In the lead up to a new year, comes the excitement of finding a new annual planner. Some planners help to organize our lives perfectly, while others create more work for you. This is what makes Bullet Journals so wonderful. A bullet journal is easily customizable to suit your everyday needs. What’s more is that you can make them as decorative or as simple as you choose.
Every Bullet Journal fan uses their planner differently. Because you can fill your journal with sketches, print-outs, writing, table charts or whatever you like, the concept of Bullet Journaling appeals to both visual and non-visual types.
Typically, these types of journals have blank pages which make it easier for you to draw, write, plan and get creative. Not to mention, you have a book full of blank pages to style in a way that suits your own life. You might be wondering what is so appealing about a blank notebook? But once you’ve read these ten stylish and productive ways to use a Bullet Journal below, you will fully understand the appeal!
Creative Ways to Use a Bullet Journal
1. Goal Planning
Setting goals for the day, month or year is important. Here is how I’ve set out my goal page for April. You can keep the layout as simple or as fancy as you choose. Depending on what you respond best to, you may keep your goal list as a simple bullet point list or go to town! The point is that planning your goals is important. The beauty of this planner journal is that you can plan out your vision in your preferred format.
2. Financial Tracker
Do you keep track of your finances? Do you record your income? Do you write down your outgoings? Well, you should! The day you start tracking your money movements is the day you realize that your vague belief “earn a lot, spend a lot” isn’t a legitimate financial tracking method!
Getting to grips with your finances might sound scary, but you’ll be thankful in the future! And, what better way to keep track of scary stuff than with a pretty income tracker table like this gold one here?
3. Sketches
You know that feeling when you just want to draw something? That’s another great thing about plain-page journals. Plenty of space to draw and sketch! Not only is this perfect for the artistic individuals out there, but it’s also ideal for those with creative careers.
Fashion designers can sketch new ideas for designs. Chefs can draft new ideas for recipes. Architects can draw up their plans. You see? There are probably so many beautiful pieces of work out there that started as sketches in a Bullet Journal.
4. Mix Doodles with Written Notes
Until now, being the owner of a “planner” or worse, a “business planner” burdened you with the responsibility of maintaining a serious tone. Most people wouldn’t dream of doodling cute little icons into their business planner, but that’s what’s so fantastic about DIY journaling. Instead of writing out long, dull paragraphs of text, why not mix it up by incorporating a few icons instead?
You don’t have to be Picasso to doodle coffee icons. You could use your DIY coffee icon to symbolize a coffee date in your calendar or add it to your shopping list when you need to buy more.
5. Daily Outfit Planner
Got a whole closet full of clothes with nothing to wear? It’s impressive just how many cool outfits you can find when you experiment, mixing and matching different items. The problem with planning your outfit is that it’s easy to forget what you want to wear. When you get an excellent idea for an outfit combination why not jot it down in your daily planner?
To make it simpler for you to visualize how your outfits will look, combine simple sketches with basic notes. What an excellent way to stay incredibly organized and stylish each and every day! Also, if you plan your outfits in advance, you can vary your outfit ideas to suit all weather types – so you’re always prepared.
6. List of Books to Read
Whether on a Kindle device or a bookshelf, everybody has books that they’ve yet to read hiding away somewhere. Creating a list of books to read helps you to keep track of the books that you’ve bought but never read. Tick them off as you read your way through the books on your list. You can see here that I’ve drawn a stack of books alongside my to-read list to make a list appear more fun and attractive.
7. List of Movies to Watch
How many times have you planned a movie night but have no idea what movie to watch? When you get an idea for a new movie, TV series or documentary, add it to this list in your diary. Don’t forget to check off the ones you’ve watched as you go through the list. Of course, you can get as creative as you like or you can keep your list very plain and simple. Saying that however, this movie reel design does get you in the mood to watch a movie well before you press play, doesn’t it?!
8. Get Creative – Arrows
Spider diagrams, mind maps, table, and grids – they all often include arrows and indicator symbols. Because so many avid Bullet Journaling fans use a lot of arrows in their diaries, why not make them funkier? This spider map shows various types of arrow designs. These cool arrow drawings can then be included throughout your journal, like on your to-do lists, on diagrams, on mind maps, or when you only just want to doodle.
With easy DIY tricks like this one, there is no need to keep scribbling down the same, dull old bullet points or arrow symbols anymore. Stylish Bullet Journal hacks like this one will brighten up even the most mundane of to-do lists!
9. Wish List
Similar to a vision board, a wish list is a list of things you want in your life. In your diary, these things can be whatever you want. The idea is that anything listed on your wish list is something that you would like to possess at some point in the foreseeable future.
What’s most rewarding about writing a wish list, is seeing your dreams materialize and being able to check off items from your list once you’ve obtained them! Creating a checkable wish list will also really motivate you to work hard to achieve what you want from life!
10. Productivity in Pixels Daily Chart
Save the best for last! This little daily chart may just revolutionize the way you spend your days! While it’s all good and well-making plans and staying organized, you also need to be productive. You need to get on with the task at hand, and that means no procrastination.
The productivity in pixels chart is my personal creation. I wanted something simple but effective that would motivate me to stay focused and on track. You have to be very honest with yourself about how productive you have been at the end of each day.
For me, the main advantage of this chart really encourages me to stop procrastinating and get on with things. If not, I have to color in a “non-productive” square for that day. I chose the colors based on what I want to see in those squares. I like red, so I chose red for my “productive days” and brown for “not productive days” because I don’t really like the color, so I don’t want to see too much of it on the grid.
If you’re looking for a creative way to organize your life and be productive, these are 10 fantastic ideas to get you started. Tried and tested Bullet Journal ideas to help organize your life that really work. Just remember that you can customize these ideas to suit your own lifestyle and business needs. Have fun and see what you can come up with!
