title says it all. This is a spread used as a commonplace to write random thoughts, feelings, and tasks that don’t fit anywhere. I personally like just writing the title of the page and then leaving it blank so I can fill it as I see fit later on. This part of the journal can look anywhere from a list, a page filled with doodles or just for freewriting, and can be done as frequently as you wish. This is a technique that can be implemented daily, weekly, or even monthly. The choice is entirely up to you. 

Habit Tracker

Perfect for making sure your New Year’s resolutions are fulfilled, this tracker is ideal to see the different habits you want to keep up with. Under every habit, there is a calendar, and you can mark or highlight the days you carry out the habit. Some common habits used are drinking more water, working out, among others. I find that this prompt is motivating because of the satisfaction you get when you fill out that you carried out the habit. It’s definitely one of the prompts I would recommend the most. 

Big Moments

This page is an excellent tool to reflect on the year that has passed. You can fill it out with goals you have accomplished, important milestones, or even just random things that you wish to remember about the year. Anything that you feel is relevant goes on the page. You typically fill out one big moment per month, but you can customize it to fit your needs better. It’s a great showcase of your year in review. 

I encourage all of you to venture into the lovely world of bullet journaling, who knows? You might surprise yourself and end up loving it. New year, new journal, new possibilities!

Angelise M. Torres Reyes is a third-year Psychology student at UPRM. With an interest in the English language, she looks to minor in Writing and Communications. She would like to contribute on topics ranging from mental health to social issues and pop culture. During Angelise’s free time, you can find her reading, dancing or drawing. You will never see her sitting still doing nothing. She’s a creative force that is willing to try new things every chance she gets. Her guilty pleasure is watching reality shows. She could probably tell you about every reality there is on Netflix.