I hope you enjoyed that video! Do you have trouble staying organized? *Share your (attempts) at a solution below :)* If you want some behind the scenes from this video, make sure to subscribe to our newsletter: www.answerinprogress.com/newsletter
I'm baffled that you don't post these pinned comments weeks in advance but actually make them once your video goes up. I've seen many other people on YT pre-write them and only make the video public afterward. Keep up the good work ! ( :
I use a Google Doc, I'm terrible at keeping routines so it's goal-keeping instead. I add them as I think of them, break them down, and then spend the time and energy to achieve what I need to I have many sections, like these: Collective - Like volunteer work, petitions, donations, etc. Love - From platonic relationships to family and my s/o Habits Fitness Money/Business - Cost of living & income assessments, plans for work Languages - ASL, Spanish, Hindi etc. has to do with scheduling time to learn and practice. For instance I take ASL on Sundays and I'm currently reading my first bilingual book. I like to visit my archived/achieved goals occasionally, it makes me feel all grown up
I used to really struggle with organisation (still do a little bit but not the constant overwhelm and need to get my life together I used to feel). Bullet journalling really helped in that I could build up to a routine without the guilt of missing months and I also experimented a ton with different layouts to find what worked for me. Now that I've found what mostly works though I'm transitioning out of using the bullet journal to purchasing the organisation items I now know work for me and this means I don't have to draw my spreads each month.
" How many planners do you own that are half empty" Well Sabrina, I like to think of my planners as half full. Even though I just filled out the first two pages and the rest is blank.
I think the reason bullet journaling fails for so many is because it was invented as a simple tool by someone with ADHD but was popularized as "here's my sucluent themed page of the month calligraphy, new washi tape, and gel pen colors for May!" Which really is great for a hobby and expressing your creativity, but it overshadows the practices that help and support those who need help and support. The actual organization/memory stuff comes from things like rewriting your to do's.
As someone with adhd.... how tf do people remember to write shit in these journals lol I get a day or two in forget for a month then at that point it feels useless to start again
As someone with adhd people who don’t have it need to stop using our stuff in general like this or adderall. It’s not for you to get ahead it’s for us to get even
@@Bradyboy26 You have to literally carry it on you and write it when you think of the thing. I have found no other reliable way that works for me I've tried voice memos but I just don't listen to them later 🤣 The other upside to having a pen and paper on you all the time is that it gives you an outlet for if you go and fight or flight mode you can literally just write all your thoughts really fast until you calm down. My problem, I often forget my notebook. The benefit of bullet journaling is that you can do it in anything though so if you don't have your notebook handy you can always grab a sheet of paper turn that into a bullet journal and then when you get home move everything over to your master journal.
I have a written routine for my morning that literally tells me what order to brush teeth, find clothes, etc. I use that to nudge me to check my journal. And there is absolutely a reason to continue after you stop journalling... Years later you can look back on the gaps and realise how far you've come.
@@banquetoftheleviathan1404 First of all, it was created BY someone with ADHD, it’s not that it’s exclusively FOR us. Second, comparative thinking isn’t healthy, and there’s no such thing as “ahead” or “even” if you really think about it. I would like to know how to use this method more effectively though, because even with ADHD I find it hard to stick with it.
"I need to be okay with making ugly things." NO seriously this is the reason why I've kept on bullet journaling even though I mess up and skip months and stuff. Being a perfectionist means that you feel like if you can't do something perfectly than it's not worth doing at all. Bullet journaling broke my perfectionist complex and has improved my mental health tremendously.
Im a perfectionist too and I feel overwhelmed by the void of a bullet journal where I have to organize everything myself so I prefer a digital calendar (because I have my phone everywhere) + notion (for college) + physical planner where I have a better view of events
To be honest, I understand that phrase in theory, but in practice I never really interiorized it. I wish I could though, I really need organization, even if it's imperfect.
I APPRECIATE THIS SO MUCH. Ive been keeping a bullet journal for four years now; its been a nonstop absolute disaster and it works SO WELL for me and my adhd. i use notebooks that cost $7 at michaels and those crappy bic ballpoint pens. Doing daily spreads never worked for me, so i have a spread that covers two weeks, no structure to it, just that my written out to do lists tend to fill up two full pages when i cram them all together and write small, so thats what ive stuck with. And then between those pages, its just a normal journal. Its honestly been so liberating to have my planner be a mess because its MY mess, it makes sense to me, and if a month comes along where i need a bit more structure, i can MAKE a bit more structure but then i can also decide that the structure is DUMB and return posthaste to chaos. So often i'll bring up that i keep a bullet journal and people will balk and say "oh i could never do that, its such a commitment" which like-- yeah if youre making every page look like the sistine freaking chapel, then yes it is a commitment, but if you just let it be a M E S S purposefully make it something you aren't afraid to muck up a bit, it becomes so much more approachable. It takes me maybe a minute to set up my two week page (fortnightly page?), and maybe two minutes to set up a monthly page. It does not have to be a commitment. But it can be SO helpful to have a place where i can just upend my brain, contain the disaster, and move on with my life. NORMALIZE REALISTIC BULLET JOURNALS. I AM SO HERE FOR THIS.
Yes! Yes! Yes! Ryder Carrol’s brilliant idea was swallowed by the beautiful and artsy journalists. They’re great to look at (I mean that genuinely: I enjoy scrolling through bujos on IG for the aesthetic), but doing them that way is definitely not for everyone.
Thank you for that. I know I work better with a written calendar I can physically write on to visualise my week but those I have always get a few weeks or months skipped here and there. And I always went with the idea of bullet journals being too much commitment for my adhd to handle until just now with this video and comments. But of course a journal custom made for my chaotic mind is the way to go, and it'd only be logical (and a sign that it works) that it turns out looking chaotic. Latest item in the list of "let's adapt stuff to how we are instead how trying to adapt how we are to stuff".
This is the best advice and what made journaling finally work for me (starting ~5 years ago). I stopped making "rules" for how I use my journal-- I told myself the only "rule" is "No Rules." "Make it pretty" or "use your best handwriting" are rules I threw out. Now, when it's messy, I'm happier with it! The other key to success for me was a purpose statement for my journal. For what to do and when to do it, I use a calendar, but I find ideas harder to capture and are easier to slip away. My journal's purpose is to help me keep track of thoughts and ideas-- ideas I want to develop and build on, things that inspire me, things I've learned, how inspiration and learning came to life, things I want to remember, things I want to pass on someday, and so on. But there's no rules, so I can include anything that's on my mind.
@@hedydoyful I so like what you said about capturing ideas. Ideas and dreams, for me, is the piece I am missing. I have a family calendar in the kitchen for home, vacations, and appointments. I even have a family journal to write about vacations and how the kids are doing in school. I was thinking I needed to combine all that in a Bujo,... now I think not. Thanks for your thoughts and letting ones Bujo be just as chaotic or simple as you want it to be!
I saw her do that and I was like, ok upfront you did not spend that much money but by taking the time to bind it, you made yourself a $30 journal when including labor costs 😆
The problem with bullet journals is that people get so wrapped up in doing such super arty and beautiful spreads. Sometimes I fall out of using it because I don't have the headspace to do it, but I can always go back and I'm learning how to adapt my bullet journal to cover these gaps.
Sameeeee. That's why I just use a section of my school notes notebook as a bullet journal instead of a separate fancy notebook and write whatever I have to do and what I think I should do a night before the day and simple graphs to track time spent reading, studying etc (the graph thing helps a lot when I'm not in the right headspace to journal) or sometimes get inspiration from Pinterest, it works for me. Also i read this on Pinterest that "Journaling should be about how it feels not how it looks"
The bullet journal was originally designed just to be a way to be efficient with your journaling. But people took it and added their creative spin to it (which is fine). The issue is that the public perception has become that you cannot do BuJo without the art. I've been BuJo-ing for a year now after years of failed, artsy attempts. What motivated me this time was seeing the original, non-artistic way of it. The creator of BuJo has a RUclips channel named "Bullet Journal" where he shares *actually* simple ways of bullet journaling.
One sidenote, people also stop googling bullet journaling less once they've figured out what works best for them. I'll google around when I set up my new journal in december/january each year and don't really the rest of the year. sure, I fail at the system all the time, but i have used it semi-consistently over the past 5 years.
Yeah, I was about to say that about the trend data too. People tend to need a new planner/calendar on a yearly basis. Unless they hated the one they bought there's no need keep looking after that.
I feel like a lot of the issue with getting into bullet journaling is that the only people who publish pictures of their bio have really nice fancy ones bc if yours is ugly it doesn't seem worth publishing and then people who are interested only see all of these super fancy elaborate pictures which is overwhelming to get into and then you feel inadequate if yours doesn't look as pretty as all of the ones online and it's this huge downward spiral
Agreed. I’m not particularly artistic or interested in expressing myself through drawing pictures. I just want to get my ideas and responsibilities out of my head. I’m a big fan of looking back at the Ryder Carrol bujo for inspiration because it’s basic and unartistic AF yet beautiful in its simplicity.
yeah it can be very overwhelming what you see online! but like Sabrina said, start out simple! simple layouts cut to the point and at the end of the day, that's what really matters. if it's effective and helps you out with your productivity, don't worry if it's not artistic or pretty. my spreads are very simple, yet have helped me a ton and are still visually pleasing. and of course you can make your bujo fancier as you get comfortable with the system!
I’m starting BuJo honestly BECAUSE of the artistic side of it. I used to draw and paint and whatnot when I was in elementary school - middle school but I stopped for years due to severe depression... so getting back into it will be therapeutic for me. Could be why others do the whole fancy Bujo thing as well. An artistic outlet
I do something similar to normal journals. I call it my “Sticker Book”; it’s where I give myself a sticker every time I’m sad, then document what happened to make me sad. I always do it because when I am sad I feel the need to get my feelings out. I would recommend it :)
I encourage you to make an additional journal and give yourself a sticker every time you notice yourself happy. Then phase that other planner out. Close it and lock it away somewhere and every time you feel sad journal what brought you out of that sadness. You will always move towards what you focus on. Give it a try
Skye Soleil I dunno, I think acknowledging your sadness and letting it out is healthy. Sad moments will always exist, and to try to “phase it out” is essentially denying it and forcing yourself to be positive or happy, and I really don’t think that’s good for you. If I were to have lost my outlet for sadness I’d have lost my mind or became numb. Other people might be different though
Something that will shift your perspective on filling stuff out: it’s not ugly it’s organic/one of a kind. Learn to love organic stuff that’s not perfect and you’ll have an easier time filling out your bullet journal. I thought myself this by looking at flowers and plants and obsessively reminding myself that they are not beautiful because they are perfect and the same. They are beautiful because each of them is exactly NOT that.
The easiest solution to the fear of having blank spots in the journal is: don't make daily pages ahead of time. Every morning I write the day of the week and month and start my day. The next morning I do the same right after where I left off the day before. Some day's entries are half a page, some a page and a half.
This comment gives me anxiety. It combined my deep fears with depressive thoughts. (Deep Fear: Skipping Days) (Depressing Thought: a daily reminder that I have no plans, aspersions or goals and I don't have time to be writing this down let alone time to make plans/goals)
@@demonheart13 My daily pages are more like logbook entries and very basic to do lists, mixed with random thoughts, quotes I may find, book titles I want to look up, etc. I have a very boring life with few goals or aspirations. 🥴 But it has come in handy for looking back to see when things happened, or when I did something, like placed an order, or made an appt. It’s just the daily mundane stuff that makes up a life. Nothing grand.
