Ah, the infamous bullet journal. It seems as though if you have your life together, you have a bullet journal. And, in 2022, our motto is to stop procrastinating and start girl bossing. Maybe a bit cheesy, but true all the same.

I’ve always been fascinated with bullet journals. I would binge all of AmandaRachLee’s videos, and look up “aesthetic bullet journals” on Pinterest. I even tried creating one a few times in the past, but it never stuck. I think it’s because I’m a bit of a perfectionist; if I didn’t like something, I ended up completely ripping out the page.

The beauty of a bullet journal is that it doesn’t have to just be one thing. It can be a place where you write down your tasks for the day, week, month, and year. It can be a place where you write down any and all ideas, whether it be your grocery list or what T.V. show you want to watch next. It can be a place that encaptures the beauty of a sketchbook and the functionality of an agenda. It can be the one place where you have everything you need to be organized.

Recognizing that fact helped me realize that bullet journalling could actually be fun rather than a task. In the past, I got lost in the deep rabbit holes of Pinterest where everything seemed so aesthetic, and being the perfectionist that I am, I could never get my bullet journal to look exactly how the others looked. That was the whole problem; I was trying to make it fit everyone else’s standards and it completely lost its functionality for me. So this year, I decided that I’m going to use this journal to express my creativity while also staying useful to me.

So here’s the amateur’s guide to creating a bullet journal. I hope you enjoy and don’t forget to follow for daily journal prompts and bullet journal layout ideas!

1. Find a super cute journal.

Having a really cute journal will make you feel more inclined to keep updating your bullet journal; it’s scientifically proven. Just kidding, but for real, who doesn’t want an amazing journal to look at? It doesn’t need to be fancy or expensive, for example, the journal that I got is from Target and I got it for 7 bucks!

You can get a dotted, lined, or blank journal to start out. If you’re wanting to go to the store and get started right now, it’s a little bit difficult to try and find a cute dotted journal. However, there are so many lined options in-store, and dotted ones online! Ultimately, the choice is up to you. But remember, it doesn’t have to be fancy!

I couldn’t find the link to the specific journal that I got, but it’s from Target by the brand ThinkInk! It’s a lined notebook with a date and subject line on each page.

Let’s quickly talk about other supplies. I literally have one pen and 5 crayola supertip markers. The pen is a Pilot G-2 pen in 0.7, and the markers are in the colors blue, purple, pink, green, and grey. I had all of this at home. Remember, this does not need to be an expensive endeavor!

2. Figure out what pages you want at the beginning of your journal.

These pages are going to go at the beginning of your journal before you create your monthly spreads. No pressure though! You can always add more pages anywhere in your journal. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• a goals page
  • list out some things you want to remind yourself of this year! It can be new years resolutions, or just some encouraging words for future you.
• an important dates page
  • a place for birthdays, special events, big tests/projects, etc.
• a class schedule page
  • if you’re in school like me, then take the time to write down your schedule. I would do it semester by semester because you never know when you might need to start a new journal. For example, in my bullet journal, I only wrote down my schedule for spring 2022.
• a media page
  • a place to write down everything you’ve read, listened to, and watched. I made four sections, one for books, t.v. shows, movies, and podcasts.
• bonus: a year in pixels
  • this is more of a fun one, but a year in pixels is basically a place to write down your moods every day of the year! That way at the end of the year, you can see basically all of your emotions in one page.

And that’s all I had for the beginning of the journal! You can add more or take away some if they don’t apply to you. Remember, this journal is supposed to completely cater to your needs! It won’t be useful to you if you don’t add personal touches. For example, you could add a financial tracker page if you’re trying to keep track of expenses. Personally, I have more organizational things on my Notion. More on that later 😉

3. Start creating.

As I said before, I’m going to be using this journal as a creative outlet of all sorts. I will have journal entries, to do lists, grocery lists, wish lists, gift ideas, and any other lists you can think of. I’ll also have artistic items, such as collages, book/movie/t.v. show reviews, scrapbooking, pictures, descriptions of fun events. So, start writing! Start creating. Literally, anything you want. I started it off with a journal entry expressing my gratitude for the people in my life. I’ll probably start tomorrow off with a to-do list!

Now previously, I mentioned Notion. I absolutely ADORE Notion. It’s the place of all of my productivity, which is why this bullet journal is more creative rather than with set weekly and monthly spreads (even though I will most likely have those too).

If you want to see how I use a bullet journal and Notion simultaneously, and more bullet journal and Notion content, then follow this blog and my other socials! My Instagram and Pinterest links can be found on the home page, but the handles for both are @scorpiodiaries. Let’s make this year as productive as possible, together!! Thanks for reading ❤