I Tried To Bullet Journal For A Month

Last updated on 29 June 2020

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I tried to Bullet Journal. It didn’t work out so well.

When the BuJo trend started I was all for it. It looked like a genius way to keep organised, and it involved one of my favourite things: lists. My to-do lists usually look like this: a scrap piece of paper with a title of ‘Friday’ and then a list of things I’ve got to do. When only 50% of it happens and Saturday rolls around, I simply add ‘and Saturday’ to the title of the list. And then ‘and Sunday’ if it gets that far (have to say, it often does).

Bullet Journaling sounded like the answer to my hundred of stray pieces of paper lying about my desk. And so I tried it. I bought these cute little soft-covered notebooks with dots and got to setting up my first ever Bullet Journal. And I think therein lies my problem.

The first week went well, and even the second week but by week three I was forgetting to look at it, was forgetting to tick things off and move them to the next day. I was forgetting that I was meant to be tracking my habits, and I forgot to write things in it. It was a disaster.

And I think I know why I failed.

My theory is not that I’m bad at writing lists – I’m actually a list master – but that I was working too much on keeping it looking pretty. I ‘researched’ too many Pinterest boards on bullet journals and got excited that they could be so beautiful, and then a bit upset because mine didn’t look as nice as theirs, and then getting sick of it because I spent too much time setting it up and not actually just going for it.

I also decided I don’t actually have many days where I have a whole list of things to do. A normal day might have one or two things that I have to do, but every so often I’ll have one day with 10 things to do. The balance wasn’t good for bullet journaling, it turns out, so that probably didn’t help. Also, I suspect I like listing things in a topic, rather than days-they-must-be-done on. So I’d have a piece of paper labelled ‘blog posts’ as well as general things I need to do.

So would I try the Bullet Journal again?

You know what? I think I would. I do love the idea of it, but my issue was not the structure so much as the overwhelming prettiness of the whole thing. If I started from scratch and kept it simple, with no frills and minimal colours, then we might be a-go. I really liked tracking habits, I have to say, and it was good to look back and see, for example, just how much water I drink. I might try that again.

Bullet Journaling was a bit of a fail for me, but I know a lot of people who really enjoy it.

What do you think? Have you tried it before? Have any tips for me, struggling newbie? Let me know in the comments!