I saw this comment ages ago and thought I’d try it out. It works so much better for me this way! It looks nicer and I have saved so much paper too. Less waste is always a plus! Thank you for sharing
I’m hoping for a “part 2” once the month of Feb is up ☺️ I’d love to know how well it worked for you and what kind of modifications you bring to it (if any) 😯
FWIW I've begin testing Midori or "traveller's style" journals lately, where you slip small refill pages/signatures into a softish cover, held in place with elastic bands. I found you can use a sewing machine to go through at least ten pages of paper with no trouble, and that is plenty of sheets for me to use in a month, and it's easier than hand-binding. The theory is that you maybe have one signature just for calendar/daily journalling stuff, one for collections or special interests, and maybe one extra for reference or other long-term uses. You swap signatures out as they are used/filled up but the overall journal continues. I made my cover out of some scrappy patchwork fabric I sewed, and I used fusible interfacing to stick it to some scrapbook cardstock I had, and I added a snap closure which also gives me a place to keep a pen. And I didn't have elastic cord so I cut a t-shirt into 1" strips and stretched it to roll into cord, the way you do with masks, and sewed that onto the spine to be the holders for each signature. I like that the journal is handmade out of stuff I had lying around, it shows off my creativity, and like your idea any section is totally renewable every month or whenever I want a fresh start. I don't know whether this journal will be totally durable long-term, but it was fun to make and if it wears out I can make another in an afternoon just like I made this one.
Being willing to let go of having a "pretty" planner has been one of the biggest helps for my productivity. I started with monthly planners that I made too and I just recently switched to a rocketbook so now I just erase them when I'm finished and start over.
I'm writing my bullet journal for about four years already and yeah, the most important thing is to customize: 1. I buy the cheapest notebook that still has a nice paper. 2. I print out monthly calendar that I created for myself (with extra space for notes for each day) and stick it to one page, and write notes for that month on another page. 3. I lay out my plan month by month, also doing my budgeting at that time. 4. if I need to go to details: I have a separate notebook for that (you can also reverse the same notebook and start writing from the back cover) where I create daily to do lists. 5. if I didn't complete any particular task in that day (or month) it carries over to next one. 6. I don't over-stress: I do to do list only when I have lots to do, when I didn't do my monthly planning at day one I still have 30 more days to go, my handwriting is legible only to me, anything I complete gets crossed out so my journal is nothing like the cute images you can find on google search. 7. I write about only what interests me and not about what internet told me what would be cool to keep in bullet journal. And that's what works for me :)
I highly recommend looking into Traveler's Journals. It's basically *just* a leather binding with an elastic band and then they also sell paper to slide into it or you can just fold paper to fit. At the end of the month you can just slide the paper out and staple it together and then start with all fresh paper the next month!
I do something very similar! (except I made my travelers journal myself and all the paper is just random school graph paper) and it works great for me!! I've somehow managed to consistently use it for about half a year now!
Things that have worked for me: 1. Being okay about it looking like shit -The fact is, you're never going to like everything you create and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The trick is being okay with it and realizing that as you do it more, you're gonna get better at it. 2. Being okay not doing it everyday -I feel like every day doesn't need planning. There are days when you just have to do nothing. Putting too much work on your table all the time, I feel like, is what makes us fail. We have to realize that we can do everything all at once and there needs to be days in between for breaks. -I only ever plan on my bullet journal when I'm busy or when I have a lot of things to do or when I get so overwhelmed I don't know which to do first I do it everyday for however I feel like doing it but when it starts to feel chore-y, I stop doing it I do enjoy habit tracking though. I do this mostly on non-planning days. I just fill out my trackers which I find is satisfying.
I’ve been using a planner for a few years now, but mostly because I get extremely anxious that I’m forgetting something important. I need to write stuff down so I don’t just obsess over all the stuff I still have to do.
Same. One day I can figure out everything that needs to be done in proper order but next morning I wake up and it feels chaotic, I forget, focus is allover the place... Having a list helps a lot.
Is there an update on how this truly works? I too fell onto the same trap of, oh I need to start organizing my Ph.D life, let's use... Microsoft Todo! Notion! It worked for only a week or so, and then I ended up not using them anymore. Even gamification app like Habitica encouraged me for only a short time (well, it's longer when I hadn't started my Ph.D, but I lost its initial charm) before I eventually abandoned the app. Maybe I just like my life to be... chaotic?
@@hoshiro.exsharaen11 month old at this point: Did you figure it out on your own or found some info about it? I'm doing a Ph.D now and started a bullet journal with pretty good success if you want/need some help/tricks?
When I started bullet journaling I was doing mostly as a TO-DO list and it wasn't working until I started using it as more of a mood journal and it has helped my mental health a lot
when i first started bullet journalling, i had three goals in mind: 1. open your journal every day. you don't have to write anything in it, just open it and look at it. 2. your journal is not a job. don't spend time making things or drawing or whatever if it doesn't make you happy or improve your life. and 3. forgive yourself. i know i fell off journalling so many times because I'd miss a day or a week or a month and would punish myself for not being disciplined enough. that mindset was the biggest thing keeping me back - i didn't want to start journalling because I didn't want to fail. but journalling isn't a competition. it's a tool to help you live a better life, whether that be by organising or by reflecting or anything in between. i think by being kinder to ourselves and being reflective, as you said in this video, we can use journalling or other organisational tools to the fullest extent. we spend so much time trying to fit our lives into these rigid ideals of what the organised person should be doing, rather than responding to the needs of our life and asking ourselves what is it that we need. we're not organised because we beat ourselves up for not being organised, and are discouraged from taking the baby steps to build to a more organised life.
Sabrina: I'm not organized, so i'm going to procrastinate about not being organized by coordinating and organizing an elaborate video about researching about diaries and making my own organizing diary and filming and editing how i am going to be more organized now. Also Sabrina... in two months: I have done nothing. Read "Atomic Habits" and "Switch - Chip & Dan Heath"
I've just found this channel and watched two videos featuring you, the one where you read a book in five days and this one! your quote at 12:49 really spoke to me. "Sure, a simple dinner a week from now might just be dinner, but 10 years from now, it could be the anniversary of something bigger than you could have ever imagined. *Our lives are made up of little moments, thoughts, and - to-dos!"* your videos are great and i love all your commentary and personality!! keep it up!
I’ve been making my own “bullet journals” for 3? Years now, I’m on my fourth journal. What have I learned? 1. Be okay with imperfection and ugly handwriting 2. Let it change so that it is whatever I need it to be at the moment. I keep everything in my one journal: calendars, to do lists, journal entry, writing ideas- that way it’s all in one place. I feel like this video is a great start for struggling organizers!! You pretty much covered any advice I can think of. In the end, I’d you don’t like something about your journal and it’s not helpful to you? ~don’t do it~ good luck everyone!
I switched to bullet journaling after having a mini breakdown about how my planner was set up (it was genuinely terrible) and never looked back. It became this perfect mix of organizing my life the way I want, cost effectiveness (I'm about halfway through after about 2 years of using it), and being an artistic outlet. Even though I haven't used it much since I got my degree last year, the best part is that when I actually need to plan things in my life again I can go right back into it. Anyways, time to get back to the limbo of waiting to hear back from my graduate applications lmao
Hilariously enough I did the exact same thing like 3 years ago when I was first exploring bullet journaling. My style now involves thick paper and a lot of art, but my first attempts were in what I called "junk journals" that I made out of regular printer paper folded over and stitched together. It's really great for getting over all your mental hangups about "ruining" nice notebooks [which I definitely struggled with] so you can experiment & figure out what you like.
oh my god I LOVE the idea of monthly "side quests", definitely going to be incorporating that into mine in the future. I've been bullet journalling for three years now and what Iove about the system is that you can ALWAYS change it, add to it, and keep it working for you. This is the first time I bought a journal for more than $10 because I always assume I'll forget to fill it out, and now, 3 years into it, I'm finally willing to commit. I love looking at my old bullet journals, particularly the ones I used while travelling- it reminds me of the little memories and difficulties that fade easily.
I made my own planner for this school year. It helped me so damn much. I got to choose what I put into the yearly spread, the monthly spread and the weekly spreads. I got to put those in an order that made sense to me and I added the things I needed to know all the information about a task in one look. I'm honestly proud to say that I have used my planner much more than ever before and I want to use it because if I didn't I would've wasted a lot of time.
"I don't have a printer bc I'm not 50..." Oh man. I feel called out! That made me laugh so hard! That's a subscribe right there. Love your sense of humor and your practical approach to all of this.
Constantly lol. Irl too -- tons of my friends from uni really struggle with organizing their shit in the same ways that I do, but it also feels a little 💀 to suggest something that would come across like "hey I think you've got smth wrong with you" haha...
@@EtamirTheDemiDeer Jfieneowiw I love that post because I've done that to my irl friends. I was describing my thought process for something and halfway through my friend stopped me to email his doctor
I did that not absorbing reading thing until I got on medication. I didn't want to armchair diagnose but since someone else brought it up, yeah, I saw some of my symptoms.
Lol yes so many times, but it seems rude to suggest they may have ADD/ADHD. Although I’m pretty sure any neuro-typical person will not absorb a lot of info from a veerrry dry book.
This was a surprisingly relatable video! I've also always had trouble with journals because they felt too pretty or too complicated for me to use. I think the reason I always got so frustrated with normal journals is that I'm an artist and a perfectionist (a deadly combo lol). I always felt like my journals needed to be beautiful, creative, and artistic so I could show them off, but I also never felt like my journals were pretty enough. I kept starting and stopping journals so many times that I've basically created a barely used journal graveyard. This fall I tried filling out a tiny journal that was laying around my house (it was probably a stocking stuffer from a Christmas a while back that I just never used). The journal wasn't super pretty and it was really small, so I thought "hey why not?" and tried filling it out. Each day I split up my journal into two sections - journal (emotions and a summary of my day, this took up two of the tiny pages) and plan for tomorrow (a simple checklist of items I needed to do the next day or hoped to do the next day, this was one page). I started with my overall mood that day (one word), then I had a daily question (two lines, and finally, I had my overview of the day which was in bullet point format (this took up about the rest of the two pages). My plan for tomorrow pages were just that, a simple plan for the next day. I quickly became pretty addicted to this journal, because it was small and I didn't feel like I could really mess it up, it was simple and used the same format every day, and it worked as a diary and a daily planner but it didn't require me to look too far into my future so I could live in the moment. I've continued using the same journal format for about five small journals now and I can't imagine my nights without it! If anyone else is looking for a simple format for a journal that has absolutely no pressure to be creative, I'd recommend something like the format I use!
I used to only wear mens jeans when I was a teenager because I have an abnormal hip to thigh ration (apparently?) and am convinced part of my confidence comes from just being able to comfortably stick my hands in my pockets all these years. I am always amazed how useless pockets now are where I can somewhat fit into super stretchy jeans and am a big user of the back pocket for my phone etc. Extra hint: mens winter coats also have much more pockets inside and out for all your stuff to use!
9:24 "not gonna show my butt cause you guys are weird sometimes" laughed recognized the implications of a culture that hyper sexualizes and objectifies women cried
i’ve found combining planners with the sort of principles of bullet journaling to be the best for how my mind works. because i like the physical calendar with dates, but i’m also 100% fine using empty space for my own purposes. for example: if i’m not doing something over a stretch of days, i can use those calendar blocks for notes, $ saved, or groceries i need.
i've also switched to small pocket sized journals - it's low commitment and a fresh start every time you finish one! The Moleskine cahier has been my go-to, after trying out a few different brands. Looks almost exactly like the one you made yourself, but I get the blank pages one because i like to draw/doodle in them sometimes and lines or squares would bother me.
