Amidst the end of the year, it’s become a tradition for people to create resolutions or goals to complete in the next year.
Some may want to improve their physical health, their finances or even their creative endeavors. For those who want to pick up a new hobby that’s both creative and productive, bullet journaling could be an interesting skill to learn.
WHAT IS BULLET JOURNALING?
Bullet journaling is a method of journaling that is both a creative outlet and an organizational tool. It combines hand-drawn calendars, daily planners and to-do lists.
The journals can have meticulously drawn cover pages or have a simpler approach. However, every journal is different and depends on the person with the pen (or pencil).
HOW TO START
There are various ways one could use a bullet journal. Some journals solely focus on finances, while others track mental or physical health goals. Anything is possible, so it’s important to have an intention with it.
To get started, the bare bone tools needed are just a pen and paper. If precise straight lines are important to you, throw in a ruler as well.
Although it’s not necessary, a dot-grid notebook, a common notebook used for bullet journaling, acts as a guide, making it easier to draw lines in the journal.
ELEMENTS
Now that you have your tools, the most basic bullet journal setup contains an index, a future log and a monthly/daily log, according to Indiana University Bloomington.
An index starts the journal off strong by showing which spreads are on what pages, like a table of contents.
The future log is a spread that has the months of the year laid out on a page. The space under the months is for keeping track of commitments within that month.
The monthly and daily logs could easily mirror what a calendar looks like. It’s basically a personal calendar.
POTENTIAL SNAG
When looking for inspiration for bullet journal spreads on sites like Pinterest, it can be overwhelming to see these colorful, thorough spreads.
“While you can certainly create an artistic or complex bullet journal, you do not need to be an artist or an organization guru to become a bullet journalist,” according to Bullet Journal. “All you need is an idea of what you want to accomplish, where you are right now, a notebook and a pen.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
It’s not necessary, but it’s always entertaining to keep up with fun little trackers in your journal like movies watched, books read or current favorites. You get to see how your tastes have evolved.
If you are interested in bullet journaling, the journals can be found in multiple places, but Bullet Journal always has them.
