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Journaling

Bullet Journals – Staying on Track

You love the idea behind bullet journaling. Maybe you’ve even created one for yourself, but now you’re wondering how you’ll stick with it. After all, you’ve started journals and planners in the past only find them discarded months or years later.

You want your bullet journal to be different and it can be—if you turn your journaling sessions into regular habits. A habit is a pattern of behavior. Some habits aren’t good for you, like smoking cigarettes or biting your nails. But some habits, like bullet journaling, can transform your life if you’re willing to lean into them! Here’s how to turn your journaling sessions into a positive habit…

Know Yourself

Marie isn’t a morning person. She wants to sleep in until the last possible second and it takes her a while to get going once she wakes up. When she first started bullet journaling, she tried to do it in the mornings. But she struggled with making the practice a habit.

Then she decided on a different approach. She started bullet journaling in the evenings when she had the most energy and felt her best. Once she made the switch, she looked forward to her journaling sessions and couldn’t wait to show up each evening.

Your new journaling habit should be fun and energizing. If it’s not, you may want to consider what you could do differently. Would you feel more excited if you did it in the afternoons or evenings? Would you enjoy it more if you used scented gel pens or a special notebook?

Have a Trigger

You may not realize this but every habit has a trigger. If you want to make a new habit, create a new trigger. For example, Beth wanted to become more consistent with her bullet journaling. She decided to brew a cup of hot tea in the mornings and enjoy it during her journaling session.

Now when she wakes up, the first thing she does is start her Keurig machine and grab her journal. The sound of the machine brewing and the smell of the tea help her wake up and remind her to focus on her journaling.

Set a Reminder

Even with a trigger in place, it can be easy to forget about a new habit. If you always reach for your phone or smart device in the mornings, add a reminder to pick up journal and get started. Time the reminder so you’ll see it as you’re waking up. This will keep you from neglecting your journal sessions.

Get Back on Track

Sometimes, it’s easy to get discouraged about your journal if you’ve been knocked out of your usual routine. When Sarah’s mom went into the hospital, she traveled to be with her and spent the next few days helping her mom recover. With the chaos, she didn’t think about her bullet journal.

Once her mom was doing better, Sarah’s friend encouraged her to “hit reset” and start again right where she was. You don’t have to wait for a magic number before you can start journaling again. Pick up where you left off regardless of how much time you’ve missed.

Treat bullet journaling as a habit like any other. If you do often enough, it will become part of your routine and that’s when you’ll begin to experience the exciting benefits that come from bullet journaling.

Keep Bullet Journaling Simple & Fun

Ariel loved the idea of bullet journaling but she was overwhelmed at the thought of getting started. When she joined a Facebook group for bullet journals, she posted about the overwhelm she felt and asked for advice. Here’s what some of the more experienced members shared…

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Pick One or Two Areas of Your Life

Bullet journaling can be appealing because it allows you to bring every area of your life into harmony. You don’t have to rely on your collection of sticky notes or complicated software to stay organized.

But that doesn’t mean that you should start filling your bullet journal with everything you’ve ever wanted to do. Instead, pick one or two areas of your life to feature in your bullet journal. For example, you may choose to focus on your health and home organization for now. Later, you might add sections for your content marketing, your knitting projects, and your child’s class schedules.

Organizing your life slowly, one section at a time, feels less overwhelming. It also helps you see what works best for you and applies those same techniques to other areas.

Set Goals that Are Easy to Track

Just because you have a bullet journal doesn’t mean that you need a list of complicated goals or that you should start 25 new habits. Instead, look at one or two positive habits you could easily track. For example, you don’t necessarily need to record every moment of your workouts in your journal. You could simply have a checkbox for each day that you exercised.

If you want to get really in-depth with your goals later, you can. But for now, focus on habits that are simple and easy to track. You’ll be more likely to use your bullet journal if you do this in the beginning.

