A Bullet Journal is a great way to keep your life in one place and have notes on what you need to do while being creative!
It’s 2024 and I am very excited for a new bullet journal! This year, I am using an A4 MCG Bullet Journal (get yours in the store 😉). This journal does stray away from the traditional bullet journal as I have the basics for a weekly spread already filled in.
I used to enjoy making the spreads more, but I found that it could get a little tedious, especially since I never really strayed away from doing on thing in a year. So that’s why I designed this journal for me and anyone who wants a little more structure but still a bullet journal like experience.
For my monthly posts this year, I am planning to show off some bullet journal tips and tricks to show ways that bullet journals are great for yearly growth as well!
Check out the Craft section of MCG for more fun patterns in strings and things or more unlimited ideas.
Keys and Colors / Year in pixels
There are two pages in the beginning of this journal that I reference all year round: Keys and Colors and the Year in Pixels.
The Keys and Colors page helps keep notation that same throughout the year. I used a box to mark all the tasks I planned to do. The symbol inside of the box tells me if it is started, completed, moved, scheduled, or cancelled. I also like using other symbols to correspond with other types of notes (i.e., a “clock” for scheduled events).
I like to use certain color highlighters to correspond to certain types of events (i.e., holidays are dark purple). This makes the calendar clear for me as I can easily tell which types of events I have during the day.
The year in pixels is something I like to do because it’s a great way to keep track of my mental health and draw some awareness to it. Using the color scale on the left, I mark how I felt at the end of each day by filling that day’s space in with the matching color (or you can use patterns if colors aren’t your thing).
Sometimes I can feel like I’ve been stuck in a downward spiral for weeks but looking at this calendar helps remind me of the good days too.
Last year, I did a scale from one to five and found myself putting down three very often. This felt like a little bit of a cop out by just keeping all the days in neutral. That’s why I decided to put in a scale from one to six this year. Then I have to mark if it was positive or negative in some regard.
Level 10 Life
One other page I like to fill out at the beginning of the year is the Level 10 Lift. This is a chart to help you identify where you have areas you want to grow. There are eight spaces to pick eight categories.
I use Health (Physical), Relationship, Environment, Development, Online, Finances, Fun, and Family for my eight. Some other category ideas are Spirituality, Career, Fitness, Giving and Contribution, Business, Mental Health, Friends, Hobbies, Travel, Home, and Self-Care.
After identifying the eight categories, I rate how I feel about them on a scale of one to ten. Ten is I couldn’t be happier with this aspect of my life, and I couldn’t think of any way to improvement. One would be more; I am doing horribly in this aspect of my life and have a lot of room to improve.
Then I think of goals that would take me from my current level to Level 10. I like to use the S.M.A.R.T. goals principle when setting goals (but sometimes I do get a little too broad). The goal should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. I have to keep these ideas in the front of my mind or else I make goals that aren’t measurable (i.e., “read more books” instead of “read 3 books”). For the time being, I try to think over the course of a month or year.
January
I felt free to design the January cover page however I wanted. After sticking to a theme last year, I decided not to have one this year. I wanted freedom to do whatever I felt in the moment. And I started by sketching a banner around the word January.
Then I drew a large plant behind January. Then a ring of planets around the center. And another ring. And another. Finally, I added stars all over the page because what is a solar system without some stars?
I decided I wanted to do some mixed media, so I broke out the watercolors again. But this time I was filling inside of the lines. Well… I did so some clouds and planets that didn’t have any line indication. I was just having fun! Which is ultimately what a bullet journal should be.
The last thing I want to draw attention to is my habit tracker. I also designed this page to match the monthly cover page because it looked pretty. So, I wanted the design in more places. In this space, I like to write down some habits that I want to get into or want to create and then fill in the space whenever I do those habits for that day.
I started doing habit tracking when I was having trouble remembering to take my medication. And sometimes, I couldn’t remember if I did take it. This habit tracker helped me keep my life straight. But it’s also a way to encourage myself to cook. A habit could be a single action or something that takes a little bit of time. It’s whatever you want it to be.
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