Using a Bullet Journal for Productivity

I’ve been keeping a journal pretty much for the last 17 years. It started in regular notebooks and migrated to online journals (this used to be one before I switched to blogging!), and I’ve been using planners for about that much time as well.

Using A Bullet Journal For Productivity

A friend once told me that one of days that I deemed “unproductive” was more than he accomplished in an entire year. Not gonna lie–I didn’t think that was true, but I was kinda flattered.

I’m super type A when it comes to planning things, making lists, being productive/efficient, and all that good stuff. It’s the only world I’ve ever known, and also probably how I manage to get so much stuff done in a day. I’m all about making to-do lists and scheduling out most (if not all) parts of my day.

I started bullet journaling halfway through the year, so I tacked it onto my workout journal that I’ve been keeping since 2009 (when I first started lifting!). (In case you’re wondering, I lost it for a couple years, hence why it still had so many blank pages.) This is how I’ve been using a bullet journal for productivity!

My weekly spreads consist of:

• Dailies
  • Schedule (work/social/etc.)
  • Exercise
  • Studying/Practice Questions
  • Mini To-Do (if time-sensitive/deadline approaching)

• Mini Calendar
• Sleep Tracker
  • My daily goal is ~5 hours.
• Habit Tracker
  • I use this to track things I’m trying to do daily or every few days, for instance…
    • Studying
    • Exercise
    • Skin care
    • Blogging (e.g. social media shares, commenting)
    • SPF
    • …I really need to incorporate a water tracker too.
• Blog Posts
  • Drafts I’m working on for the week
  • Posts scheduled for the week
  • Pending sponsored posts
• Weekly To Do List
• “Brain Dump” (things I learned/studied)

This is an example of my workout spread–it was while I was doing the Gixo Fit Approach challenge, so there wasn’t any lifting depicted in here. :O

What I really like about bullet journaling is that you can make it as simple or as complicated as you want. You can incorporate as many elements as you want, or go with more of a minimalist approach. Secretly, I’d love for mine to be perfect, but I’ve accepted that that’s just not possible, so I just roll with it when I mess something up.

Target’s $1 section has all kinds of fun knick-knacks for bullet journal stuff (e.g. post-its, stickers, washi tape). I’ve also raided dollar stores, Daiso, and Jo Ann’s for supplies as well.

Since I’m likely going to start up running again once I fix my self/curbside-diagnosed patellofemoral syndrome vs. plica syndrome, I’m probably going to need to start a tracker on that as well for the upcoming year! Planning tends to fill me with a lot of joy though, so it should be fun to design! :P

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• Do you use a planner?
• Have you ever tried bullet journaling?