*makes “ugly” journal* Still better than anything I’ve ever made And would probably be more useful as well it’s so easy for me to give up on analog systems and my Notion is close to overwhelming my iPad
Since you want to try the no-frills version of bulletjournal (I'm trying it myself), I recommend the original video of how to use bulletjournal. Another great video is Matt Ragland's 2021 Beginner-Friendly Bullet Journal Setup. The best suggestion of all is to take ONE week at a time. Experiment ONE week at a time to find what works for you, THEN you can start filling layouts in advance. Also... when I decided to make my own journal I simply got graph paper, folded in half and "binded" it with an elastic (despite the fact I actually know how to professionally bookbind in 4 different sewing ways +variations because sketchbooks) lol So, I'm impressed you decided to saddle stitch for your first journal.
I think you've got a good idea here. I was the same way: I liked the idea of the bullet journal because the layout of a daily planner never sat well with me. Either too much space or too little. I mark the month in my journal, but I mostly use an online calendar too and just write in the days as they happen without pre-allocating space to them. Some days take two pages, others take two lines. If I want to draw or graph something, I'll fill a page that way. It's very liberating and the first time in my life I've completely filled a notebook. I use the Leuchtturm ones because I like the size, the pages that come already numbered, and the marking being little dots rather than lines or grids.I also enjoy videos of the really elaborate and pretty ones, but mine is just like 95% text. I've made peace with that. Good luck, I hope you'll find a form that works for you!
I started bullet journaling half way through 2020 and I’m still going strong! My top three biggest recommendations are: 1. Start simple! When I began I promised myself that I’d start with the basics (i.e. yearly, monthly, weekly and daily to do lists). That’s it! I then found that throughout the process of filling my journal out each day/ week I naturally started adding new components. For example I started tracking how many books I read each month and non-essential things I wanted to buy (which has been really handy for those times when someone asks you what you want for your birthday and you forget everything you’ve ever wanted). Starting simple is best because there’s less pressure and it reduces the guilt of not filling out unnecessary components which could lead you to giving up. 2. Use the rolling weekly system! There a videos on youtube explaining this system but it basically stops you from having to write out incomplete daily tasks again and again and again. I use it for when I have certain tasks that I need/ want to get done in a week but don’t have a specific day that it needs to be done on. So instead of moving it and rewriting it each day, as I continued to fail to do it, I would write it in my ‘weekly’ section and then cross it off whenever I got it done that week. That way you’re only writing it once at best, or weekly at worst if you don’t manage to get it done a specific week. (For context tasks which I need to complete on a specific day gets written into my daily section- tasks with no real ‘due’ date get written in my rolling weekly section) 3. My final piece of advice is just to mess it up as soon as you can. Make a mistake, get it over and done with, and just move on. Cause the more time you spend worrying about it being perfect the less useful it’s going to be. For example, things that I did to help myself move on was not allowing myself to use a ruler because I knew that if I started then I would never be able to not have perfectly straight lines and that just wasn’t practical! You just have to accept that it’s not going to be perfect all the time. Overall it is Imperative that you go into bullet journaling with the understanding that it is a tool, not a decoration. That’s not to say that it can’t look nice but it needs to be functional and effective before anything else! Good luck everyone!
Sabrina. You and I are both 22 year old filipino Canadian nerds and a day ago I decided to bullet journal again and a month ago I got BACK into bookbinding. How in the heLL-
I felt the same problem of not wanting to ruin a book, but my solution was to get a 6 ring binder. They make them for pocket size as well as for traditional Bullet Journals that use the A5 size and are often leather bound. Add in some bulk bought pre punched and cut Dot Paper, and it’s been a lot easier for me to journal not just because I have pages I can add and remove, but because if I want to, I can move around and make whole sections with ease.
This is really similar to the only "bullet journal" I've ever had. I didn't bind mine from scratch lol but I bought a small notebook that could fit in my pocket and tailored it to my needs (specifically I started the "notes" section on the back page so I could flip to it easily, why don't more journals do that?) with really bare-bones "art" (I literally just wrote the dates of each week in cursive lol). It was really useful for getting through one of the busiest years of my life! Hope yours is helpful too :)
I’ve kept journals for 30 years. Bullet journal has really helped. Nothing will ever have perfect order. But with a bullet journal I can get more done and projects get finished. I can track old meetings to verify items in a contract were or weren’t covered. I LOVE it!! It helps me create healthy habits and it helps me make and recognize progress.
I use a regular notebook for my daily life, events of what's coming and such. I love the space in cheep, basic notebooks, and the freedom to organize my day the way I want to. :) I use it every single day without fail. I'd probably go crazy without a notebook. Haha
I just started Bullet Journaling this year. I am late to the party, lol. But so far it's helping me! The goal has just been to use it to help me remember stuff, not to be a thing that has to look perfect or be setup perfectly. I just have to enjoy it. Going easy on myself is what makes me the most productive as it turns out.
This actually really encourages me to pick back up bullet journaling and it really brings me to an answer. i think i gave up on my last attempt because I actually couldn't figure out a way to understand my own life and the drive behind it. Doing bullet journal kinda force me into a format or something, that at the time, I did not have enough mental energy to figure out and hence I gave up. And if any of you are also like that in the comment session, it's always okay if you stopped, maybe you just need more time and place to figure out what your life actually is surrounded by and then find the format of journal that fit you
I have bullet journal for more than a year now and I have no problem with consistency, I made a ritual to fill it out every evening and it takes around 20 sec to do it. I learned a lot about my mood and sleep patterns and short notes I make every day help me remember what I was up to. The most important observation I made was that after a breakdown I will crawl back up in the graph, have a peak mood and then I would drop again. It's a cycle, it's amazing.
A thing i realized helped with my journal is to just. abolish systems. I open it to a random page, pen in the date, and start writing out my thoughts, or write the to-do list, or start planning for a meeting, or taking notes, or whatever it is that i need to do at that moment. It works really well for me, because it removes the pressure of journaling every day and have a "coherent timeline", and it lets me just spill out what i need, where i need, with no preparation and without being worried about "ruining a system". I probably won't work for everyone, but its made a huge difference for me.
The most efficient journal I’ve had ever was the one in which I only wrote in pen and pencil and cared little for the aesthetic (I was VERY busy) the cutest ones I’ve dropped in July at BEST
I used to put everything into one journal, daily thoughts, grocery lists, to-dos, then one day I was like digging through 5 old journals trying to find a song I wrote and it hit me..... different journals for everything. So now I carry around a stack of like 4 different journals, all for different things, and honestly.... I'm still a disorganized mess
I've had this problem since I was like 7. I've tried writing a diary, I tried notion, obsidian, bullet journaling. But every time I tried something I'd do it for maybe a week before I'd get overwhelmed by my own system or just forgetting. Recently tho my mum gave me a little book, it could fit in my pocket so I had it with me everywhere. And I just started writing in it. My plans, my feelings, funny quotes, ideas. Everything i thought twice about, I wrote in my little note book. It works amazingly. I don't forget it as I find myself looking back at earlier pages and I don't get overwhelmed by having to follow a system since I don't have one. My life also feels a lot more meaningful now. I love thinking about a future me reading this book, remembering things I otherwise would've forgotten.
I started journaling by hand, drawing things and going through the stages of the cycle to understand what worked for me. I ended up doing a simple pdf with my planner design and now I just print it in A6 (pocket size) every month and bookbind it. It has enough space to add stickers or draw on it for when I feel like it or there's months I left it simple b&w. It took sooo much time and honesty with myself to get to where I'm now.
I started bullet journalling abour 4-5 years ago. I just picked an old empty notebook I had and started with a yearly and montly layout. I eventually graduated to the dotted notebook we all love, but I still use only the yearly and montly layout because that is what works better for me. GL on your bujo adventure!!!! 🙂
I've been keeping a "bullet journal" since 2014. It started as an extra notebook for all my notes that didn't belong anywhere else, then turned into my book of todo-lists and now it is pretty much a daily planner-diary-creative output. I really like having a place to doodle during time of, having a clear list of things to do every day and it also helps me to structure my studies and worklife. I think that I've kept the habit up since it evolved quite naturally for me. If I had gone from no journaling to "buying into a concept 100%" that would never have been something that worked for me.
I was literally watching this video while binding my own crappy sketchbook so I don't have the pressure of ruining a fancy sketchbook, and that you did the same thing!
Since lockdown started I've had great success with a monthly routine tracker- literally just a squared page taped to my desk, with activities listed on one axis and days on the other. Since lockdown killed any kind of structure to the day, it's really helped motivate me to do the things to keep sane regularly, and barely takes 30 seconds each night to fill in! I've never been great at the journaling thing, but making something to fit my exact needs made it so easy.
I have been bullet journaling for about 3 years, and primarily use monthly modules, weekly modules--as a teacher, most of my To-Do's have end of week deadlines, and will assign spreads to various big projects (re-upholstering a couch, planting peach pits, organize vaccinations for my cats). I use it as a tool to hold me accountable, and as a place to decide on changes I want to make to my life and the steps I want to take to make them. To anyone who wants an affordable in without binding your own, many dollar stores have really nice notebooks for under $5 that have worked very well for me, and I can usually fit a whole year in them. Also, a tip for keeping going, is that it is ok to NOT have anything to put down. Being able to write over a week or two "Time got away from me" is perfectly acceptable. I have given up whole months toward the end of the school year because deadlines become so backed up. Also, Not every month, week, day, whatever have to be to the same artsy standard. If you don't have time for it, don't worry about it. These journals are meant to help you DO the things you need to, not be a burdensome project all their own. :)
I started Bullet Journaling in January, while moving, so it helped me focus and organize the event ahead. In April I took a break for the entire month (except for adding some new lists, but I didn't do the dialy spreads), and just allowing myself a full month break when I needed it made it easier for me to go back in May. What I like about the bullet journal is that I can take a break without "wasting" pages, or days. Compared to a traditional journal. And Depending on how your weeks are, you don't have to create the daily planner for the entire month in one go. I started with 3-4 days at the time (mostly due to my disabilities), and then continued exploring it from there. Looking forward to an update video on how you've kept up with it since February!
If you don't want to buy a notebook for journaling and don't want to make your own, consider using a draft notebook, for example a notebook you had in class and which has enough unused pages (or a phonebook you bought to create your own dictionnary but never used). I did it for about 18 months and it really gave me the space to try and explore
writing down tasks (even if I'm the one wanting to do them) becomes an imposition, so my brain is not going to function and will skip everything that is written on my journal, going towards forgetting about the journal itself. so I just write down appointments. at the end of the day/week I recall the things I've done and happened and resume them. that way I get a little sense of accomplishment without forcing myself to do the things I enjoy risking to make them a burden. I do what I do, when I feel like doing it in the fist place. it's all about being gentle and finding the best way to cope with life. we are all different and need comprehension and a lot more love, and the only ones knowing how to do all that is none other than ourselves.
I started a bujo in 2018. It served me well for lists and spare pages for ...more lists. the meditative time to setup each spread was wonderful. In 2020 that got too much so I went with a hobonichi weekes paired with a blank notebook. this closely mirrored my bujo system and freed me to be a little less critical on myself.
