#littlestudyspot

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept of a bullet journal, it’s essentially a combination of a planner, to do list, journal, and whatever else you might need it to be. For more info, go to the website.

My bullet journal was inspired by littlestudyspot’s and watching her videos really helped me set mine up (I also really liked her borders and headings so I used them in mine).

I ordered the Moleskine large square notebook online. It’s a little pricey, but I wanted the grid to help keep things neat, and I’m very happy with the quality.

I’ve been using it for just over a week but here are my thoughts so far.

Pros:

I really like the idea of an index, it allows you to incorporate any sort of list or page you need as you need it. There’s no guesswork as to how to divide different aspects of the journal, you just take things as they come and put them in your index so nothing gets lost in the shuffle.

I also really like the idea of the future log and monthly task list. I haven’t used the future log much because it’s summer, but I think it’ll be nice for recording things I can’t forget but don’t need to focus on yet when school starts, especially due dates and big events. The monthly task list helps me stay on track with my main goals for the month. It’s helpful to look at it when I have some time and don’t know what to do.

My favorite thing about the bullet journal is its flexibility. Each day has as much or as little room as I need dedicated to it. Migrating allows for flexibility when I’m unable to complete all of the tasks I meant to. Because it’s part of the system, it doesn’t feel like a huge deal to move things around a little as needed. (I tend to migrate to the next day rather than the next month like the bulletjournal video shows).

I like that it can be small and lightweight. My last planner had 16 months in it, was larger than a notebook and too heavy so I never used it.

I like that I can partially fill boxes when I’ve started something and it feels like a reward when I’m able to fill the entire box.

So far it’s been very successful. It’s helping me get a better grasp on how much I can reasonably assign myself in a day, it’s helping me stay on top of my goals, and it’s given me a place to keep all the stuff I would normally go over again and again in my head.

Potential cons:

My biggest concern is the upkeep. I worry that when I get busy I won’t be able to/want to write down or check off every task. I worry I won’t want to update my to do list every day and I might not be organized enough to plan it in advance. I also feel like it's a system that could really benefit from some color coding, but I have never been successful in maintaining color codes in the past. I’ll keep y’all updated when I go back to school.