When you want to get into bullet journaling, you might feel a bit overwhelmed with the great designs you're seeing out there. However, these great designs actually begin with similar concepts and frameworks. These concepts might not be the same across all bullet journals, but these are pointers you can use if you want to start your own journal - be it for the entire year, for your work tasks, or as a place to store your ideas.
Think About Your Journaling Purpose First
A lot of people pursue bullet journaling to help organize their day-to-day activities, but this isn't the case for everyone. Before you purchase your bullet journal and your materials, consider your journaling purpose first. What's the point of your bullet journal? Do you want to make a way to organize your schedule? Do you want a repository for your ideas? These might be able to help you zero in on the basic "template" you should use. A purpose helps you to identify whether you need more bullet points or checklists, or if you need to pay close attention to certain parts of the journal as you work on it.
Identify Items That You're Going To Write In Your Journal
Aside from your journal's purpose, it helps to identify what "items" you're going to write for your journal. For instance, if you're creating a moving journal for a house move, you need to check what kinds of stuff you're going to write there. Do you want to write what moving companies you're going to hire? Do you want to place your inventory somewhere there? You need to take these into consideration so you know how you can modify your journaling style.
Decide On A Concept You Can Consistently Follow
When you have a purpose for your journal, you can now proceed with a "concept" or theme of sorts. This doesn't necessarily mean you should go with complex themes and concepts. Still, you can at least proceed with a color palette or an overarching theme for your journal. This might be similar to if you need to find piano movers. If you want specialized movers for your musical instruments, you should probably think of a specific topic of sorts that you want to follow. Deciding on a concept after identifying the purpose of the journal allows you to come up with unique ideas you can use. For instance, a cooking theme for a travel journal can inspire you to pay closer attention to food than simply travel in itself.
Mix And Match Materials Based On Your Tastes
Don't hesitate to spice up your designs by incorporating different materials and add-ons like stickers, post-its, and other forms of decorations. These add a lot of life to your bullet journal and can make it quite unique compared to different designs. This also helps you break away from the "minimalist" bullet journal concept. Consider mixing both stationery decorations like stickers and post-its with cutouts, dried leaves, and other flat decorations.
Test Out Your Ideas With A Few Samples
If you've already formed some ideas in your head, you can test their "potential" by actually trying to make some samples yourself. Don't hesitate to offer a few pages of your existing journal - or even just scratch paper - to mix and match your current layout concept and come up with a sample draft. If it's something you think you can work with, especially if it's a journal for the whole year, then you may be able to stick with that journal concept.
Bullet Journal Basics: Follow Your Tastes Efficiently
In bullet journaling, it's important to remember that the best bullet journals are those that let the world see exactly what their thoughts are in a clear, creative, and concise manner. Bullet journaling is an extremely personal process, which means there's really no "right" or "wrong" way to do it. However, you might want to make sure the bullet journals you create do follow their intended purpose in the most efficient way possible. This way, you'll be able to focus more on letting your creative juices flow while organizing your thoughts.
Meet the Author
Rhenn is a writer for Roadway Moving with a knack for science and technology, health and medicine, travel and home improvement, and all things pop culture. He strives to make sure his stories aren't just informative, but creative and fun to read - as such, he applies his learning as a Journalism degree holder with his fondness for writing fun pieces.
