Get Organized: The Bullet Journaling Method

The Bullet Journal is a customizable and forgiving organization system. It can be your to-do list, sketchbook, notebook, and journal, but most likely it will be all of the above. It will teach you to do more with less”

- Ryder Carroll 

Bullet journaling is something that I admired from a distance for a few years before even attempting to implement it into my routines as a student. When I convinced myself to start, it was mostly to minimize the number of journals I was carrying around with me.

I found that bullet journaling enhances productivity, promotes creativity, empowers resonance, and can guide us to more sound habits and practices. Like a stake in a tomato plant, the bullet journal can support the growth that is already taking place.

The best part about a bullet journal is that it can be whatever you need it to be. If you love using a digital calendar, but cannot find a way to meal prep and grocery plan, your bullet journal can be specifically customized to fit the needs in your routines. For me, bullet journaling has been a way to intentionally prepare and organize my week before it starts.

Your bullet journal practice can change as you change – it adapts to your needs. Personally, I used to spend hours drawing, measuring and adding details to my journal. The aesthetic of my bullet journal was very important to me as it was an easy way for me to slow down and create. Now that I have left an academic workload and schedule, I have reverted back to a much simpler bullet journal practice. I quickly learned that even when pages I created weren’t as aesthetically pleasing as I hoped, the bullet journal was still serving me and my goals.

Above all, the discipline of having a bullet journal has taught me that humans are so much more creative, resourceful, and resilient than we give ourselves credit for. The reality is that most of us expend inordinate amounts of energy every day beating ourselves up over mistakes and struggles. Over time, I have learned that my inner critic – the voice inside my head that tries to tell me things about myself that aren’t true – showed up a lot when I bullet journaled or when I was creating something that I was passionate about.

When I realized this about myself, I also realized that my bullet journal had to also be a practice of self-compassion. Dr. Kristen Neff, a pioneering self-compassion researcher, author, and teacher, defines self-compassion as giving oneself the same kindness and care we would give to a good friend.

Bullet journaling is just as much a doing practice as it is a practice in who you are becoming. Meaning, bullet journaling can be just as much about setting goals, sticking to a schedule, and brainstorming for a complex project as it can be about becoming more mindful, fostering a spirit of peace in your life, or spending more time doing that thing that makes you feel alive with purpose, but rarely make time for.

For more study tips and wisdom from IWU graduates, check out the rest of our blog here.


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