At my school the charge for using the public printers with 25 cents a page or 10 cents a page or something. You frequently saw people, including me, freaking out trying to print out a paper the day it was due. Having your own printer was considered very lucky
I am 100% on board with this idea! I've always felt intimidated by pretty journals too. When I started bullet journalling I was very successful for my first year of doing it, only because that was my "garbage" year. I bought a cheap, ugly, gridded composition book and because I didn't respect/fear it I just tried all kinds of bullshit. Sometimes I used pages for pure scribbling. I did really bad art when I felt like it. I ripped pages out sometimes, just for handing someone my phone number. I taped stuff in. I practiced many different layouts and trackers, getting the feel of how/whether I enjoyed each type. I journaled freestyle whenever I wanted, and backed down to bullet points when I had less time. I put stickers and washi tape everywhere. I used crayolas and cheap kids' markers. I dropped it in water more than once. And after all that, it was unbelievably gorgeous! Absolutely the most beautiful and successful and joyful journal I ever had. The next year I thought I knew what I was doing and bought a gorgeous dot-grid fancy "proper" journal, and for three years I have never able to use it consistently. I come back every few months and keep trying, but it never holds my attention (or intentions) for long. Maybe it has something to do with being comfortable writing on particular size paper. Maybe it's about the freedom to mess up. I ended up gluing pretty paper and other embellishments on the outside of my garbage notebook, and it honestly did look very pretty and rich and loved and interesting by the end of the year. It looked like a book with real history. I always felt brave with that book because I knew it was just for me, and didn't have to look good. So it looked good pretty much by accident! I guess that's the real me. "Accidently Pretty", even if not very well-planned.
Love this whole video it really captures so many of my thoughts about journaling/planners/etc. But also when Amanda came on I Out Loud gasped lol love this crossover event!!!
For me too, bullet journaling always was this huge commitment to make a pretty representation of my life opposed to what it's actually supposed to be: a planner. One and a half years ago, I bought one of those muji spiral bound dotted notebooks that have hundreds of pages and.. while I was kind of scared to mess it up initially, I pretty soon realized that whenever I don't like a page, I can just rip it out and start over. Also, as soon as I realized that I didn't have to follow any layout, it finally started to become a real tool of productivity. If I wasn't feeling like making a monthly layout, I didn't. Whenever I needed to plan a new project or make a study plan, I ignored the "flow" of the content and made one. Same goes for to do lists and quick notes for something: if it was needed, I slapped it onto a page. Having all your thoughts, lists and plans in one journal is a life and time saver. In the end I occasionally had whole months empty, some pages filled with random doodles from a boring seminar and some where I had like 10 pages of very messy-productive thesis planning. I used this journal for one and a half years, nearing the last few pages of it, and I've never been so proud looking at back at ugly writing and wobbly lines, because this the most accurate representation of what is me and my creative process. It's the first journal I finished. Tl;dr: A journal shouldn't be pretty, but serve the purpose, supporting you while you go through the mess of life that's consisting of trial and error. Why should your journal not reflect that?
another thing! sometimes the planning systems you use will need to evolve as you change! pre-COVID, sticky notes worked really well for me for planning out my days, but now--in an environment with ample distraction--i am only productive when i set time blocks where i work on certain projects and i need to jump from subject to subject in order to stay interested
@@dsalazarm There are different Hobonichi planners - all made with Tomoe River Paper. The Cousin (A5 size) has a monthly, vertical weekly, and a daily for every day of the year. The Original (A6 size) has a monthly and a daily only, no weekly. The A6 size also comes in an English Version. The Weeks is like a B6 slim (but extra slim) with the months, and then a horizontal weekly on the left page and a notes page on the right. The regular Weeks has about 74 notes pages in the back. The "Mega" has over 200 note pages in the back. Search YT and you'll find a PLETHORA of videos that show Plan With Me's with people using the various sizes.
@@dsalazarm Hobonichi is a brand of Japanese notebooks and journals. They have some plain ones, but their most famous product is the Techo and Techo Cousin which are these full planners with calendars, and monthly spreads, weekly spreads, and a page for each day. It gets extra funny because people deliberately buy this planner that's 35$++ to ignore its guidelines. It's a planner that has a weekly schedule page? And then people put washi tapes and stuff over it to use the planner other than the way it was designed. ((the pricing isn't all fluff, however. because the premium paper is the best quality especially for people who use fountain pens and it's unmatched in its ability to show off ink properties. But it really is incredibly ironic to pay so much money and then just naff the guidelines LOL))
I’ve been thinking about this video since I watched it yesterday (it got recommended again as I’m on my study only channel) and I realised one of the important points I heard in an online lecture about studying from home from my uni. It’s the concept of “good enough”. And that, combined with mindful thinking, not thinking about the past or future or filling out a massive journal, just today, or just this month, kind of summarises what you’re talking about!
Hi! Actually you have a detatchable blue thingy on your box cutter that you can slide off of it and remove the blades this way! It is MUCH safer and you do not need to ruin towels for it)
This is kind of what I did when I first started bullet journaling. I bought a bullet notebook from the dollar store and used RUclips for layouts. It gave me a chance to see if I really liked this method of planning or not. 3 years later and I love it.
I suggest reading Ryder Carroll's book on the Bullet Journal Method because he really explains why that system works for him. He developed it to be a catch-all book to keep up with an adhd mind. I recommend it to anyone who's bounced off bullet journaling because they're not good at the aesthetic part that gets featured on instagram and youtube. (Saying as someone who's been following Amanda Rach Lee for years. Her stuff is lovely and it's to the benefit of the system that she can do such pretty stuff with it and have it work the same as I can do a much more pared down version and have it work.) It's been super useful for me, also as someone with adhd. The past several years I bought a dot-grid notebook and used one book a year. This year I was going to do the same with a notebook I had kickstarted (with fountain pen friendly paper because I don't do pretty layouts but I use a pretty pen) still hasn't arrived thanks to the current unpleasantness. I ended up buying a page-a-day planner with the paper I wanted and I've been using the bullet journal notations within it. I combine that with a google calendar for work (because my boss needs access to my calendar to see I've got stuff scheduled) and using scheduled daily reminders on my phone for every day scheduled stuff like taking meds. I've also got a catch-all doodles notebook on my desk at all times. If I end up with any extraneous notes in there I will put the page number of the notes into my planner. It's not ideal, but I very rarely actually have to look back on brainstorming notes more than a few days after they're written.
Heck yeah! I started out making my own notebooks too, for the same reasons. A tool that's so fancy you are afraid to use it is basically a beautiful, worthless thing. My personal favorite is "field notes" style/size since it fits in my pocket. I also keep a daily journal for work so I can recall when I did a thing (it happens more often than you'd think); it's a 200 page word doc at this point.
“You know where this is going...” Yay! Bullet journaling! “So join me in my first attempt at book binding” Oh, I did not know where this was going. This is very “level 3 chef” of you Sabrina.
This was great! i’ve been bullet journaling for almost 5 years now! As a student (w/ ADHD) it’s the only thing that keeps me on top of my stuff, and i just make my spreads functional! I know what I can do to make it look presentable (sometimes cute?), but what matters most is that i’ll use it. There are no rules in my journal, i do what works and don’t care if it’s not perfect!
My friend uses hobo and I'm too scared to see the total price tag for her purchases... Even worse, the fact that you have to get two in a year... and probably, also those cover things AND the cover protector... Y'all have my respect.
@@NamikazeH you definitely don't *have* to buy more than one planner for the full year but you'd never know that from the hauls people post in the groups
@@AmandaDuncil jekhrtekljhrkjth yeah... It's just that from what my friend uses and what I see, they're pretty small sized and separated into half-years. It doesn't help that the friend who uses it also keeps like 3 planners to separate work/life/fandom... In one hand, I really respect everyone who could keep up with Hobo-- it's definitely a more rigid-looking system that I could never get into, hello ADHD. The planner itself looks gorgeous and I adore the way the paper looks, and those botanical art covers are just... full frontal attack... On the other hand, impressed at how much people would drop on these hauls.
When it comes to perfectionism in my skribble books there is one awesome trick I picked up somewhere: Always take the first page and make an absolute mess with it. Skribble it, draw random lines, break of your tip, take an edding, go wild. Make it so ugly nobody would even bother to read the rest of the book. Once the first page is messed up, I don't need to worry about your writing and notes not beeing perfect enough. If you still feel to perfectionistic after the first page, do some more. I once did this to a whole book. When the book looks like an old shoe that has been worn 10 years after it broke, you did great!
This video is good at explaining why people start and give up on bullet journalling. I like that she highlighted that journals are not one size fits all and it's ok to make mistakes in them. That's one of my barriers to making a journal. I was too hung up on not making mistakes so it would look pretty.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
I hope you enjoyed that video! Do you have trouble staying organized? *Share your (attempts) at a solution below :)*
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I'm baffled that you don't post these pinned comments weeks in advance but actually make them once your video goes up. I've seen many other people on YT pre-write them and only make the video public afterward. Keep up the good work ! ( :
I put my tasks in Google keep and color code them. this is especially helpful since I do everything on my computer anyways
I use a Google Doc, I'm terrible at keeping routines so it's goal-keeping instead. I add them as I think of them, break them down, and then spend the time and energy to achieve what I need to
I have many sections, like these:
Collective - Like volunteer work, petitions, donations, etc.
Love - From platonic relationships to family and my s/o
Habits
Fitness
Money/Business - Cost of living & income assessments, plans for work
Languages - ASL, Spanish, Hindi etc. has to do with scheduling time to learn and practice. For instance I take ASL on Sundays and I'm currently reading my first bilingual book.
I like to visit my archived/achieved goals occasionally, it makes me feel all grown up
Making a personalized journal as we speak, thank you!
I used to really struggle with organisation (still do a little bit but not the constant overwhelm and need to get my life together I used to feel). Bullet journalling really helped in that I could build up to a routine without the guilt of missing months and I also experimented a ton with different layouts to find what worked for me. Now that I've found what mostly works though I'm transitioning out of using the bullet journal to purchasing the organisation items I now know work for me and this means I don't have to draw my spreads each month.
"why do I own four whiteboards?" you were a math major sabrina
that actually does explain everything
Mathematicians use chalkboards and mock people who use whiteboard (according to my friends at the Perimeter Institute)
Speaking as a former computer science major, I have at least one whiteboard in every workspace I’m in 😅
As an engineering major, I have one in my living room 😂 and at work of course...
" How many planners do you own that are half empty"
Well Sabrina, I like to think of my planners as half full. Even though I just filled out the first two pages and the rest is blank.
YEHEHEHEHESSSS 😩😩
well here's an optimist
This deserves more likes!
same
THIS RIGHT HEREE🤩
'i need to be ok making ugly things' is such a powerful statement for a goof about bookbinding, nice one sabrina
Design feature, not bug. 😊
I think the reason bullet journaling fails for so many is because it was invented as a simple tool by someone with ADHD but was popularized as "here's my sucluent themed page of the month calligraphy, new washi tape, and gel pen colors for May!" Which really is great for a hobby and expressing your creativity, but it overshadows the practices that help and support those who need help and support. The actual organization/memory stuff comes from things like rewriting your to do's.
As someone with adhd.... how tf do people remember to write shit in these journals lol I get a day or two in forget for a month then at that point it feels useless to start again
As someone with adhd people who don’t have it need to stop using our stuff in general like this or adderall. It’s not for you to get ahead it’s for us to get even
@@Bradyboy26 You have to literally carry it on you and write it when you think of the thing. I have found no other reliable way that works for me I've tried voice memos but I just don't listen to them later 🤣
The other upside to having a pen and paper on you all the time is that it gives you an outlet for if you go and fight or flight mode you can literally just write all your thoughts really fast until you calm down.
