This month we’re talking about journaling! We’ll cover scheduling, tracking, gratitude journaling, habits, and supplies. That’s quite a bit! Let’s start with scheduling, the most common use of a bullet journal.
Deciding which type of scheduling works best for you depends on how busy your time is. For the most part, I personally use monthly since my goals are usually flexible but I know what I want to accomplish during the month. Sometimes I throw in a daily or a weekly page if a particular time frame is more hectic and I need the increased organization.
Daily
I think that this type of scheduling works best for busy folks who are juggling multiple priorities within a single day and need a locked-in schedule system. That could be work, kids, second jobs, aging parents, volunteer responsibilities, and so much more. My work days are not really conducive to a “hard schedule” but if you are able to schedule blocks of time for certain tasks, a daily schedule will help keep you on track. You can block off how much time one task will take, and then move on to the next one when the time is over.
Weekly
This is probably the best solution for many people. It’s the good “medium” level of scheduling and organization. This is the system I used prior to the pandemic in order to best keep track of everything. Some weeks were busier than others so there were some unused pages, but other weeks filled right up. It is one of the best things about bullet journaling – is that there is no one method set in stone!
Monthly
Lately, I have been leaning towards this one but that could change as the pandemic quarantine protocols are lessened. I am really hoping my activities pick pack up, such as my book club or outings with friends. If that ends up happening, I may switch back to weekly, but I do enjoy being able to see the month layout so that I know what days to squeeze in what activities.
All said and done, a hybrid might work best – for example, monthly pages followed by weekly pages. The only downside to a page-per-day system is that it ends up taking quite a bit of space in your journal of choice. If you are bullet journaling with dot-grid pages, you get to make your own system so you can always adapt it as you need to!