Bullet journaling is something I started doing two years ago after scrolling through YouTube videos of this new trend.
I have always loved stationery, but I personally hated using planners! I felt like they didn’t give me a range of creativity, and always felt too inconsistent to use one. So instead of having a planner I would end up creating a bunch of to-do lists on my phone, on Post-It notes, Ripped out sheets of paper, you name it. When I started bullet journaling, I can firmly testify that it changed my life.
The bullet journal system was created by Ryder Carroll, A Designer based in New York. According to his website bullet journaling is an analog system created to help you “track your past, organize a present, and plan for the future.” So if you’re one of those people that makes to do lists in every place in the world, this keeps everything that you would like to do in one space: a bullet journal.
Today, I won’t get into detail about the bullet journal system (that in and of itself is it’s own blog - you can also check out one of my YouTube videos for it). But I will talk about the tools that you need to start bullet journaling.
Outside of a mindset of productivity, you’ll need a pen, a journal, and some white out, that’s it! No, like actually that really is it. One thing that prevents people from taking action when it comes to things like bullet journaling, is thinking that you don’t have enough to get started. I’m here to tell you that all you have, is all you need. What has been placed inside of you and around you is enough to get you going. In fact, that’s the best way to test if it could actually become a part of your life. As you grow and develop as a bullet journalist, you’ll know the exact resources to buy for yourself! This is why I don’t recommend buying a mass amount of pens, special ink, or even journals and notebooks that you have no idea if you’ll use yet. Right now, let’s just upgrade you from writing your to do list down in random places, to all in one space, a bullet journal.
To get started with bullet journaling, I recommend going on Pinterest and even YouTube and look at bullet journal spread ideas. This will give you some ideas as to what people are using within their bullet journal. Most of it is just fancy ways of setting up a regular to do list. As long as you have that in the back of your mind, this is all one fancy to do list, you’ll be on the way to organizing your past, present and future.
More blogs about bullet journaling to come soon! Since this is a huge part of my life, I want to make sure that I give a good introduction and will go into more detail in later blogs.
Yes! I think the biggest misconception is that it always looks beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. My bullet journal right now looks like an organized mess! But I’ve disciplined myself to shift my focus from aesthetics to the actual system & have to consistently remind myself that even if it doesn’t look pretty, that does NOT mean I am a failure or that i’m not doing it right
When I hear Bullet Journaling I get anxious because I see those YouTube videos with people doing calligraphy, water paint, stencils and I’m like forget it. But I’ll try the baby steps and see.