My problem, I often forget my notebook. The benefit of bullet journaling is that you can do it in anything though so if you don't have your notebook handy you can always grab a sheet of paper turn that into a bullet journal and then when you get home move everything over to your master journal.
I have a written routine for my morning that literally tells me what order to brush teeth, find clothes, etc. I use that to nudge me to check my journal. And there is absolutely a reason to continue after you stop journalling... Years later you can look back on the gaps and realise how far you've come.
@@banquetoftheleviathan1404 First of all, it was created BY someone with ADHD, it’s not that it’s exclusively FOR us.
Second, comparative thinking isn’t healthy, and there’s no such thing as “ahead” or “even” if you really think about it.
I would like to know how to use this method more effectively though, because even with ADHD I find it hard to stick with it.
"I need to be okay with making ugly things."
NO seriously this is the reason why I've kept on bullet journaling even though I mess up and skip months and stuff. Being a perfectionist means that you feel like if you can't do something perfectly than it's not worth doing at all. Bullet journaling broke my perfectionist complex and has improved my mental health tremendously.
Yes. That’s great.
Im a perfectionist too and I feel overwhelmed by the void of a bullet journal where I have to organize everything myself so I prefer a digital calendar (because I have my phone everywhere) + notion (for college) + physical planner where I have a better view of events
To be honest, I understand that phrase in theory, but in practice I never really interiorized it. I wish I could though, I really need organization, even if it's imperfect.
Same! My journal is a place I don’t have to be perfect I
Everything worth doing is worth doing badly.
I APPRECIATE THIS SO MUCH. Ive been keeping a bullet journal for four years now; its been a nonstop absolute disaster and it works SO WELL for me and my adhd. i use notebooks that cost $7 at michaels and those crappy bic ballpoint pens. Doing daily spreads never worked for me, so i have a spread that covers two weeks, no structure to it, just that my written out to do lists tend to fill up two full pages when i cram them all together and write small, so thats what ive stuck with. And then between those pages, its just a normal journal. Its honestly been so liberating to have my planner be a mess because its MY mess, it makes sense to me, and if a month comes along where i need a bit more structure, i can MAKE a bit more structure but then i can also decide that the structure is DUMB and return posthaste to chaos.
So often i'll bring up that i keep a bullet journal and people will balk and say "oh i could never do that, its such a commitment" which like-- yeah if youre making every page look like the sistine freaking chapel, then yes it is a commitment, but if you just let it be a M E S S purposefully make it something you aren't afraid to muck up a bit, it becomes so much more approachable. It takes me maybe a minute to set up my two week page (fortnightly page?), and maybe two minutes to set up a monthly page. It does not have to be a commitment. But it can be SO helpful to have a place where i can just upend my brain, contain the disaster, and move on with my life.
NORMALIZE REALISTIC BULLET JOURNALS. I AM SO HERE FOR THIS.
When a comment is more helpful than the actual You Tube video itself. Thanks!
Yes! Yes! Yes! Ryder Carrol’s brilliant idea was swallowed by the beautiful and artsy journalists. They’re great to look at (I mean that genuinely: I enjoy scrolling through bujos on IG for the aesthetic), but doing them that way is definitely not for everyone.
Thank you for that. I know I work better with a written calendar I can physically write on to visualise my week but those I have always get a few weeks or months skipped here and there. And I always went with the idea of bullet journals being too much commitment for my adhd to handle until just now with this video and comments. But of course a journal custom made for my chaotic mind is the way to go, and it'd only be logical (and a sign that it works) that it turns out looking chaotic.
Latest item in the list of "let's adapt stuff to how we are instead how trying to adapt how we are to stuff".
This is the best advice and what made journaling finally work for me (starting ~5 years ago). I stopped making "rules" for how I use my journal-- I told myself the only "rule" is "No Rules." "Make it pretty" or "use your best handwriting" are rules I threw out. Now, when it's messy, I'm happier with it!
The other key to success for me was a purpose statement for my journal. For what to do and when to do it, I use a calendar, but I find ideas harder to capture and are easier to slip away. My journal's purpose is to help me keep track of thoughts and ideas-- ideas I want to develop and build on, things that inspire me, things I've learned, how inspiration and learning came to life, things I want to remember, things I want to pass on someday, and so on. But there's no rules, so I can include anything that's on my mind.
@@hedydoyful I so like what you said about capturing ideas. Ideas and dreams, for me, is the piece I am missing. I have a family calendar in the kitchen for home, vacations, and appointments. I even have a family journal to write about vacations and how the kids are doing in school. I was thinking I needed to combine all that in a Bujo,... now I think not. Thanks for your thoughts and letting ones Bujo be just as chaotic or simple as you want it to be!
"It's low commitment"
binds a fucking book
ALRIGHT.
dude me too 😂
I saw her do that and I was like, ok upfront you did not spend that much money but by taking the time to bind it, you made yourself a $30 journal when including labor costs 😆
"libraries are closed because of the panorama" LOL Sabrina is frikin hilarious
exactly my thoughts :'D
@@crazylele1 Especially since that $30 journal would be for a whole year and Sabrina's book only lasts a month
I'm calling all my small goals "side quests" now.
Did it work for you? (doesn't alw work for everyone, tried it but started getting tired of it because it was still stuff to do...)
"Why Women's Jeans Don't Have Pockets" would make a great essay idea.
Women’s pockets used to be so big!
there’s a great adam ruins everything on this subject you should check out!
@@crazylele1 the revolution that women's fashion really needs.
there is a whole podcast about it: articles of interest by avery trufleman, highly recommend
Isn’t it because they want to sell purses
The problem with bullet journals is that people get so wrapped up in doing such super arty and beautiful spreads. Sometimes I fall out of using it because I don't have the headspace to do it, but I can always go back and I'm learning how to adapt my bullet journal to cover these gaps.
Sameeeee. That's why I just use a section of my school notes notebook as a bullet journal instead of a separate fancy notebook and write whatever I have to do and what I think I should do a night before the day and simple graphs to track time spent reading, studying etc (the graph thing helps a lot when I'm not in the right headspace to journal) or sometimes get inspiration from Pinterest, it works for me. Also i read this on Pinterest that "Journaling should be about how it feels not how it looks"
I like the idea of using the bullet journal in a basic way and then filling the gaps with art later.
The bullet journal was originally designed just to be a way to be efficient with your journaling. But people took it and added their creative spin to it (which is fine). The issue is that the public perception has become that you cannot do BuJo without the art. I've been BuJo-ing for a year now after years of failed, artsy attempts. What motivated me this time was seeing the original, non-artistic way of it. The creator of BuJo has a RUclips channel named "Bullet Journal" where he shares *actually* simple ways of bullet journaling.
One sidenote, people also stop googling bullet journaling less once they've figured out what works best for them. I'll google around when I set up my new journal in december/january each year and don't really the rest of the year. sure, I fail at the system all the time, but i have used it semi-consistently over the past 5 years.
right, 2 weeks into using a bullet journal there is very few reasons to go googling for bullet journaling.
That is very helpful advice! I just started a bullet journal and tried to do it on my own but ended resorting to the internet to expand my ideas.
Yeah, I was about to say that about the trend data too. People tend to need a new planner/calendar on a yearly basis. Unless they hated the one they bought there's no need keep looking after that.
"look at failed attempts and see why they weren't working then fix it" is such simple advice but like... holy cow I needed it.
I feel like a lot of the issue with getting into bullet journaling is that the only people who publish pictures of their bio have really nice fancy ones bc if yours is ugly it doesn't seem worth publishing and then people who are interested only see all of these super fancy elaborate pictures which is overwhelming to get into and then you feel inadequate if yours doesn't look as pretty as all of the ones online and it's this huge downward spiral
Agreed. I’m not particularly artistic or interested in expressing myself through drawing pictures. I just want to get my ideas and responsibilities out of my head. I’m a big fan of looking back at the Ryder Carrol bujo for inspiration because it’s basic and unartistic AF yet beautiful in its simplicity.
yeah it can be very overwhelming what you see online! but like Sabrina said, start out simple! simple layouts cut to the point and at the end of the day, that's what really matters. if it's effective and helps you out with your productivity, don't worry if it's not artistic or pretty. my spreads are very simple, yet have helped me a ton and are still visually pleasing. and of course you can make your bujo fancier as you get comfortable with the system!
I’m starting BuJo honestly BECAUSE of the artistic side of it. I used to draw and paint and whatnot when I was in elementary school - middle school but I stopped for years due to severe depression... so getting back into it will be therapeutic for me. Could be why others do the whole fancy Bujo thing as well. An artistic outlet
I do something similar to normal journals. I call it my “Sticker Book”; it’s where I give myself a sticker every time I’m sad, then document what happened to make me sad. I always do it because when I am sad I feel the need to get my feelings out. I would recommend it :)
I encourage you to make an additional journal and give yourself a sticker every time you notice yourself happy. Then phase that other planner out. Close it and lock it away somewhere and every time you feel sad journal what brought you out of that sadness. You will always move towards what you focus on. Give it a try
I am using this-
As someone going through a depressive episode, this sounds great. Thank you for the idea!!
Skye Soleil I dunno, I think acknowledging your sadness and letting it out is healthy. Sad moments will always exist, and to try to “phase it out” is essentially denying it and forcing yourself to be positive or happy, and I really don’t think that’s good for you. If I were to have lost my outlet for sadness I’d have lost my mind or became numb. Other people might be different though
Omg that sounds so cute I want to make one
10:56
"I need to be okay with making ugly things."
I NEEDED THIS THANK YOU
Yeah. It kinda shocks me how intense I feel about that statement. I’m a darn perfectionist so this is Hard to accept.
"I can't find a perfect planner so I took up bookbinding" is pretty much peak ADHD. At least for meeeeee!
Yep
Been there done that. Now I love bookbinding.
Yeah, same here! I couldn't consistently create bullet journal spreads, so now I'm creating layouts and trying to sell them on etsy:)))
Saaame 😄
That was my same thought EXACTLY. 😂
"I need to be okay with making ugly things" I don't bullet journal anymore but that was the singular best lesson I learned from bullet journaling
I still do the bullet journal traditions, and I don't regret it.
I love that you bought supplies to make a journal from a dollar store where they almost always have journals that size for a dollar.
Something that will shift your perspective on filling stuff out: it’s not ugly it’s organic/one of a kind. Learn to love organic stuff that’s not perfect and you’ll have an easier time filling out your bullet journal. I thought myself this by looking at flowers and plants and obsessively reminding myself that they are not beautiful because they are perfect and the same. They are beautiful because each of them is exactly NOT that.
Taught**
Dear Freya, I need more caffeine
Basically the Japanese philosophy of wabi sabi :)
The easiest solution to the fear of having blank spots in the journal is: don't make daily pages ahead of time. Every morning I write the day of the week and month and start my day. The next morning I do the same right after where I left off the day before. Some day's entries are half a page, some a page and a half.
This comment gives me anxiety. It combined my deep fears with depressive thoughts.
(Deep Fear: Skipping Days)
(Depressing Thought: a daily reminder that I have no plans, aspersions or goals and I don't have time to be writing this down let alone time to make plans/goals)
@@demonheart13 My daily pages are more like logbook entries and very basic to do lists, mixed with random thoughts, quotes I may find, book titles I want to look up, etc. I have a very boring life with few goals or aspirations. 🥴 But it has come in handy for looking back to see when things happened, or when I did something, like placed an order, or made an appt. It’s just the daily mundane stuff that makes up a life. Nothing grand.
