Why Bullet Journal?
For those who have been following me on my social media pages, I have been posting my journal spreads for a few years now. I thought that now’s the time to share why I started bullet journaling. As a freelancer, it is quite hard to keep up with my tasks and with bullet journaling, it helped my productivity.
Bullet Journal VS. Journal
In my own words, I would describe that the bullet journal is a planner of your day to day tasks but a more creative and organized way. Journaling is like an actual old school diary. I religiously had a diary when I was younger until when I started working, but I honestly skipped a couple of months and years in between.
My Inspiration
In 2017, I was just browsing videos on Youtube and for some way, I found the channel of Amanda Rach Lee. After watching one video to another and so on, I knew I wanted to start bullet journaling. I find her videos so therapeutic and it made me feel like when I do the same way that she does, I can be as creative as her too! My partner gifted me with a blank journal, no lines or bullets yet since it’s still quite hard to find a dotted journal back then.
Creativity
I’m not an expert in the world of art but with bullet journaling, I was able to learn how to doodle or draw different themes each month. Well, I kind of trained when I was younger and exposed to arts because of my roots but I didn’t dive into it that much until this, bullet journaling. It’s just so much fun to see how a dull planner/notebook can be transformed into a quirky one. This is probably one of the core reasons why I started bullet journaling.
Productivity
Bullet journaling helped me to increase my productivity in many aspects of my life. My daily schedule, my short term and long term goals, I like those all written. Especially those daily tasks, it is so satisfying to tick of one box at a time throughout the day. With the creative spreads I made, it makes me even more excited to use my bullet journal and actually do the tasks.
The Trackers
The most helpful tracker for me would be the Expenses Tracker and Habit Tracker. It is so helpful to just list down all the ins and outs of my income so I know what areas I should cut down. The habit tracker motivates me to do the habits and over time, I change the habits I track because to some, I was already able to really practice it!
Mood Tracker
I’ve tried so many templates of tracking my mood and I got stuck to one design that I think works best for me. Anyways, why have a mood tracker? I think for me, it helps me understand myself even more and actually reflect on my emotions.
Monthly Themes
I’m going to tackle the theme of each month further on my future blogs but I just want to touch base on this a bit. How do I choose the theme? First, I go back to my inspiration, Amanda Rach Lee and see if I like her theme for that month (mostly, yes). Recently, I became more experimental with my bullet journal theme for the month by taking inspiration from different Youtubers, Pinterest photos and choosing what colors palette I want to use.
How do I keep up?
There are times that I feel sulky and lazy to do a new monthly spread but I say to myself, I don’t have another planner then I pick up my pen and start doodling! It is very imperative to choose a theme and color palette you’ll love so you’ll keep up with completing the journal spread and fill it out daily.
More Inspirations
So that, my friends, are the reasons why I started bullet journaling! I hope you find radiance in reading this blog and be inspired to start doing bullet journaling. I think this is a really creative way for better mental health as well. Anyways, below are short clips I uploaded on my Youtube channel about my bullet journaling journey. I’ll improve on my videos soon, I promise!
My 2017-2018 Bullet Journal Flip-Through
2019 Journal Setup and January Spread
