My Bullet Journal in 2023

I just filled out my first bullet journal in a few years! Let’s share some photos and talk about what went well and what I’ll change in the next one.

This was a Rymans A6 notebook, I think I got a pack of 3 for a pound. The small size was convenient for keeping out on a desk, as well as other reasons I’ve talked about already, but the uncoated paper was not great for fountain pens. It was nice to restart my bujo habit with something low-pressure and cheap though.

I don’t follow the official bullet journal method. At the front of the book I have a planner and at the back I do rapid logging. Each gets a paperclip for a bookmark.

Planner

This is usually a mixture of plans and notes on what happened each day. It’s a quick way to record details of my life, without keeping a full daily journal.

I like making my own layouts. it is nice that I can effortlessly switch between 1-3 days per page based on my needs. I don’t decorate them (they are an excuse to use lots of different coloured inks though).

I used this one in university when I had to plan meals and attend things on time. The vertical layout was inspired by Hobonichi Weeks (which I probably saw while watching one of Yoseka’s lovely planner tour videos).

I switched to page per day when travelling this summer because I wanted to record my memories in a bit more detail.

Nowadays my schedule is not packed, so my planner has become a simple daily to-do list.

Logging

Like most young people I struggle with procrastination and smartphone addiction. Logging helps by giving me an analogue outlet for my thoughts. Rather than microblogging, I microlog.

I usually write about my current task so I can sort out my thoughts and stay focused on it (“Need to write the timer logic next. I’ll start by looking up Javascript Date methods”), random thoughts (“OMG [song name] is so good”), and observations (“It’s way too cold in this library”).

Most importantly, I log whenever I catch myself procrastinating. This is a short easy task to do away from my phone and usually breaks me out of the procrastination. It also helps me spot the patterns of my own behaviour. I realised that I usually pick up my phone to escape when I am stuck on a problem. If I instead make a habit of logging my frustration, I’m more likely to calm down and try a different approach rather than going on my phone.

I don’t need to read the log afterwards so I cram in entries separated by bullet points. A change in colour usually represents that some time has passed, but I only do that because it’s fun to make the pages colourful.

At the moment, I only use the log when I’m sitting at a desk somewhere actively working on a project, but after writing about all the benefits I think maybe I should use it even more…

The next one

I picked a Pistachio Life A6 notebook that I had saved up. I’ve never used this paper before but I know it is fountain pen friendly. Exciting!

I reworked my bullet system a bit with a new symbol for non-actionable notes.

This is because I’ve decided to aim for more positivity in the next bujo. In addition to tasks that need to be completed, I will start to record more already-completed tasks and good things from the day. I already do this in my digital notes sometimes but I want to turn it into a habit and do it on paper.

There were many periods this year when I stopped using my bullet journal altogether. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I would prefer to be consistent so that more of my life gets recorded. Hopefully using it for positivity will encourage that.

Otherwise, I am happy with my system and looking forward to using it again in 2024!