2021 Bullet Journal
Wednesday, December 30th, 2020 09:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tippetariuswritesMy 2021 bullet journal is ready to go. I decided to put in some effort to make it look more pretty with stickers and washi tape. Some spreads I've set up so far:
* Year at a glance: More of a finishing touch than anything, but I like having this as the first page of my journal.
* Future log: For appointments and events throughout the year. Four months to a page in rows divided by strips of thin silver washi tape.
* Mood tracker: Though I've decided to continue tracking my moods for now, I'm not sure there's much point. Okay, I can see my mood hit rock bottom on these days, but why? Because work sucked? Because I had a crappy night of sleep? Because I wasted hours watching talking animal videos on YouTube? Without details to give the moods context, it's hard to know what's consistently making you miserable, let alone do anything about it.
* Wish list: One of my favorites. Before I kept a wish list, I'd often think of things that would be nice to have (like a little lamp for my desk so I can read or write or draw there without ruining my eyes), and then I'd keep forgetting to buy them. Or I'd forget the exact brand I wanted, and then I'd have to do my research all over again. Keeping a list like this has been extremely helpful.
* Books read: Every book I read gets added here along with the date I finished it. Having the exact date is nice because sometimes it jogs my memory about else was going on when I was reading a particular book.
* Books to read: This is the most labor-intensive thing for me to copy over from one journal to another, because even when I weed out titles I'm feeling so-so about, it's always a huge list. But I feel it's worth doing, because it helps me find and read more books I either love or learn a lot from.
* Devices: Laptops and mobile devices in use. I include information like brand, model, when I bought them, and sometimes notes about what they're for.
* Master grocery list: I've been meaning to do one of these for a long time, because it seems so useful. But I couldn't decide how to categorize everything, and I knew I'd probably forget something or change my mind about the layout. So I wrote my categorized lists on little squares of paper and stuck them into the journal with washi tape.
* Words and phrases: For several years I've been writing down words and phrases that crop up repeatedly in news articles, forum posts, etc. Collect enough of these and you start getting a feel for what the year was all about. (Murder hornets, toilet paper, pandemic, zoombombing? Must be 2020!)
* Milestones and accomplishments: I dislike going back and looking at goals for a given year, because the unfinished goals make me feel guilty and take something away from the goals I did finish. And really, a lot of the goals I've set for myself ended up not mattering very much. Sometimes my interests or needs changed, or I had lukewarm feelings about the goals to begin with. So instead I'm going to write down the things I actually accomplished-- hopefully things worth remembering.
* Year at a glance: More of a finishing touch than anything, but I like having this as the first page of my journal.
* Future log: For appointments and events throughout the year. Four months to a page in rows divided by strips of thin silver washi tape.
* Mood tracker: Though I've decided to continue tracking my moods for now, I'm not sure there's much point. Okay, I can see my mood hit rock bottom on these days, but why? Because work sucked? Because I had a crappy night of sleep? Because I wasted hours watching talking animal videos on YouTube? Without details to give the moods context, it's hard to know what's consistently making you miserable, let alone do anything about it.
* Wish list: One of my favorites. Before I kept a wish list, I'd often think of things that would be nice to have (like a little lamp for my desk so I can read or write or draw there without ruining my eyes), and then I'd keep forgetting to buy them. Or I'd forget the exact brand I wanted, and then I'd have to do my research all over again. Keeping a list like this has been extremely helpful.
* Books read: Every book I read gets added here along with the date I finished it. Having the exact date is nice because sometimes it jogs my memory about else was going on when I was reading a particular book.
* Books to read: This is the most labor-intensive thing for me to copy over from one journal to another, because even when I weed out titles I'm feeling so-so about, it's always a huge list. But I feel it's worth doing, because it helps me find and read more books I either love or learn a lot from.
* Devices: Laptops and mobile devices in use. I include information like brand, model, when I bought them, and sometimes notes about what they're for.
* Master grocery list: I've been meaning to do one of these for a long time, because it seems so useful. But I couldn't decide how to categorize everything, and I knew I'd probably forget something or change my mind about the layout. So I wrote my categorized lists on little squares of paper and stuck them into the journal with washi tape.
* Words and phrases: For several years I've been writing down words and phrases that crop up repeatedly in news articles, forum posts, etc. Collect enough of these and you start getting a feel for what the year was all about. (Murder hornets, toilet paper, pandemic, zoombombing? Must be 2020!)
* Milestones and accomplishments: I dislike going back and looking at goals for a given year, because the unfinished goals make me feel guilty and take something away from the goals I did finish. And really, a lot of the goals I've set for myself ended up not mattering very much. Sometimes my interests or needs changed, or I had lukewarm feelings about the goals to begin with. So instead I'm going to write down the things I actually accomplished-- hopefully things worth remembering.
