The summer break before my senior year, I started a bullet journal. What's a bullet journal? Well, it's a little bit of everything: a planner, a sketchbook, a to-do list, a notebook, a diary, and beyond. I created my own custom planner to balance school work, projects, deadlines, internship applications. But it also served as my own personal diary, daily tracking systems for things like taking allergy medication, drinking a full bottle of water, calorie counts, and even Netflix shows to watch.
Creating a bullet journal was one of the best things I decided to do, even through the hours of effort I put into it, and it continues to stay with me, even after school. Here's why:
I use it as a personal planner
I've always been picky about my planners. There wasn't enough space, it didn't have any to-do lists, there's no outside room and whatever other reason. Bullet journals are so interesting because you pick how you design it. You want large and wide daily columns? Or small? In your favorite color? Boom, done. You pick the style to match your own lifestyle and this was perfect for me, having my daily to-dos with my schedule and notes in my favorite aqua blue marker all on one page to my liking made it much easier to continue keeping track of when things were due or when I had work or meetings. It's super organized in my own way, with a bunch of stickers as well.
I set up trackers
A huge help to me was the daily tracking systems I set up. A bunch of tiny boxes were I simply marked if I did a thing or not showed my daily habits. I was able to see how much I was actually sleeping a night, which days I had coffee, when I didn't drink soda, when I ate out, when I took my medications on time, exercised, and much much more. It helped me establish what habits I really needed to break and even helped me make some connections, like when I didn't sleep correlated with when I needed coffee or when I had headaches. I also set up a mood chart in which I colored in a feeling I felt that day, which also showed I was more depressed or exhausted on those days where I lacked sleep, or stressed on days where I had homework, or happy when I ate out with friends.
I set realistic goals and felt good when I completed them
Part of the whole planning thing is having my daily, weekly, and monthly goals. There's something about having your goals written down that is oh so satisfying. I'm able to mark more goals off than ever before by seeing them written down. Whether it was finishing reading a chapter of a book for one day, making a phone call for another, finishing my essay by the end of the week, or saving up $500 in my savings by the end of the month, I managed to put more effort into these things by seeing them written down, along with tracking my progress. They became much more realistic and doable than ever before, and I wanted to do such things just so I could cross it off and say "I did it!"
I use it as a dairy/sketchpad/notebook
If you want it to be, you can leave a few pages in between your calendars and to-do lists to simply scribble. As someone who always needs to write down ideas, always carrying my bullet journal with me not only allows me to know what's going on in my planner but scribble down a new idea for an Odyssey article or story or outgoing with friends. For more artistic people, it's a great way to turn a page and draw whatever is on your mind, and the same goes for those of us who still keep a dairy. Being able to write down our thoughts again and maybe even connect them with a mood tracker can help us improve ourselves and know what we keep thinking about and how it makes us feel. Anyway
I find it relaxing to create
I'm sure that when we were all kids, arts and crafts was our favorite thing to do. With all the busy chaos in our lives, sitting down to create the next month of my journal is pretty relaxing. Whether I'm listening to music and doodling or watching TV and filling my new calendar with stickers, its fun and relaxing to sit around and just be able to do this. I make my personal planner look pretty with washi tape, stickers, doodles, pictures, and more. Plus, I get a good look at what's up next.
I love how pretty it is
As to my individual taste, filled with flowery washi tape and unique stickers, it's just to my liking. And every once in a while when I really take the time, it looks pretty!
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In a time where projects were piling up, I had no idea what my habits were, and no idea what my routine was, bullet journaling saved the day by creating my own journal of trackers, calendars, lists, ideas, and much much more. Even though I'm out of school, it's still so relaxing to make and so great to use.