This is actually a really cool idea. Kind of like a written time capsule into what you've been up to, even if it was nothing much 😂
I saw this comment ages ago and thought I’d try it out. It works so much better for me this way! It looks nicer and I have saved so much paper too. Less waste is always a plus! Thank you for sharing
@@kawaiiflower112 You’re welcome! 😊
I’m hoping for a “part 2” once the month of Feb is up ☺️ I’d love to know how well it worked for you and what kind of modifications you bring to it (if any) 😯
That'd be great
++
yes! I would love that. And possibly even a six months/ one year update. That would be really interesting
ditto
+
FWIW I've begin testing Midori or "traveller's style" journals lately, where you slip small refill pages/signatures into a softish cover, held in place with elastic bands. I found you can use a sewing machine to go through at least ten pages of paper with no trouble, and that is plenty of sheets for me to use in a month, and it's easier than hand-binding. The theory is that you maybe have one signature just for calendar/daily journalling stuff, one for collections or special interests, and maybe one extra for reference or other long-term uses. You swap signatures out as they are used/filled up but the overall journal continues.
I made my cover out of some scrappy patchwork fabric I sewed, and I used fusible interfacing to stick it to some scrapbook cardstock I had, and I added a snap closure which also gives me a place to keep a pen. And I didn't have elastic cord so I cut a t-shirt into 1" strips and stretched it to roll into cord, the way you do with masks, and sewed that onto the spine to be the holders for each signature.
I like that the journal is handmade out of stuff I had lying around, it shows off my creativity, and like your idea any section is totally renewable every month or whenever I want a fresh start. I don't know whether this journal will be totally durable long-term, but it was fun to make and if it wears out I can make another in an afternoon just like I made this one.
Being willing to let go of having a "pretty" planner has been one of the biggest helps for my productivity.
I started with monthly planners that I made too and I just recently switched to a rocketbook so now I just erase them when I'm finished and start over.
I'm writing my bullet journal for about four years already and yeah, the most important thing is to customize:
1. I buy the cheapest notebook that still has a nice paper.
2. I print out monthly calendar that I created for myself (with extra space for notes for each day) and stick it to one page, and write notes for that month on another page.
3. I lay out my plan month by month, also doing my budgeting at that time.
4. if I need to go to details: I have a separate notebook for that (you can also reverse the same notebook and start writing from the back cover) where I create daily to do lists.
5. if I didn't complete any particular task in that day (or month) it carries over to next one.
6. I don't over-stress: I do to do list only when I have lots to do, when I didn't do my monthly planning at day one I still have 30 more days to go, my handwriting is legible only to me, anything I complete gets crossed out so my journal is nothing like the cute images you can find on google search.
7. I write about only what interests me and not about what internet told me what would be cool to keep in bullet journal.
And that's what works for me :)
I highly recommend looking into Traveler's Journals. It's basically *just* a leather binding with an elastic band and then they also sell paper to slide into it or you can just fold paper to fit. At the end of the month you can just slide the paper out and staple it together and then start with all fresh paper the next month!
I do something very similar! (except I made my travelers journal myself and all the paper is just random school graph paper) and it works great for me!! I've somehow managed to consistently use it for about half a year now!
Things that have worked for me:
1. Being okay about it looking like shit
-The fact is, you're never going to like everything you create and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The trick is being okay with it and realizing that as you do it more, you're gonna get better at it.
2. Being okay not doing it everyday
-I feel like every day doesn't need planning. There are days when you just have to do nothing. Putting too much work on your table all the time, I feel like, is what makes us fail. We have to realize that we can do everything all at once and there needs to be days in between for breaks.
-I only ever plan on my bullet journal when I'm busy or when I have a lot of things to do or when I get so overwhelmed I don't know which to do first
I do it everyday for however I feel like doing it but when it starts to feel chore-y, I stop doing it
I do enjoy habit tracking though. I do this mostly on non-planning days. I just fill out my trackers which I find is satisfying.
I’ve been using a planner for a few years now, but mostly because I get extremely anxious that I’m forgetting something important. I need to write stuff down so I don’t just obsess over all the stuff I still have to do.
Same!
Meee, I get so panicy when I don’t write everything down which tbh prolly isn’t good either
Same. One day I can figure out everything that needs to be done in proper order but next morning I wake up and it feels chaotic, I forget, focus is allover the place... Having a list helps a lot.
Is anyone else desperate for an update? Sabrina, did your bullet journal actually help you organize your life? Your adoring fans need to know!!!
Is there an update on how this truly works? I too fell onto the same trap of, oh I need to start organizing my Ph.D life, let's use... Microsoft Todo! Notion! It worked for only a week or so, and then I ended up not using them anymore. Even gamification app like Habitica encouraged me for only a short time (well, it's longer when I hadn't started my Ph.D, but I lost its initial charm) before I eventually abandoned the app. Maybe I just like my life to be... chaotic?
@@hoshiro.exsharaen11 month old at this point:
Did you figure it out on your own or found some info about it? I'm doing a Ph.D now and started a bullet journal with pretty good success if you want/need some help/tricks?
When I started bullet journaling I was doing mostly as a TO-DO list and it wasn't working until I started using it as more of a mood journal and it has helped my mental health a lot
when i first started bullet journalling, i had three goals in mind:
1. open your journal every day. you don't have to write anything in it, just open it and look at it.
2. your journal is not a job. don't spend time making things or drawing or whatever if it doesn't make you happy or improve your life. and
3. forgive yourself. i know i fell off journalling so many times because I'd miss a day or a week or a month and would punish myself for not being disciplined enough. that mindset was the biggest thing keeping me back - i didn't want to start journalling because I didn't want to fail. but journalling isn't a competition. it's a tool to help you live a better life, whether that be by organising or by reflecting or anything in between.
i think by being kinder to ourselves and being reflective, as you said in this video, we can use journalling or other organisational tools to the fullest extent. we spend so much time trying to fit our lives into these rigid ideals of what the organised person should be doing, rather than responding to the needs of our life and asking ourselves what is it that we need. we're not organised because we beat ourselves up for not being organised, and are discouraged from taking the baby steps to build to a more organised life.
Sabrina: I'm not organized, so i'm going to procrastinate about not being organized by coordinating and organizing an elaborate video about researching about diaries and making my own organizing diary and filming and editing how i am going to be more organized now.
Also Sabrina... in two months: I have done nothing.
Read "Atomic Habits" and "Switch - Chip & Dan Heath"
Lies and deceit
When procastination so strong you would rather research than doing it
I've just found this channel and watched two videos featuring you, the one where you read a book in five days and this one! your quote at 12:49 really spoke to me.
"Sure, a simple dinner a week from now might just be dinner, but 10 years from now, it could be the anniversary of something bigger than you could have ever imagined. *Our lives are made up of little moments, thoughts, and - to-dos!"*
your videos are great and i love all your commentary and personality!! keep it up!
I’ve been making my own “bullet journals” for 3? Years now, I’m on my fourth journal. What have I learned? 1. Be okay with imperfection and ugly handwriting 2. Let it change so that it is whatever I need it to be at the moment. I keep everything in my one journal: calendars, to do lists, journal entry, writing ideas- that way it’s all in one place. I feel like this video is a great start for struggling organizers!! You pretty much covered any advice I can think of. In the end, I’d you don’t like something about your journal and it’s not helpful to you? ~don’t do it~ good luck everyone!
Sabrina and Amanda ULTIMATE CROSSOVER why are we not all freaking out about this?????
I freaking LOST MY MIND when I saw it in my recommends, I don’t know how I missed the notification when I’m subbed to BOTH. PEOPLE.
I switched to bullet journaling after having a mini breakdown about how my planner was set up (it was genuinely terrible) and never looked back. It became this perfect mix of organizing my life the way I want, cost effectiveness (I'm about halfway through after about 2 years of using it), and being an artistic outlet. Even though I haven't used it much since I got my degree last year, the best part is that when I actually need to plan things in my life again I can go right back into it. Anyways, time to get back to the limbo of waiting to hear back from my graduate applications lmao
Hilariously enough I did the exact same thing like 3 years ago when I was first exploring bullet journaling. My style now involves thick paper and a lot of art, but my first attempts were in what I called "junk journals" that I made out of regular printer paper folded over and stitched together. It's really great for getting over all your mental hangups about "ruining" nice notebooks [which I definitely struggled with] so you can experiment & figure out what you like.
oh my god I LOVE the idea of monthly "side quests", definitely going to be incorporating that into mine in the future. I've been bullet journalling for three years now and what Iove about the system is that you can ALWAYS change it, add to it, and keep it working for you. This is the first time I bought a journal for more than $10 because I always assume I'll forget to fill it out, and now, 3 years into it, I'm finally willing to commit. I love looking at my old bullet journals, particularly the ones I used while travelling- it reminds me of the little memories and difficulties that fade easily.
I made my own planner for this school year. It helped me so damn much. I got to choose what I put into the yearly spread, the monthly spread and the weekly spreads. I got to put those in an order that made sense to me and I added the things I needed to know all the information about a task in one look. I'm honestly proud to say that I have used my planner much more than ever before and I want to use it because if I didn't I would've wasted a lot of time.
I love that you went into the history of journaling and why people did it in the first place. It makes it seem less trivial
"I don't have a printer bc I'm not 50..." Oh man. I feel called out! That made me laugh so hard! That's a subscribe right there. Love your sense of humor and your practical approach to all of this.
You ever watch something and you're like "they've probably got undiagnosed ADHD. Should someone tell them to get that checked out, or?"
Browsing adhd memes like ‘either you people need to stop being so relatable or I need to see a doctor’
Constantly lol. Irl too -- tons of my friends from uni really struggle with organizing their shit in the same ways that I do, but it also feels a little 💀 to suggest something that would come across like "hey I think you've got smth wrong with you" haha...
@@EtamirTheDemiDeer Jfieneowiw I love that post because I've done that to my irl friends. I was describing my thought process for something and halfway through my friend stopped me to email his doctor
I did that not absorbing reading thing until I got on medication. I didn't want to armchair diagnose but since someone else brought it up, yeah, I saw some of my symptoms.
Lol yes so many times, but it seems rude to suggest they may have ADD/ADHD. Although I’m pretty sure any neuro-typical person will not absorb a lot of info from a veerrry dry book.
"why women's clothing sizes are wack" would be a really good video ngl
This was a surprisingly relatable video! I've also always had trouble with journals because they felt too pretty or too complicated for me to use. I think the reason I always got so frustrated with normal journals is that I'm an artist and a perfectionist (a deadly combo lol). I always felt like my journals needed to be beautiful, creative, and artistic so I could show them off, but I also never felt like my journals were pretty enough. I kept starting and stopping journals so many times that I've basically created a barely used journal graveyard. This fall I tried filling out a tiny journal that was laying around my house (it was probably a stocking stuffer from a Christmas a while back that I just never used). The journal wasn't super pretty and it was really small, so I thought "hey why not?" and tried filling it out. Each day I split up my journal into two sections - journal (emotions and a summary of my day, this took up two of the tiny pages) and plan for tomorrow (a simple checklist of items I needed to do the next day or hoped to do the next day, this was one page). I started with my overall mood that day (one word), then I had a daily question (two lines, and finally, I had my overview of the day which was in bullet point format (this took up about the rest of the two pages). My plan for tomorrow pages were just that, a simple plan for the next day. I quickly became pretty addicted to this journal, because it was small and I didn't feel like I could really mess it up, it was simple and used the same format every day, and it worked as a diary and a daily planner but it didn't require me to look too far into my future so I could live in the moment. I've continued using the same journal format for about five small journals now and I can't imagine my nights without it! If anyone else is looking for a simple format for a journal that has absolutely no pressure to be creative, I'd recommend something like the format I use!
