I use my bullet journal pretty much every day to help me stay on task and not get distracted or forget things. I started it in February of this year, inspired by the wonderful
Megan Rhiannon, and since then I feel so much more productive and in control of my own life. I've always been a list person but I used to do them on whiteboards, and having a tiny book in my pocket wherever I go works much better for me since I can refer to any of my lists at any time. It's convenient, merges together school and home planning, and acts as a log I can store the thoughts that distract me in. It's great.
I've taken a few pictures of the types of pages I do in my journal, and since it's pretty personal I've tried to cover up any information that could identify me or people I know - so sorry for the ugly black lines! I'm also sorry for the state of my nail varnish, oops.
My notebook is a pocket Moleskine, with squared paper. It's not the greatest quality and the supposedly brilliant customer complaints service refused to accept responsibility for the imperfections, but it does the job and I like how tiny it is. The sticker in the top right is a little shiny bee from Paperchase, they're no longer sold but they have
this design and I think they're adorable! I put them on loads of my belongings, including the arms of my lab goggles.
On the inside cover I've stuck some interesting images I've found on Pinterest and places like that. Megan has halloween as a special interest so I used that as a starting point, but I just ended up loving these pictures I've found. I also found a ton of weird, creepy Victorian photos that I need to find a place for, which I'm collating on a Pinterest board for now. The skeleton picture is honestly so cute, my sister thinks it's from an anti-discrimination advert and so that makes it even better!
My first page has the all-important key. I colour code the corners of my pages dependent on their content, and the colours on my calendar pages show whether an event is a holiday, school thing or birthday. I also have a key for my 'day by day' pages, which can seem a little cluttered and confusing otherwise. The calendar works in that I circle a date where something is happening (in the appropriate colour), then write about it below. If I want to know what's happening I just have to glance down the page for the date in that specific colour. I do three months at a time, since I never plan much further ahead than that. The crosses and scribbles at the bottom are a monthly habit tracker for whether or not I've done summary notes on that day's schoolwork - I usually do them at the weekends and then cross out the week. I've tried using a habit tracker for things like sleep too, but that never really worked. For me it's more of a tool to see what tasks (or days) I've got left to do.
My next page shows my school timetable and revision schedule. I like to alternate the subjects I do in my free periods, which is what the 'Bio, Ma, Bio, Chem, Chem, Ma' means. I then have a lot of pages of general lists, such as 'Books to Read', which I add to and cross out whenever a new item comes into my head. Any books with an 'R' marks something I want to re-read.
Here's another running list I've been keeping, of things to buy. I also do my school's involvement record in my planner, so that I have an accurate log of the extra-curricular stuff I've done.
The right hand side is the most frequent sort of page in my bullet journal. Every day I'll write the date, and underneath I'll put in tasks, notes or general thoughts. For example, 'SDD' is a note, as is 'PRD 8:10', signifying events or appointments. The arrow next to 'bio holiday packs' shows I've assigned that task to a later date. Tasks with numbers next to them have deadlines, and if I had a random thought I wanted to look up when I had time, I'd put a question mark next to it. Tasks can be added throughout the day or in advance, and they can be as simple as 'shower' or 'text ___' (because I do forget to do those kinds of things sometimes). The page on the left is what I'll do if I feel particularly swamped, a big review of what needs to be done in a couple of days so all information is in one place. I clearly never finished the mindmap - oops!
Some pages are a little more random, documenting useful information I might refer to at a later date. I've got opening times, exam timetables and even a business chart helping me to remember how to tackle large task lists when I'm stressed. I know my bullet journal can get pretty messy and ugly, so I do try and make it seem prettier with little souvenirs from things I do at school or home, but I often forget to stick nice photos in. After all, for me it's more of a functional thing than an aesthetic one.
The final page is a little pocket in which I'll store any letters or things I need to give to people. The photo is one Megan had in her journal, and ever since I saw it in one of her videos I really love it for some reason.
This is just how I organise my life with a bullet journal, it really helps me to not forget important tasks and get thoughts out of my head when they're distracting me from working. If any of this was interesting to you make sure to check out
Megan Rhiannon on YouTube, because she's way better at this than me, her journals are beautiful and functional and a brilliant place to start if you want bujo inspiration.
I hope this wasn't too boring! I've got a few post ideas at the moment, so I'd love it if you could vote in the poll on this page to let me know which sounds most interesting to read. Thanks!
