Plan.Paperless

We’ve all had those times when we look at our bullet journal and feel dissatisfied. We feel that there is something missing or we feel unmotivated to continue. It is at this point that we must ask ourselves a few questions on why we started bullet journalling in the first place

Question 1: Who Am I Doing This For?

This applies mostly to those people who share their bullet journals with the world via instagram, facebook, tumblr and etc. (myself included). When we ask this question we must figure out what is our aim for sharing our bullet journal. Are we trying to get likes? Are we trying to exchange ideas with other members of the bullet journal community? Are we trying to motivate ourselves to bullet journal more?

On the other hand, what if we aren’t sharing anything online? We can still ask this question. Who are we doing this for? Peace of mind for ourselves? To be more organized for our families’ sake? Or to have the world’s fanciest bullet journal?

There is nothing wrong with any of these aspirations, however, whatever our reason, it is important to figure out who we are bullet journaling for. This will help us to get the most benefit from our bullet journals based on what we want to get out of them.

Question 2: Is What I’m Doing Really Necessary?

Another question we should be asking ourselves is how necessary are the trackers and collections we are making. There have been many instances when I’ve created a spread purely for the sake of creating a spread. In other words, instead of using my bullet journal as a force against procrastination I was doing exactly the opposite.

Personally, the ultimate goal of my bullet journal is productivity and peace of mind. It reminds me of the KonMari method. For those of you who do not know what this is, it involves taking each item you own and deciding whether it sparks joy. If it does, then you keep it, if it doesn’t you discard it. I’ve begun to do this within my bullet journal! Before I even begin to create a spread I determine wether it will bring me productivity, happiness or peace of mind. If it does not fit any of the criteria then I discard the idea, since I deem it unnecessary if this is the case.

Question 3: How Can I Use This Information?

When I’m creating a tracker I can use it for a few different things. I could either keep it as a benchmark to check back on my past, make myself accountable in the present or to make plans for the future. In fact, I use all three! Every month when I look back at my trackers I am looking to see if I improved anything in the last 30 days. I’ve found that using a habit tracker also makes me more motivated to make sure that I check off every task for the day. Finally, I use my habit tracker to plan for the future. At the bottom of each monthly spread I have a space for me to review my habits over the month and plan how I’m going to improve them for the next month.

I have other trackers and logs in my bullet journal as well that I look at in this type of light. It is good to use these spreads as a method for self improvement, so that we can, not only use our bullet journals as a productivity tool, but for a goal setting one as well!

Conclusion

To conclude, I think we can all agree that as individuals, we are always striving to be the best versions of ourselves. In light of this, it is not enough for us to just ask these questions. We must ask them and then say: “now what?” We need to answer these questions and furthermore they need to be answers that lead us to action! The only way we can improve is by first realizing what state we are in and deciding where to go from there.

I strongly believe that it is important to be constantly asking these questions and even to think of more so that we can always be the best that we can.

Leave a comment below with a question or type of tracker that you use for self-improvement!