I tried bullet journaling for 30 days

Finally getting back into the 30 day experiments!! 🤓🔬 What should I try next??

What i learned about bullet journaling - the easier the better. In the beginning i was trying to have complex layouts, trackers, lists etc. After a few years, i decided to keep it really simple and basic. And I noticed that i started to use it more. In the end it is a tool and should help you achieve more and not hinder and frustrate you😆

As soon as he started his setup, my fist thought was, "he's doing too much." It's not sustainable to start with an overwhelming system. It's better to start with the basics, and then add on things based on YOUR needs, and not just copy and paste someone else's set up. It's okay to get ideas and inspiration from other people, but the Journal should be a tool that facilitates YOUR life.

I wish people would start trying bujo with Ryder Carroll’s SUPER SIMPLE guidelines. In it’s most simple form: It’s a BULLETed todo list with symbols. Then he added the year at a glance and monthly sections for future planning but those were really simple list formats too. All those beautiful layouts you see like Amanda Rach Lee are great if you find enjoyment from decorating and journaling as an art form but really unnecessary to actually bullet journal. People get so caught up trying to make it look like a premade planner or to imitate what other ppl do that they loose the core functionality of bujo. It’s meant to be fast. It’s called “rapid logging” for a reason. Only add trackers or layouts if they actually serve you.

This kinda shows how the much more visible “artsy” side of the Bullet Journal community drowns out the simplicity of the original system. Starting with basics and adding modules to solve your unique problems as they occur about as minimalist as it gets. I’d revisit this after referencing Ryder Carroll’s original methods and his logic behind it. Definitely not mean to be a precious system

as a perfectionist who’s tried to start bullet journalling many times, i decided to try again following the original basic method (shown on the bullet journal youtube channel). so simple that i barely set anything up and just log in each day as it comes. some days take up 4 lines to log and some take up half the page. i use my journal to write tasks but mostly bullet point what you’d write in a regular journal. feelings/thoughts etc. if i make a mistake i accept it and try to fix it and i’ve successfully kept up with it daily for the last 6 months.

It’s hard to start a new habit that also requires tracking because the tracking itself feels like a separate second habit. But bullet journaling has built in tracking which makes it nice. Great video!

For anyone who wants to get into bullet journaling, please read the creator's book (Ryder Carroll). Huge fan of this channel but those elaborate spreads and all that work is the exact opposite of the actual bare bones method. Even Ryder's habit tracker is so beyond simple.

4 HOURS to set up? To everyone thinking to start Bujo: DO NOT copy the layout of random people online. NEVER! Do the basic that Ryder Carroll teaches and after at least 2 months, you´ll start to see what would work better for you, them you search for inspiration in other layouts.

As other's have said, the Ryder has ADHD and created the system to be incredibly flexible. Ignore the crafts folk that took over the bullet journal idea (they do great and beautiful work, but it's a huge fork from the spirit of the system). I use mine far more often now that I let it be messy. The single biggest thing for me, which you didn't even cover, was the index. Have a key for your entries and an index is the biggest boost to organization I've ever experienced. The only other thing I add is a simple MINIMALIST grid for the week (two vertical lines and two horizontal to make 7 days, nothing even remotely elaborate about it) so that my time blindness doesn't get too out of hand. I think most of your complaints wouldn't exist if you weren't comparing it to the gorgeous layouts that already organized people are able to produce.

Function over form! That's the main thing that has helped me. I've been bullet journalling for years. When I started I made my bujo artistic and made so many spreads I did not use. Now I'm back to basic, with 1 pen and 1 notebook. My monthly set up takes 10 minutes. I don't use a yearly overview or unnecessary habit trackers. My monthly overview consists of the numbers 1 to 30 in a column. It has helped me tremendously with getting things done and my (mental) health.

I think the problem is that we over obsess with the trackers and calendars and setups, and stuff like that. When I bullet journal, it's literally just notes. Schedule and highest order agenda on the left, notes of tasks and ideas on the right. I buy a journal like the hobonichi that already has the calendars and year at a glance pages pre-made.

You have to try the Ryder Carroll method before you give up completely! It's so minimal!! My first bullet journal was so similar to your one, but it's too much work so I stripped it back completely & I'm still going 4 years later. Currently, I have an inbox for tasks, and a page for each of my three goals that outlines the steps to achieve it. I also do a weekly overview, which has events, key tasks/deadlines & meals (I literally draw three lines to make it). Finally, a rolling daily spread. I don't bother with a monthly or future log and use a digital calendar.

Look at Ryder's monthly design. Simple list, no drawing or setup stress. 😊

Literally fell into the same trap as WheezyWaiter. After he talked with Ryder, the guy who made BuJo to manage ADD, he tried it again and liked it.

Abby Sy's last name is pronounced "See", which is why her branding is ABC (Always Be Creating), because that's what her name sounds like: ABC.

As a perfectionist, Bullet Journalling has helped me to embrace imperfection because of how often I do make mistakes. But I keep my old bujos and look back at how much I've improved each month, each year. I prefer this method tbh. I think that a lot of people can make really beautiful layouts with it while many others stick to a more minimal and elegant style. I think that's what I love the most about it, it doesn't waste paper like traditional calendars and planners can while it is more tactile than a digital calendar that I constantly forget to update.

Love this! Before, I thought journalling was a complete waste of time but now after implementing this in my life, I have a cleared mind since I’m writing all of my thoughts down somewhere which has allowed me to make better and faster decisions with less worry and anxiety 💪🏼❤️

I have so many things to say about Bullet Journalling, I don´t even know where to begin. I startet using the system in 2017 and I just started a new journal - I´ve been changing my system every 6 - 12 months. To me these journals are more like an external brain. It doesn´t make me more or less productive, but it does keep me sane. If I can´t sleep at night, if I want to be productive but my brain keeps thinking about stuff that is not relevant in that moment, if I feel emotions and can´t really grasp them, I just put it down on paper. It has an instant effect on me. It also serves as a "memory bank". I have a very simple calendar in it; at the end of every month I write down what happend every single day. Years later I can look back, see what happened on a particular day and read my entries of what I was going through. Looking back, I really did change, I grew and it made me realize that whatever I am stressing about today, probably won´t matter in a few weeks and things do get better. I am really so thankful for this and I hope I won´t ever stop :)

Two things: first, please follow ryders set up. Index, future log, monthly log, daily log. Way more simple. No ruler, no counting dots, no stress. Second, use an erasable pen. Please give it another try matt