Next video: I bought man jeans for the pockets
ur brain? big.
Next video: I sew new pockets on jeans, it's exactly like book binding !
@@answerinprogress I wanna be in a video 🥺
I used to only wear mens jeans when I was a teenager because I have an abnormal hip to thigh ration (apparently?) and am convinced part of my confidence comes from just being able to comfortably stick my hands in my pockets all these years. I am always amazed how useless pockets now are where I can somewhat fit into super stretchy jeans and am a big user of the back pocket for my phone etc. Extra hint: mens winter coats also have much more pockets inside and out for all your stuff to use!
@@lightgivener That’s why I like wearing my hubby’s overcoat during winter since his coats have more pockets.
9:24 "not gonna show my butt cause you guys are weird sometimes"
laughed
recognized the implications of a culture that hyper sexualizes and objectifies women
cried
i’ve found combining planners with the sort of principles of bullet journaling to be the best for how my mind works. because i like the physical calendar with dates, but i’m also 100% fine using empty space for my own purposes. for example: if i’m not doing something over a stretch of days, i can use those calendar blocks for notes, $ saved, or groceries i need.
i've also switched to small pocket sized journals - it's low commitment and a fresh start every time you finish one! The Moleskine cahier has been my go-to, after trying out a few different brands. Looks almost exactly like the one you made yourself, but I get the blank pages one because i like to draw/doodle in them sometimes and lines or squares would bother me.
*makes “ugly” journal*
Still better than anything I’ve ever made
And would probably be more useful as well it’s so easy for me to give up on analog systems and my Notion is close to overwhelming my iPad
Since you want to try the no-frills version of bulletjournal (I'm trying it myself), I recommend the original video of how to use bulletjournal. Another great video is Matt Ragland's 2021 Beginner-Friendly Bullet Journal Setup. The best suggestion of all is to take ONE week at a time. Experiment ONE week at a time to find what works for you, THEN you can start filling layouts in advance. Also... when I decided to make my own journal I simply got graph paper, folded in half and "binded" it with an elastic (despite the fact I actually know how to professionally bookbind in 4 different sewing ways +variations because sketchbooks) lol So, I'm impressed you decided to saddle stitch for your first journal.
I think you've got a good idea here. I was the same way: I liked the idea of the bullet journal because the layout of a daily planner never sat well with me. Either too much space or too little. I mark the month in my journal, but I mostly use an online calendar too and just write in the days as they happen without pre-allocating space to them. Some days take two pages, others take two lines. If I want to draw or graph something, I'll fill a page that way. It's very liberating and the first time in my life I've completely filled a notebook. I use the Leuchtturm ones because I like the size, the pages that come already numbered, and the marking being little dots rather than lines or grids.I also enjoy videos of the really elaborate and pretty ones, but mine is just like 95% text. I've made peace with that. Good luck, I hope you'll find a form that works for you!
I started bullet journaling half way through 2020 and I’m still going strong! My top three biggest recommendations are:
1. Start simple! When I began I promised myself that I’d start with the basics (i.e. yearly, monthly, weekly and daily to do lists). That’s it! I then found that throughout the process of filling my journal out each day/ week I naturally started adding new components. For example I started tracking how many books I read each month and non-essential things I wanted to buy (which has been really handy for those times when someone asks you what you want for your birthday and you forget everything you’ve ever wanted). Starting simple is best because there’s less pressure and it reduces the guilt of not filling out unnecessary components which could lead you to giving up.
2. Use the rolling weekly system! There a videos on youtube explaining this system but it basically stops you from having to write out incomplete daily tasks again and again and again. I use it for when I have certain tasks that I need/ want to get done in a week but don’t have a specific day that it needs to be done on. So instead of moving it and rewriting it each day, as I continued to fail to do it, I would write it in my ‘weekly’ section and then cross it off whenever I got it done that week. That way you’re only writing it once at best, or weekly at worst if you don’t manage to get it done a specific week. (For context tasks which I need to complete on a specific day gets written into my daily section- tasks with no real ‘due’ date get written in my rolling weekly section)
3. My final piece of advice is just to mess it up as soon as you can. Make a mistake, get it over and done with, and just move on. Cause the more time you spend worrying about it being perfect the less useful it’s going to be. For example, things that I did to help myself move on was not allowing myself to use a ruler because I knew that if I started then I would never be able to not have perfectly straight lines and that just wasn’t practical! You just have to accept that it’s not going to be perfect all the time.
Overall it is Imperative that you go into bullet journaling with the understanding that it is a tool, not a decoration. That’s not to say that it can’t look nice but it needs to be functional and effective before anything else! Good luck everyone!
Sabrina. You and I are both 22 year old filipino Canadian nerds and a day ago I decided to bullet journal again and a month ago I got BACK into bookbinding. How in the heLL-
I felt the same problem of not wanting to ruin a book, but my solution was to get a 6 ring binder. They make them for pocket size as well as for traditional Bullet Journals that use the A5 size and are often leather bound. Add in some bulk bought pre punched and cut Dot Paper, and it’s been a lot easier for me to journal not just because I have pages I can add and remove, but because if I want to, I can move around and make whole sections with ease.
This is really similar to the only "bullet journal" I've ever had. I didn't bind mine from scratch lol but I bought a small notebook that could fit in my pocket and tailored it to my needs (specifically I started the "notes" section on the back page so I could flip to it easily, why don't more journals do that?) with really bare-bones "art" (I literally just wrote the dates of each week in cursive lol). It was really useful for getting through one of the busiest years of my life! Hope yours is helpful too :)
I’ve kept journals for 30 years. Bullet journal has really helped. Nothing will ever have perfect order. But with a bullet journal I can get more done and projects get finished. I can track old meetings to verify items in a contract were or weren’t covered. I LOVE it!! It helps me create healthy habits and it helps me make and recognize progress.
I use a regular notebook for my daily life, events of what's coming and such. I love the space in cheep, basic notebooks, and the freedom to organize my day the way I want to. :) I use it every single day without fail. I'd probably go crazy without a notebook. Haha
I just started Bullet Journaling this year. I am late to the party, lol. But so far it's helping me! The goal has just been to use it to help me remember stuff, not to be a thing that has to look perfect or be setup perfectly. I just have to enjoy it. Going easy on myself is what makes me the most productive as it turns out.
This actually really encourages me to pick back up bullet journaling and it really brings me to an answer. i think i gave up on my last attempt because I actually couldn't figure out a way to understand my own life and the drive behind it. Doing bullet journal kinda force me into a format or something, that at the time, I did not have enough mental energy to figure out and hence I gave up. And if any of you are also like that in the comment session, it's always okay if you stopped, maybe you just need more time and place to figure out what your life actually is surrounded by and then find the format of journal that fit you
I have bullet journal for more than a year now and I have no problem with consistency, I made a ritual to fill it out every evening and it takes around 20 sec to do it. I learned a lot about my mood and sleep patterns and short notes I make every day help me remember what I was up to. The most important observation I made was that after a breakdown I will crawl back up in the graph, have a peak mood and then I would drop again. It's a cycle, it's amazing.
I've made access databases to organize myself, in the end, gave up bcs I couldn't keep databases organized
Other things I've done include: planning to save time, wasting time to plan instead
A thing i realized helped with my journal is to just. abolish systems. I open it to a random page, pen in the date, and start writing out my thoughts, or write the to-do list, or start planning for a meeting, or taking notes, or whatever it is that i need to do at that moment. It works really well for me, because it removes the pressure of journaling every day and have a "coherent timeline", and it lets me just spill out what i need, where i need, with no preparation and without being worried about "ruining a system". I probably won't work for everyone, but its made a huge difference for me.
The most efficient journal I’ve had ever was the one in which I only wrote in pen and pencil and cared little for the aesthetic (I was VERY busy) the cutest ones I’ve dropped in July at BEST
I love this conclusion 12:49
I used to put everything into one journal, daily thoughts, grocery lists, to-dos, then one day I was like digging through 5 old journals trying to find a song I wrote and it hit me..... different journals for everything. So now I carry around a stack of like 4 different journals, all for different things, and honestly.... I'm still a disorganized mess
I've had this problem since I was like 7. I've tried writing a diary, I tried notion, obsidian, bullet journaling. But every time I tried something I'd do it for maybe a week before I'd get overwhelmed by my own system or just forgetting.
Recently tho my mum gave me a little book, it could fit in my pocket so I had it with me everywhere. And I just started writing in it. My plans, my feelings, funny quotes, ideas. Everything i thought twice about, I wrote in my little note book. It works amazingly.
I don't forget it as I find myself looking back at earlier pages and I don't get overwhelmed by having to follow a system since I don't have one.
My life also feels a lot more meaningful now. I love thinking about a future me reading this book, remembering things I otherwise would've forgotten.
"not gonna show my butt cause you guys are weird sometimes" LMAO only sometimes?? That's an understatement. Great vid
I started journaling by hand, drawing things and going through the stages of the cycle to understand what worked for me. I ended up doing a simple pdf with my planner design and now I just print it in A6 (pocket size) every month and bookbind it. It has enough space to add stickers or draw on it for when I feel like it or there's months I left it simple b&w.
It took sooo much time and honesty with myself to get to where I'm now.
You just read my mind! I'm in class right now wondering this very thing 😅
I started bullet journalling abour 4-5 years ago. I just picked an old empty notebook I had and started with a yearly and montly layout. I eventually graduated to the dotted notebook we all love, but I still use only the yearly and montly layout because that is what works better for me.
GL on your bujo adventure!!!! 🙂
Moral of the "Sabrina is creating notebook":
If you want something good, do it yourself.
I've been keeping a "bullet journal" since 2014. It started as an extra notebook for all my notes that didn't belong anywhere else, then turned into my book of todo-lists and now it is pretty much a daily planner-diary-creative output. I really like having a place to doodle during time of, having a clear list of things to do every day and it also helps me to structure my studies and worklife.
I think that I've kept the habit up since it evolved quite naturally for me. If I had gone from no journaling to "buying into a concept 100%" that would never have been something that worked for me.
I was literally watching this video while binding my own crappy sketchbook so I don't have the pressure of ruining a fancy sketchbook, and that you did the same thing!
Since lockdown started I've had great success with a monthly routine tracker- literally just a squared page taped to my desk, with activities listed on one axis and days on the other. Since lockdown killed any kind of structure to the day, it's really helped motivate me to do the things to keep sane regularly, and barely takes 30 seconds each night to fill in! I've never been great at the journaling thing, but making something to fit my exact needs made it so easy.
I dig the new collaborative direction your channel has taken.
I have been bullet journaling for about 3 years, and primarily use monthly modules, weekly modules--as a teacher, most of my To-Do's have end of week deadlines, and will assign spreads to various big projects (re-upholstering a couch, planting peach pits, organize vaccinations for my cats). I use it as a tool to hold me accountable, and as a place to decide on changes I want to make to my life and the steps I want to take to make them.
