Hey Reader

One of my favourite things about my bullet journaling journey is knowing exactly when I started 😛

I remember being so excited about my first journal.

I'd nabbed an anthracite LT1917 and was eager to jump in with this "bullet journaling" thing I'd seen in aesthetic pictures on Tumblr.

I knew literally nothing about the method other than it was like a DIY diary/planner, but I was intrigued by this seemingly nice-looking way to organise everything.

Given I was finishing up my first year of teaching, feeling like a scatter-brained mess with no creative outlet, it seemed like a perfect fit.

Tentatively opening up to the first page, I decided to start with a goals layout. A simple summary of my goals shouldn't take me too long to set up, right?

Wrong 😝

I pencilled, erased, and re-pencilled the header at least six times, determined to get the lettering just right.

I did get it to a point where I was pretty pleased with it, but looking back now, I can confidently say that my lettering still needed practice 😅

While that was where I started, what have I learned in the 3056 days since then?

Let's have a look!

1. Pick your purpose first

When I first got started, I enthusiastically tried layouts I saw online, convinced they’d help with areas of my life I hadn’t even considered.

The problem here was that I didn’t actually need many of those layouts. If it was an area of life I hadn't even considered to be an issue, why would setting up a layout in my journal for it be necessary?

In the end, those layouts were the ones most commonly left unused.

While this can definitely feel like a waste of time and effort in the moment, looking back they taught me the importance of specifically deciding what you want to use your journal for and selecting layouts that help fulfill that purpose.

Mini action step: Consider the purpose you want your journal to serve. Before adding a new collection or layout, ask yourself: How does this layout help my journal fulfill its purpose?

2. Consistency isn't one-size-fits-all

A lot of the time when people talk about journaling consistently, this gets equated with journaling daily.

While I consider myself to be a consistent journaler (journalist?)here have definitely been periods in my 3056 days that I haven't touched my journal for a day or even a couple of days.

And that's actually fine 😝

While I do want to check in daily for my daily logs, there are some layouts I have which don’t require daily check-ins. For those ones it would be a bit unfair to consider "daily use" to be the requirement.

For a lot of my collections that don't need a daily check-in, I separate those into different journals, leaving the things I do want to check in with daily in my "everyday journal".

The name of that journal certainly helps solidify the frequency I want to check in with it, but even then, somedays it goes untouched.

But I'm still a consistent bullet journaler. We don't need perfection here 😛

Mini action step: Give yourself grace if you don’t use your journal every day. If daily journaling is your goal, ask yourself: How can I simplify my journal to make checking in easier?

3. Your "essential" layouts can change

We change. Life changes. Our journals should too.

Going along with our first lesson regarding our journals' purpose, when the things you need to use your journal for change, it makes sense that the things you put in there should too.

While the layouts we're currently using might feel essential right now, that might not be the case in a few months or years. But that's okay.

It can be a bit painful to let go of layouts that have previously worked well for us, but if they aren't suitable for our current season this just means we have an opportunity to find and try something that can work better.

My most recent example has been with daily logging. When I first started journaling, and for many years after, I couldn't see myself not using weekly logs.

How will I record tasks that need to be done later in the week if I don't have a set aside space for them?

Since 2016 though, a lot has changed. In my current season, daily logs are working way better for me than weekly logs would (but that doesn't mean I don't experiment with them from time to time 😉)

Mini action step: Regularly review your layouts to check if they are still working for you. Ask yourself: Is this the best way to organise this information? Do I still need this layout at all?

4. An "ugly" layout is an unused layout

If I don't like the way my journal looks, I won't use it 😝

While that might be a little superficial of me, it's a lesson I've had to learn a few times.

Anytime I set up a layout and thing "that's good enough", while knowing full and well that I didn't really like the way it looked, that layout gets neglected.

I think I just end up sub-consciously avoiding the page so I don't have to look at it 😅

Knowing this about myself though, I make sure to pre-plan my layout structures and decorations to make them visually appealing to me.

My journal only works if I actually use it. If I'm not going to because it looks bleh, it makes sense to put in the effort to make it not bleh.

Mini action step: Even if it's not about aesthetics, identify what small, controllable factors discourage you from using your journal. How can you eliminate or minimise those barriers?

5. Your system > someone else’s rules

There's a group of people out there that I like to call “bujo gatekeepers”.

These individuals like to pop their heads up from time to time, especially on media showing artistic or creative bullet journals, with a sole mission of telling others that they're "doing it wrong".

They like to insist that bullet journaling must follow Ryder Carroll’s original method to the letter. Ryder doesn't decorate his layouts, so decoration must not be part of it, right?

It's a shame they obviously missed the line in The Bullet Journal Method book that says:

I feel like what the gatekeepers are trying (and possibly failing) to encourage is the intentionality behind bullet journaling, but I've found a different lesson from engaging with them.

The best journal is the one that works for me. If that includes pretty stickers and tapes, more power to me 💪

Mini action step: Easier said than done, but aim to ignore opinions that journaling has to be a certain way to be effective. Your system has to serve you, and it doesn't have to look like someone else's.

6. Small steps, big progress

Despite spending ages on that first lettering piece in my LT1917, it left a bit to be desired 😝

I actually love looking back at it though, mainly as a tangible way to see how much my handwriting and lettering have improved.

Even though I've been saying "I need to practice my lettering" pretty consistently since I started journaling, I've never actually made the time to actively practice 😅

But even without the intentional practice, I can still get genuine improvement in my letterforms, spacing, and the finished product.

Just from writing daily, that consistency has brought improvement.

Could this have been super-charged by a bit more intentionality?

Sure. But I think it's great to see that just the act of doing something so often over a long period of time can bring a decent level of growth.

Mini action step: Taking this one beyond journaling, consider what small thing you could do daily to build up a skill that will make a big difference in the long run. What little habit can compound into big progress?

While these are just some of my learnings, I'd love to hear about yours!

How long have you been journaling, and what have you learned from it? Hit reply and let me know!

Until next time 😊

- Jess

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