Stay Positive

Many people frame their goals in a negative way. This can affect how you see the goal and how you view your bullet journal. That’s what happened to Lucy. She framed her goal as “stop smoking” but the goal was framed in a negative way and that made it harder for her to achieve.

Then Lucy decided to change the way she viewed her goal. She started focusing on “getting healthier” and she put a checkmark down each time she felt an urge to smoke a cigarette but refused the temptation. Looking at the positive made it easier for Lucy to overcome her cravings and seeing the checkmarks in her journal encouraged her to keep going.

Aim for Function

If you look on Pinterest or Instagram, you’ll find hundreds of bullet journal pages with elegant designs. These may be beautiful but when you’re a beginner, they can make it seem like you have to be fancy to bullet journal.

But when you’re first starting out, it’s smart to aim for a journal that’s functional. Your bullet journal should fit your lifestyle and help you achieve your goals. Once you’ve started using it regularly, you might want to spend more time designing it. But don’t feel like your first few attempts have to Pinterest-worthy. They can be messy and chaotic—remember you’re still learning and growing so give yourself room to play.

Don’t be afraid to give bullet journaling a try. Not only is it a fun hobby, it can help you transform your life in fun and exciting new ways!

Don’t Strive for Perfection

Don’t strive for perfection.  It’s a journal, you may make a mistake or have a marker blotch someplace.  In time you will find what works for you and your journal will reflect that.  Initially you may decide you don’t like a layout, or something you thought would be easy to create is much more complicated to draw.  It’s a fun and creative process.  Its ok if it isn’t perfect!

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Journaling

Photo Journaling Documenting Your Memories

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Photo Journaling documenting your memories

As a scrapbooking my journaling tends to include a lot of photos. I started to keep a journal specific to the Covid 19 Pandemic. I thought it would be a great way to document what was happening, after all this is an historic, unprecedented event. I had several of these blank travelers notebooks which are about 4.25”x8.25” on each page and decided it was the right size for my creation. Tiny photos? Yup I print the images I want as a 4×6” collage photo and cut them out. It’s very economical.

Below are images from my actual journal. I have just completed all of 2020 and ended up filling up 4 of these travelers’ notebooks. If you google travelers notebooks on Pinterest there are tons if idea. What did I include in mine?

Things like doing things like walking on the empty beaches of Cape Cod visiting my family. We had been quarantining on both sides.

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What books I read. I have several pages like this and include things like shows everyone was talking about and watching. I admit I did a lot of reading. Some of it was on audio as I walked. I was working from home full time and started using my normal commuting time to walk.

Another favorite journal find for me was full sheet sticker paper. I used it to print the book covers and also to print funny memes. I would print one full sheet which I made up in a word document and a few weeks of photos and do a couple weeks at a time from my calendar list of what happened when.

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I journaled the challenge of trying to home school kids while working from home. This was the ultimate challenge for working mom’s in 2020. My daughter was in high school so she handles most of that herself but had some challenging health issues which entailed 4 surgeries in 2020 so it wasn’t without its challenges. I admit Bake Shop was my favorite class and the lab on cinnamon buns tasted great.

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Trying to do fun things with friends during a pandemic – what was safe – what wasn’t safe – wearing masks. Cancelling a scrapbooking weekend which is something we had never done before. I missed going out to eat, just running to the store to go shopping because I needed something and people in general.

Washi tape, small sticker letters and die cuts if you are a paper crafter of any kid you probably have plenty. If you don’t have any these are easily found in most craft stores, or even the craft supply section of Walmart or target.

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Another thing I did was print out funny meme’s on sticker paper and add to the journal. I have several pages like these with full themes and others randomly placed. I am a Star Trek fan and there were plenty of those to choose from. Sadly not so much with Stargate SG-1.

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Really the sky is the limit. I have other pages that are more hand written notes and journaling. Starting with the day they closed schools and the last day I was in the office for over a year. I have sticker sheets with peel and stick words (used above).

