Something which has come hand in hand with leaving my job, and attempting this writing thing, is more use of my bullet journal. I've spoken about my bullet journal several times before (here, here and here) however now more than ever, it feels as though my bujo is well and truly my lifeline.

At the start of September, I set up several different pages in my bullet journal in an attempt to be more organised, keep track of how productive I actually am, and become more aware of my own habits. In case you were curious which of those pages were worth my time and which were a waste of paper, here is an entire blog post on them...

Blogpost Ideas: 

For any bloggers, this page is essential. I have several of these throughout my bullet journal, but
there's something about having one placed at the start of the month which makes me excited for where my blog might take me in those 30 (or so) days.

September Title Page: 

I'll be honest, this page is time-consuming to create considering how pointless it is, but still I really like it. It gives a new start to this point in my journal which makes everything feel fresh, plus it looks nice.


Goals/To Do: 

I thought if I labelled my goals, 'to-do' they would feel more achievable, it would seem like I was reading a to-do list, rather than something more daunting, which seemed out of reach, however, I was over-ambitious when I wrote this list and cannot keep up with it. Part of this page I do love is that I wrote why I wanted to achieve each goal to remind myself what the outcomes will be, which makes me want to put the work in.

Blog Changes:

There are parts of this blog which need changing, updating and some which I just need to push the delete button on. Keeping a list is reminding me to slowly make those changes, however, sometimes having it feels like a constant reminder of a never-ending to-do list, which can either be a kick up the bum or guilt-inducing depending on my mood.



Habits, Mood and Cycle Trackers: 

I've made it part of my evening routine to fill in my habit tracker, and I've managed it most nights. I'm actually enjoying that bit of reflection time. However next month I think I'll separate it into segments. such as self-care, writing, fitness, blogging etc so at a glance I can see what aspects of life I'm putting my all in, and where I can do with giving myself an extra bit of love. I also like to track my moods and hormone cycle on the same page so I can see how things correlate, what habits make me happy, and how my hormones affect that.

Hourly Productivity and Mood Trackers:

This great when I actually fill it out. I can look for patterns in the times which I'm unproductive and whether my mood is related to this. Also, it makes me realise how much my day was busy and how much time I was probably aimlessly scrolling Instagram. However, keeping up with it can be a pain in the ass, as you can see I've not been consistent with filling it out, but as I spoke about in this blog post, when I've filled it out, it has been eye-opening.



Tries, Fails and Successes:

 The idea for this page came off the back of a tweet about how aiming to fail a certain amount of time ultimately will lead to success. After having just a fail and success list, I soon realised with most things you don't immediately know that result, so I added it a try list where I can write things down while I wait to hear back.  This list also makes me see when I'm not trying enough when the list is looking pretty short, (as it in the photograph) I know I haven't been putting my all in.

Articles Read: 

 I decided to keep a list of the article I've been reading, to make sure I'm actually reading and just in case any articles spark some bright ideas. At first I loved this page, it made me want to read more - then one Sunday I basically filled the page and realised if I'm reading the amount I want to be reading  I'll get through a lot of paper and it's a pain in the ass to write down every time I read something.



Pitch Tracker

 I'm trying to send pitches into a magazine on a regular base, so a) I get better at pitching and as b) my words will never get published beyond this blog if I don't. So I've made myself a pitch tracker with the columns: pitch ideas, pitches written, pitches sent and pitch responses which I've found very useful to keep up with where I am at with it. At the moment it's looking a lot emptier than I want to be, which is a reminder that the work won't do itself.

Writing Tracker: 


As I left my job, ultimately to write, I'd like to make sure I'm writing more than I'm talking about writing, which is an easy trap to fall into, so I created a writing tracker for the month, so each day I can see what words I actually got down. I've found this to be quite motivating, but also quite squashed, in future I would not have an entire month on one page.




Manifest:

I'm trying to manifest the life I want. I read this list most days to remind myself of the direction I want to be heading in.

Month To Do:


You know the general stray bits and bobs you want to get done in the month which never really make it onto your daily to-do lists, well, this is that list of things, so hopefully, I can get around to ticking them off, which was unlikely while they lived in the back of my mind.

Pitch Ideas Mindmap 

I need to find ideas somewhere. Everytime one pops into my head, no matter how vague it is, I write it down here, then I can refer back and refine ideas.


As you can see from the images, these pages are all a working process, and we're taken earlier in the month, so some of them are looking a little sparse - either way if you into bullet journaling or just like to be organised, I hope you found this post useful. I'm definitely don't create a bullet journal full of perfect doodles like I often see on Instagram, but I love it none the less.




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