What I Have Learnt After Keeping a Bullet Journal For 3 Months
At the beginning of the year, I had one goal. I need to get organised. 2020 was a bit of a crazy year. I had begun to feel like a lot of things were unpredictable, so I knew I needed to get myself into a better routine, set achievable goals and meet them. As part of this goal, I challenged myself to start keeping a bullet journal. I wanted to build a space where I could jot down anything and everything. I wanted to keep track of my life, as well as record my learning and develop a stronger sense of control. Over the last three months, I have written in it everyday, noting down anything I have done and planning ahead for the upcoming week or month. Here are a few things I have learnt through this process.
- It has allowed me to get creative.
I am the first to admit, I kind of suck when it comes to being visually creative. I’m rubbish a drawing and my art skills leave a lot of be desired. But, when I was starting my bullet journal, I decided to treat myself to some supplies. Getting some washi tape is a great way to create a journal which is visually appealing with very little effort. I also treated myself to some colourful pens and patterned paper. Taking some time each month to create my journal and build it exactly how I want has given me greater flexibility over what I include and how I want it to look. Hence, I have created a journal which is completely personalised and consequently I feel more motivated to keep up with it and write in it everyday.
2. I have a greater awareness of my active, independent learning.
I have begun to set myself targets every month for my independent learning and keep a checklist of the things I have completed. For example, my aim is to write at least 1 medium article a week, read at least 2 books a month and watch at least 2 TED talks a week. Keeping checklists is a great way to keep track of the things I have learnt. Often, I would read or watch things which were really interesting but then forget all about it because I hadn’t recorded it anywhere. Since keeping a bullet journal, I am more aware of the independent learning activities I undertake and am able to look back and revisit anything that might be relevant later on.
3. Using journaling prompts from the internet has allowed me to be more reflective.
Whilst this is not something I do everyday, occasionally I practice freewriting in response to a prompt. For example, “What excites you the most right now?”, or “What challenges have you overcome in your life?”. Responding to prompts like this is a mindful experience and I have found it a relief to write down my thoughts and feelings. Something about this process, of physically moving your thoughts onto paper can reduce stress and often make me realise that those things I was really worried about actually aren’t that big at all. I often come away from the experience having learnt something about myself, which can be quite confronting but at the same time has allowed me to develop a stronger sense of self-awareness. This is definitely something I would like to start practicing more often in the future, as it is a great mindfulness exercise.
Overall, my experience of constructing a bullet journal so far has been a really positive one. My advice to anyone who is thinking about it is to just get started! Don’t be put off if you don’t consider yourself to be artistic. Just get some pretty things, washi tape, card and just start building. It can be a really mindful experience, as well as a great way to organise your life and feel a greater sense of control, especially during these times of immense uncertainty!
