If I were less of an optimist, I’d say I had a rather difficult week. But I prefer to think like Thomas Edison, that I have just found some things that do not work.

This week I had determined to be more productive. This is the reason I got my bullet journal for Christmas.
(Sorry about the poor picture quality but at least there is one. )

I made a tracker for all the things I do throughout the day or things I want to do each day. Some of the items on the chart are an attempt to force myself to see it every day and maybe, just maybe I’ll do it. Things like some form of art every day (even just coloring would count–haha) and reading a book (not internet). Needless to say, I have quite a few unchecked boxes but that is okay. It is a hope to push me towards it. However, it may be backfiring on me and making me feel bad for not doing more. (More on this later)

Each day I do a small daily bullet for extra things I want to accomplish that day. I will admit that I have been a bit too ambitious. (Left page below)

So I decided to be a bit more realistic with the list yesterday and it helped, as I got all but one thing done. However, as I was talking with Tiffany, and was being a bit hard on myself for not getting everything done. But really I’m getting more done than before because I have the bujo and have my list in a place that I will see it and it will taunt me until I get it done and then I can X it off.

I didn’t realize how having each bullet marked helped me feel better about what I’d accomplished. Even if it was just to use a > to note that I moved it to another day’s list. It feels good to get the things done and marked off.

I have not intended my bujo to be a thing of beauty or an artistic expression, so I just use colors because that makes me happy. I also have some stickers and washi tape that I will add to the pages after I’ve finished it. Currently, I don’t pre-plan most of my pages. I did pre-plan the Year at a Glance (or Future Planner) and my two-page tracker spread.So far, all the others have just been where I had some kind of note I wanted to make, so I went to the next page or place on a page that didn’t have dailies on it (see the right hand page on the picture before last).

So, most of my pages are just functional at this time and I’ll probably pretty them up later (or not).

I got a lot of snacks made this week but we tend to eat them up as quickly as I can make them. This post is getting long, so I’ll post about that on Tuesday (upcoming). Let me just say that very few things turned out how they were supposed to, why, and what I did next.

I hope this post has given you some ideas of how you can use a bullet journal to increase your productivity and realize it doesn’t have to be a work of art. I’m loving that it is a place to put those notes of things I want to remember and not have a sticky note or some other piece of paper that I will either have to find a place to store or lose it altogether. It is really a good tool. I wasn’t sure it would be beneficial for me because most of what I do is repeated day after day (thus the trackers) but then there are extra things to be done like bake bread or make a gift that I put on dailies.

It looks like I’ll just keep rambling about this and bore you to pieces, so I’ll just close for today.

Until next time, God bless,

 Michele ºÜº