I’d love to hear what you did to journal through the pandemic. Now that I have done this, I plan to continue with fun things I do with my friends and family going forward.

 

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Gratitude

How to Start a Gratitude Journal You Can Stick With

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Creating a journaling routine can seem challenging at first if you have never done it before. Essentially you have to carve out a few min every day to sit and journal. There are a few guidelines though that can make it easier to create a habit.

1) Pick a time that tends to be your quiet time of the day. If mornings are busy getting off to work and getting kids off to school, trying to add journaling in then will never work. Maybe you carve out a few quiet moments at lunch or before dinner. For me my quiet time is in the evening before bed. I like to read and have some quiet moments. This is the best time for me to do my gratitude journaling.

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2) Find a journal book style and pen you really like. There are lots of sizes to choose from. If you want to be able to take it on the go, get something small enough to fit in your purse. A bigger size will work if you plan to leave it at home. Think about how you like to write – do you like lines, unlined, artwork? It may take a few attempts to really figure out what you prefer.

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3) Make it a habit. It takes 21 days to create a habit. So make a commitment to yourself to spend 10-15 minutes a day on your journaling no matter what for the next month.

4) Be Flexible. If you try evening and you fall asleep instead of journaling, try a different time. Wish your journal had lines? Or artwork? You can draw in lines or add stickers to decorate it.

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5) Expect the Unexpected. It may take a few attempts to really feel like you can make journaling stick.

6) If you already journal and just want to add gratitude journaling you can create a separate journal or just incorporate daily gratitude into your existing progress.

It’s ok to make mistakes, to try and try again to find what works. There is no right or wrong way to journal. The ultimate key is finding what works for you. If you stop for a while (sometimes life happens) it’s OK to pick up where you left off.

 

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Journaling

Creating a Jar of Gratitude Prompts

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My personal goal it so spend a few minutes every evening with my gratitude journal. Like many people there are challenging days that make it difficult to get started on those days I use some simple prompts help me get started.

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To jump start my gratitude journaling I created a list of gratitude prompts. I keep mine in a small covered decorative box. When I am tired or feeling stressed looking at my list can help get me started.

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As a family project – or for yourself, you can create a jar or box of gratitude prompts by writing out something you are grateful for or thought provoking questions about what you should be grateful for. This can be done on plain or decorative paper.

Some ideas to write on your prompts:

1. Who in my family am I grateful for?

2. Which of my friends am I grateful for?

3. What one thing about my home am I grateful for?

4. What freedom do I take for granted?

5. What book has inspired me?

6. I appreciate the following things about my job or work

7. The thing I love most about where I live is. . .

8. I am grateful for access to healthy and delicious food.

9. I am grateful for a positive aspect of today’s weather.

10. I’m grateful for ____which has taught me ________

11. One simple pleasure I value is

12. One of my most worthwhile purchases has been

13. One of my greatest life lessons.

14. Name one skill I have that makes me special

15. One thing I appreciate about myself is.

16. A few things I appreciate about mornings/evenings

17. One disappointment that turned out to be a blessing was?

18. One person I know I can count on is?

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19. My favorite thing about coming home at the end of the day

20. One of the best things about being married/single/in a relationship

21. One piece of technology I am grateful for

22. One way I have bettered myself in the past month

23. One piece of advice or a quote that has stayed with me.

24. The best part of today was

25. Looking around me right now, I am grateful for

26. One thing I love about my daily schedule

27. One life hack I have picked up that makes my life easier

28. An everyday item that I depend on but rarely am grateful for

29. I wouldn’t be where I am today without this individuals help and support

30. How did I help someone today?

As a fun alternative write these on shaped paper. This would look especially nice in a clear glass or plastic jar.

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Place your jar or box some place you will have easy access to it. Sometime it will just help to see your jar other times pull out one or two slips of paper to get your creative juices flowing.

Don’t get frustrated with yourself if you miss a day, or a week, life happens. Simply pick up where you left off.

 

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