After one week of bullet journaling, I'm not sure this is the planning system for me. That's not to say that I dislike it, but there are definitely facets that don't work for me.
I started out copying the layout on the Bullet Journal website and was ready to give up after a couple of days. Then the ladies on a planner group I belong to posted pictures of their weekly spreads and I saw one I really liked and promptly remade my week using her spread. I liked it! Woot! I thought. This makes all the difference.
Happily, I began to draw out the following week following her template. I resized some of my boxes, rearranged, and used a ruler to make sure they were neat. While I waited for week 2, I continued to use my less than perfect week 1.
Then the day came when my tote bag was too full to bring my bullet journal to work. The same thing happened the next day. And then that evening I ordered a regular planner.
What didn't I like about the bullet journal? The original process was too linear for me. I prefer to see my week like a calendar. Drawing it out like the lady in my online group helped, but highlighted one of my shortcomings. I'm not a good artist. My titles looked sad. Some women have these spectacular, arty bullet journals that are incredible. It was as if a child had done mine. I like things to look neat and professional. Messy gives me anxiety.
Problem 2 for me was that things were scattered all over the bullet journal. That's one of the joys of the system--no wasted pages--but it was stress inducing for me because things weren't nicely organized. Yes, I am that anal.
Problem 3 was the idea of having to draw these boxes week after week after week. Time is at a premium and I'm not producing an artistic page anyway, no matter how much time I spend on it.
There are definitely pluses, though. I love making notes about my week and having them on hand years later to remember. One of the things I did before I moved to Georgia was throw away all my old calendars that kept track of what I did and I regret that now. If they'd been in these lovely hardcover books, I would have brought them for sure.
The ability to customize to the nth degree was awesome, too. I didn't need to buy special inserts, I could just take my pen and add it.
I also like the ability to make lists in there. I had one for music to buy and another for books I wanted. I kept track of goals and progress on them. There truly were a lot of things I loved about it, and if I were a better artist, I know I could have grown to love this system. I'm regretting that this didn't work out better for me.
So the planner I'd been using for the past year is over at the end of June and the new planner I just ordered begins July 1. I hope this new one brings me planner peace.
