Day 393
I mentioned in my last entry that bullet journals are to be designed around the user in mind, and I had also mentioned that I wasn’t sure if I was going to use the journal as intended. And the reason why is because the journal is designed to be a habit builder and mindfulness journal.
Two things that I do not fucking consistently do.
Habits, (as I’ve said again and again) are difficult to build, and I say this despite the fact this blog is over a year old. So to make a journal that is designed to encourage habits (not just one, but several), sounds like a vast undertaking.
But first… I had to make sure I would open the damn journal.
Logically, the best way to ensure I would use anything is to not put it away. At the moment the journal is sitting on my desk beside me where I have easy access to it and can check it whenever I need to.
However, I can do one step better, and this is where blank bullet journals without built in templates thrive. The ability to design your own layouts according to your needs, while time consuming can ensure you’ll use your journal.
Since I already had accidentally created a habit of picking up a journal to do crafting it made sense to design this journal with the ability to decorate it when I wished, in mind. Most who are really deep into bullet journaling, normally decorate their pages as they set up their journals. Whereas, I planned the layouts, and only inked them.
And the design of the layouts are key. My monthly calendar, goal page, monthly habit trackers, etc… all have as much white space as I could dedicate to them and still be usable. This way I could decorate around those pieces Whenever I feel inclined to.
I also spread out my days of the week over the course of four pages. This means two days a page with Sunday having a page all on its own. This again was designed so I could decorate the page, whether I wrote something in it or not. I also built in decorating chances in my banner dates, making them with these slightly elaborate three boxes that overlap each other. So if I happened to have taken up that whole day with writing (and I don’t write small) then I can decorate those boxes
Finally, I simply reduced as much friction as I could to crafting. Most people who design their bullet journals choose a theme. My plan had always been, just whatever I felt decorating that day. However, choice paralysis is a thing, only made worse by my hoard of stuff. So I rearranged my crafting drawers. My middle bottom drawer (which is the most accessible drawer to me from where I sit) is filled with stickers and washi tape according to the “theme” I chose for September. Which, by the way, isn’t anything interesting. I had decided to lean into the Autumn theme. So I chucked everything forest, Autumn, red, brown and yellow themed I thought would work into that drawer.
This reduces the amount of choices I have to make. I can still choose something other than Autumn because all the stuff is in my crafting station, but if I can decide on what to do, I can fall back onto the theme I chose for the month.
Doing it this way is also very useful to limit the amount stationary purchases I make in the future. Often I can’t decide and then end up buying too much, but if I know the next month is coming and have decided on a theme. Then I can buy around that theme instead.
