As I embarked on my journey of learning to bullet journal and become more productive, I learned a couple of lessons. At the point of writing this, I have been bullet journaling for a little over three years, so I hope you can gain from my experience.
1. Don’t overthink it
In the beginning, I would consider every spread very carefully. What if I don’t use this page and it’s stays blank? What if I didn’t give myself enough room? What if this spread doesn’t work for me and I have to do it over? Should I decorate this page, or leave it minimal?
All this thinking took up way too much time. Eventually, I learned to jump in right away! I let myself learn from experience, instead of trying to think everything through from the start.
2. You’ll never know what works until you try
In the beginning, I hesitated to take risks and try a planning method that was totally different than what I was used to. My first bullet journal pages looked very similar to the store-bought planner that I’d been using for years before that. Eventually, I branched out and tried some new layouts. Not all of them worked for me, but some clicked with my brain perfectly! The pages I use now are so much clearer and more helpful to me.
Once in a while, try a bullet journal spread that you don’t think is for you. It might surprise you. And if not, at least you know you tried.
3. Mistakes are part of the journey
I’ve had times where I tried to put something in the middle of the page and somehow totally missed the center. I’ve had misspellings and wobbly lines. Learn to laugh at these mistakes and turn the page.
If you want to learn how to smooth over a mistake in your bullet journal, check out this post here.
4. Start small
Trying to keep track of too many things all at once is going to be too overwhelming. Instead, choose one area to focus on and build from there.
5. Don’t buy all the art supplies and stationery
Just a few will do. You won’t know what you like to use until you get started. Let yourself get used to the system of bullet journaling before you get fancy with the stationery.
6. It’s not an instant fix
Like any new skill, learning to bullet journal is a process. It takes experimentation and tweaking over time to organize your tasks and streamline your productivity. It’s not so much about a goal that you reach, but a process that you grow through.
7. Don’t compare your productivity to other people
Do you ever hear about someone else’s schedule and get a shrinking feeling inside? Like somehow you are not quite doing things right if your own schedule is looser? Or maybe you’ve found yourself in the flip scenario: you hear about someone who works part time, and you feel strangely guilty because you know you need to spend more hours of the day being busy. Put those thoughts aside for a moment. If no one would ever know about your schedule and about what you are or aren’t busy with, what would it take for you to feel productive?
Everyone has a different amount of what they need to do to feel that they are accomplishing and on top of things. And that’s okay. Your bullet journal is just for you, and you can set it up in the way that is best for your needs.
I hope these tips will help you, whether you’re just starting out with bullet journaling, or you’ve been trying it for some time now! These tips are things I still need to remind myself of, especially number 7.