My attempt with bullet journaling (roughly three years ago) was poor. I attempted to go the extremely creative route and didn’t have my why, my intention for wanting to bullet journal. I then found myself annoyed with it and not having the time to create such immaculate spreads. Not realizing (rather not wanting to realize) there’s so much more to it than artsy designs!
I started bullet journaling at the beginning of the year and have been doing so consistently for six months. I first learned about Bullet Journaling while listening to Matt D’Avella’s Podcast a few years ago where he featured Ryder Carroll – the founder of The Bullet Journal method (listen here). They’re many resources to help understand the method but in summary, it’s a personal organizing system where you can organize schedules, to-do’s, brain-dump, etc. The beauty of the bullet journal is its amazing flexibility to be anything you want it to be! You can make it super artsy and get extremely creative, to being extremely minimal and keeping to the basics.
With an intention in mind: To live with intent, passion, and purpose. Not let my days go by. Here are four lessons learned from six months of bullet journaling!
01 | Mindfulness
Since starting my bullet journal journey it’s helped me stay close to my values. I start each day with the intention of doing something my future self will thank me for. Being mindful of my day-to-day and reflecting in my weekly reviews has helped me see what I’ve done, what I’m doing, and what can be improved – all without being hard on myself and self-deprecating.
02 | Creative Outlet
While I’m not going all out on my spreads and making pop-ups (stunning) or extremely artsy designs, I love how I get to still be creative with my minimal approach. It is a wonderful little outlet of creative expression that I’ve fallen in love with. And because my work isn’t perfect, it’s taught me that progress over perfection wins every time! Through my work, I can look back and see how I was feeling and how I’ve grown from the person I was to the person I am.
03 | Focus
I’ve learned to focus on what is in my control. I found myself worrying about future events (especially now) and easily lose focus on the present. But if we take a moment and sit with our thoughts – nothing is as big or as stressful as we make it out to be.
04 | Meditative
Probably my favorite thing about the system is it feeling meditative. When I open my bullet journal to design or simply write a task I’m not stressed or overwhelmed by the experience but I get lost in doing so in a way that is calming.
Have you tried bullet journaling? You may use your journal for future journaling, a reading journal, etc. You can learn from others or do as you please. It’s a wonderful experience that has taught me being true to yourself is the biggest reward you can give yourself.
xx Zee xx