Art Journal Every Day: Bullet Journaling - Part 2

If you're new to Art Journal Every Day, there is a short introduction here.  All of the previous posts can be found archived here.  Remember, it's just ten minutes of nourishing your creative self every day!  No need to finish anything or even like it. If you've done some art journaling this week, use the hashtag #artjournaleveryday so that we can all take a peek.  Even if you're not on social media, you can see everything (from twitter, pinterest, instagram, and facebook) that uses that hashtag here. 

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I have fallen in love with Bullet Journaling.  There were a ton of great comments and questions on that post, which I will address in part 3 of this Bullet Journaling series.  But, today I mostly want to talk about the parts of my Bullet Journal that are NOT the weekly calendar/schedule.

I tried out a lot of the traditional Bullet Journaling ideas --most of these traditional parts of the Bullet Journal didn't work for me -- like the habit tracker (a way of tracking daily habits you'd like to cultivate):

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and my unfinished version:

You can see that I filled the unused space with a quote, a doodle, and some colored stripes.  On the right side you can see a gratitude log that didn't end up filling the right side of the page (because I forgot to keep filling it out).  I filled the unused space with an analysis of what was working about the bullet journaling process and what wasn't, and a quote.  The idea of analyzing what works and what doesn't is a vital part of bullet journaling in my mind.  The whole point of the bullet journal -- as far as I can see -- is that it's a flexible system.  It only works if you keep honing it to fit your needs.

...monthly spread (an overview of the month at a glance -- always includes a calendar and sometimes includes additional "overview" things like habit tracking or goals for the month):

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and my mostly unused (and rather ugly) versions:

Because I use Google Calendar for my monthly overview, this was a useless spread for me that never got used.  I gave up on doing monthly spreads starting in June.  Again, that's one of my favorite things about the bullet journal: it's so flexible.  You do with it what you want and fit it to your needs!  So, no monthly spreads for me!

...future log (super shorthand overview of the year broken down by month):

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and my pretty but mostly unused version:

Again, because I use Google Calendar for long term planning and overviews, I discovered that I just don't use the future log.    

So, let's move on to the traditional bullet journal things that do work for me!  

One of the things that makes this whole Bullet Journal thing hum and that really works for me is the simplest idea of all: the index (a list of what's in your journal with page numbers to find it).

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And here is mine:

The other part of the traditional Bullet Journal that has been super useful to me is "Collections."  Collections is really a confusing way of saying "lists."  There are some intimidating and gorgeous Collections out there in the world:

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I don't really use my bullet journal in this way. And that's okay.  My collections are very straightforward and useful to me.

I use my bullet journal for project notes:

Class notes:

Notice that the spread of notes above contains notes from five different classes sessions in a multi-week class.  I love this.  I jotted down just a few things each time I went to class and now they are all in one place!  Can't lose that piece of paper.  And if I want to review them at any point, I can simply consult my bullet journal index and easily find these notes!

And long-term projects/conversations:

Three things to point out: 

1. The title of the conversation and the date are both highlighted for ease of discovery during a quick flip through.  (Although this conversation is also listed in my index if I'd rather find it that way.)
2. I note the pages where the previous part of this conversation can be found.
3. I note the pages where the next part of this conversation can be found.

The bullet journal is flexible.  It doesn't demand that you know how many pages a project or conversation is going to take up.  Once you've filled up the pages you allotted, you simply flip to the next empty page and then leave yourself some breadcrumbs (i.e. previous conversation on page #).  I love this.  My bullet journal has allowed me to easily keep track of some long-term projects and conversations in this way.

As you can see, my bullet journal is not pretty.  It's practical.  I love, love, love how much it has helped me with my productivity and organization.  I love that it's customizable to my current needs. 

If you've got bullet journal tips, leave them in the comments section!  If you've got bullet journal questions, leave them and I'll do my best to answer them next week.  

Thanks for stopping by!