To anyone who wants an affordable in without binding your own, many dollar stores have really nice notebooks for under $5 that have worked very well for me, and I can usually fit a whole year in them. Also, a tip for keeping going, is that it is ok to NOT have anything to put down. Being able to write over a week or two "Time got away from me" is perfectly acceptable. I have given up whole months toward the end of the school year because deadlines become so backed up. Also, Not every month, week, day, whatever have to be to the same artsy standard. If you don't have time for it, don't worry about it. These journals are meant to help you DO the things you need to, not be a burdensome project all their own. :)
"I made this for February because Ive already given up on January"
same
I started Bullet Journaling in January, while moving, so it helped me focus and organize the event ahead. In April I took a break for the entire month (except for adding some new lists, but I didn't do the dialy spreads), and just allowing myself a full month break when I needed it made it easier for me to go back in May.
What I like about the bullet journal is that I can take a break without "wasting" pages, or days. Compared to a traditional journal. And Depending on how your weeks are, you don't have to create the daily planner for the entire month in one go. I started with 3-4 days at the time (mostly due to my disabilities), and then continued exploring it from there.
Looking forward to an update video on how you've kept up with it since February!
If you don't want to buy a notebook for journaling and don't want to make your own, consider using a draft notebook, for example a notebook you had in class and which has enough unused pages (or a phonebook you bought to create your own dictionnary but never used). I did it for about 18 months and it really gave me the space to try and explore
writing down tasks (even if I'm the one wanting to do them) becomes an imposition, so my brain is not going to function and will skip everything that is written on my journal, going towards forgetting about the journal itself. so I just write down appointments. at the end of the day/week I recall the things I've done and happened and resume them. that way I get a little sense of accomplishment without forcing myself to do the things I enjoy risking to make them a burden. I do what I do, when I feel like doing it in the fist place.
it's all about being gentle and finding the best way to cope with life. we are all different and need comprehension and a lot more love, and the only ones knowing how to do all that is none other than ourselves.
that’s the prettiest homemade journal I’ve ever seen in my life
I started a bujo in 2018. It served me well for lists and spare pages for ...more lists.
the meditative time to setup each spread was wonderful. In 2020 that got too much so I went with a hobonichi weekes paired with a blank notebook. this closely mirrored my bujo system and freed me to be a little less critical on myself.
I had a printer through all of college... but then again, multiple college friends called me "grandma"... so I guess that tracks.
??? HOW CAN PEOPLE LIVE WITHOUT A PRINTER?
Maybe I am a grandma
At my school the charge for using the public printers with 25 cents a page or 10 cents a page or something. You frequently saw people, including me, freaking out trying to print out a paper the day it was due. Having your own printer was considered very lucky
I am 100% on board with this idea! I've always felt intimidated by pretty journals too. When I started bullet journalling I was very successful for my first year of doing it, only because that was my "garbage" year. I bought a cheap, ugly, gridded composition book and because I didn't respect/fear it I just tried all kinds of bullshit. Sometimes I used pages for pure scribbling. I did really bad art when I felt like it. I ripped pages out sometimes, just for handing someone my phone number. I taped stuff in. I practiced many different layouts and trackers, getting the feel of how/whether I enjoyed each type. I journaled freestyle whenever I wanted, and backed down to bullet points when I had less time. I put stickers and washi tape everywhere. I used crayolas and cheap kids' markers. I dropped it in water more than once. And after all that, it was unbelievably gorgeous! Absolutely the most beautiful and successful and joyful journal I ever had.
The next year I thought I knew what I was doing and bought a gorgeous dot-grid fancy "proper" journal, and for three years I have never able to use it consistently. I come back every few months and keep trying, but it never holds my attention (or intentions) for long.
Maybe it has something to do with being comfortable writing on particular size paper. Maybe it's about the freedom to mess up. I ended up gluing pretty paper and other embellishments on the outside of my garbage notebook, and it honestly did look very pretty and rich and loved and interesting by the end of the year. It looked like a book with real history. I always felt brave with that book because I knew it was just for me, and didn't have to look good. So it looked good pretty much by accident! I guess that's the real me. "Accidently Pretty", even if not very well-planned.
Love this whole video it really captures so many of my thoughts about journaling/planners/etc. But also when Amanda came on I Out Loud gasped lol love this crossover event!!!
For me too, bullet journaling always was this huge commitment to make a pretty representation of my life opposed to what it's actually supposed to be: a planner.
One and a half years ago, I bought one of those muji spiral bound dotted notebooks that have hundreds of pages and.. while I was kind of scared to mess it up initially, I pretty soon realized that whenever I don't like a page, I can just rip it out and start over. Also, as soon as I realized that I didn't have to follow any layout, it finally started to become a real tool of productivity. If I wasn't feeling like making a monthly layout, I didn't. Whenever I needed to plan a new project or make a study plan, I ignored the "flow" of the content and made one. Same goes for to do lists and quick notes for something: if it was needed, I slapped it onto a page. Having all your thoughts, lists and plans in one journal is a life and time saver. In the end I occasionally had whole months empty, some pages filled with random doodles from a boring seminar and some where I had like 10 pages of very messy-productive thesis planning.
I used this journal for one and a half years, nearing the last few pages of it, and I've never been so proud looking at back at ugly writing and wobbly lines, because this the most accurate representation of what is me and my creative process. It's the first journal I finished.
Tl;dr: A journal shouldn't be pretty, but serve the purpose, supporting you while you go through the mess of life that's consisting of trial and error. Why should your journal not reflect that?
another thing! sometimes the planning systems you use will need to evolve as you change! pre-COVID, sticky notes worked really well for me for planning out my days, but now--in an environment with ample distraction--i am only productive when i set time blocks where i work on certain projects and i need to jump from subject to subject in order to stay interested
binding your own small monthly planner is SO incredibly in the spirit of bujo-ing. it may the most in-the-spirit-of-bujo-ing thing i've ever seen
"i don't want to buy a thirty dollar planner only to ingore the guidelines"
Hobonichi users left the chat
What’s that? I’ve finally seen it before by don’t know what it is
@@dsalazarm It’s an asian brand of bullet journals
@@dsalazarm There are different Hobonichi planners - all made with Tomoe River Paper. The Cousin (A5 size) has a monthly, vertical weekly, and a daily for every day of the year. The Original (A6 size) has a monthly and a daily only, no weekly. The A6 size also comes in an English Version. The Weeks is like a B6 slim (but extra slim) with the months, and then a horizontal weekly on the left page and a notes page on the right. The regular Weeks has about 74 notes pages in the back. The "Mega" has over 200 note pages in the back. Search YT and you'll find a PLETHORA of videos that show Plan With Me's with people using the various sizes.
@@dsalazarm Hobonichi is a brand of Japanese notebooks and journals. They have some plain ones, but their most famous product is the Techo and Techo Cousin which are these full planners with calendars, and monthly spreads, weekly spreads, and a page for each day.
It gets extra funny because people deliberately buy this planner that's 35$++ to ignore its guidelines. It's a planner that has a weekly schedule page? And then people put washi tapes and stuff over it to use the planner other than the way it was designed.
((the pricing isn't all fluff, however. because the premium paper is the best quality especially for people who use fountain pens and it's unmatched in its ability to show off ink properties. But it really is incredibly ironic to pay so much money and then just naff the guidelines LOL))
In my country, Hobonichi is a seriously expensive item to buy, costing roughly one month's rent alone...
I’ve been thinking about this video since I watched it yesterday (it got recommended again as I’m on my study only channel) and I realised one of the important points I heard in an online lecture about studying from home from my uni. It’s the concept of “good enough”. And that, combined with mindful thinking, not thinking about the past or future or filling out a massive journal, just today, or just this month, kind of summarises what you’re talking about!
Hi! Actually you have a detatchable blue thingy on your box cutter that you can slide off of it and remove the blades this way! It is MUCH safer and you do not need to ruin towels for it)
This is kind of what I did when I first started bullet journaling. I bought a bullet notebook from the dollar store and used RUclips for layouts. It gave me a chance to see if I really liked this method of planning or not. 3 years later and I love it.
I suggest reading Ryder Carroll's book on the Bullet Journal Method because he really explains why that system works for him. He developed it to be a catch-all book to keep up with an adhd mind. I recommend it to anyone who's bounced off bullet journaling because they're not good at the aesthetic part that gets featured on instagram and youtube. (Saying as someone who's been following Amanda Rach Lee for years. Her stuff is lovely and it's to the benefit of the system that she can do such pretty stuff with it and have it work the same as I can do a much more pared down version and have it work.)
It's been super useful for me, also as someone with adhd. The past several years I bought a dot-grid notebook and used one book a year. This year I was going to do the same with a notebook I had kickstarted (with fountain pen friendly paper because I don't do pretty layouts but I use a pretty pen) still hasn't arrived thanks to the current unpleasantness. I ended up buying a page-a-day planner with the paper I wanted and I've been using the bullet journal notations within it. I combine that with a google calendar for work (because my boss needs access to my calendar to see I've got stuff scheduled) and using scheduled daily reminders on my phone for every day scheduled stuff like taking meds. I've also got a catch-all doodles notebook on my desk at all times. If I end up with any extraneous notes in there I will put the page number of the notes into my planner. It's not ideal, but I very rarely actually have to look back on brainstorming notes more than a few days after they're written.
Heck yeah! I started out making my own notebooks too, for the same reasons. A tool that's so fancy you are afraid to use it is basically a beautiful, worthless thing. My personal favorite is "field notes" style/size since it fits in my pocket. I also keep a daily journal for work so I can recall when I did a thing (it happens more often than you'd think); it's a 200 page word doc at this point.
“You know where this is going...”
Yay! Bullet journaling!
“So join me in my first attempt at book binding”
Oh, I did not know where this was going.
This is very “level 3 chef” of you Sabrina.
This was great! i’ve been bullet journaling for almost 5 years now! As a student (w/ ADHD) it’s the only thing that keeps me on top of my stuff, and i just make my spreads functional! I know what I can do to make it look presentable (sometimes cute?), but what matters most is that i’ll use it. There are no rules in my journal, i do what works and don’t care if it’s not perfect!
"Expensive $30 planners"
*laugh cries in hobonichi products*
I wana google it but I am too scared......
My friend uses hobo and I'm too scared to see the total price tag for her purchases... Even worse, the fact that you have to get two in a year... and probably, also those cover things AND the cover protector...
Y'all have my respect.
@@NamikazeH you definitely don't *have* to buy more than one planner for the full year but you'd never know that from the hauls people post in the groups
@@AmandaDuncil jekhrtekljhrkjth yeah... It's just that from what my friend uses and what I see, they're pretty small sized and separated into half-years. It doesn't help that the friend who uses it also keeps like 3 planners to separate work/life/fandom... In one hand, I really respect everyone who could keep up with Hobo-- it's definitely a more rigid-looking system that I could never get into, hello ADHD. The planner itself looks gorgeous and I adore the way the paper looks, and those botanical art covers are just... full frontal attack... On the other hand, impressed at how much people would drop on these hauls.
Hahaha feel ya with A5 6 ring binder planner and inserts !
When it comes to perfectionism in my skribble books there is one awesome trick I picked up somewhere:
Always take the first page and make an absolute mess with it. Skribble it, draw random lines, break of your tip, take an edding, go wild. Make it so ugly nobody would even bother to read the rest of the book.
Once the first page is messed up, I don't need to worry about your writing and notes not beeing perfect enough.
If you still feel to perfectionistic after the first page, do some more. I once did this to a whole book.
When the book looks like an old shoe that has been worn 10 years after it broke, you did great!
"I need to be okay with making ugly things." Dude, all of us! Can that be a tshirt or poster or something? I need that daily reminder.
This video is good at explaining why people start and give up on bullet journalling. I like that she highlighted that journals are not one size fits all and it's ok to make mistakes in them. That's one of my barriers to making a journal. I was too hung up on not making mistakes so it would look pretty.