c/bullet-journaling

My barista said she tracks her mood with coffee doodles in her journal

I was getting my usual coffee this morning and she showed me a page where she draws a tiny cup next to her daily log, shaded in based on her energy level. It made me think about using simple symbols instead of writing long notes for my own weekly review. Do you use any small drawings or icons to track things quickly?

PSA: a cheap gel pen vs. a decent one is a game changer

I mean, I was using this pack of basic gel pens from the dollar store for months, just for my weekly spreads. Switched to a single Uni-ball Signo 0.38 last week, and idk, it just glides. No more skipping or blotting through the page, and my handwriting actually looks neat for once. Has anyone else had a simple tool upgrade make their whole bujo feel better?

Rant: Bought a whole set of fancy stencils I never use

I saw a video for those 'MochiThings' stencil packs and got the whole 12 piece set for like $35. I thought they'd make my weekly spreads look amazing, but honestly they just slow me down. They've been sitting in my drawer for months now and I always just grab my ruler instead. Anyone have a good use for a pile of stencils, or should I just pass them on?

I just filled my 500th page and it hit me different

I started this notebook in 2020, just scribbling tasks and feelings. Yesterday I flipped to a fresh page and saw the old page number I'd written in the corner. It was 500. I always thought I'd just get a new book when one got full, but seeing that number made me stop. It's four years of my life in one place, the good and bad days all mixed together. Has anyone else felt weirdly proud of a simple page count?

Just realized my bullet journal doesn't need a weekly spread

I was talking to my sister, who's a teacher, and she said she only uses her journal for daily logs and a running future log. She told me, 'The weekly page was just stress I was drawing for myself.' I tried skipping it for a solid week and it actually felt way more flexible. Anyone else ditch a standard layout and find it works better?

Okay, I know everyone says to keep your weekly spread super simple... but my whole system crashed when I tried that.

Heard a coworker say their planner felt like a chore list

We were grabbing coffee and she was talking about her daily planner, saying it just felt like a list of stuff she had to do and it made her feel bad. It made me think about my own bullet journal. I used to do that too, just rapid logging tasks and crossing them off. But for the past two weeks, I've been adding one small 'win' section at the end of each day. Just a line or two, like 'finished that report early' or 'called my mom'. It's changed how I see the whole book. Now it feels less like a boss and more like a record of my day, good and bad. It only takes a minute but it makes a big difference. Has anyone else tried adding something simple like that to change the mood of their journaling?

My bullet journal saved me from a huge work mess on Tuesday

Three years ago, I started a simple project log in my journal. Last week, a client in Phoenix asked for proof of a scope change we agreed to in a call. I flipped back to my notes from that exact day and found the details I wrote down, including a specific quote from them about budget. It was all there when my email search came up empty. Has anyone else had their bujo save them from a problem like that?

Warning: My cat's new favorite toy is my bullet journal's coiled spine.

Last month, I found my entire March spread, including a half-finished grocery list, had been chewed into a damp, accordion-shaped mess on the living room floor in Cincinnati.

I spent $80 on a fancy dot grid notebook and honestly, it made my bullet journal worse.

My cousin saw my weekly log and said it looked like a to-do list for a robot

We were at a family cookout last month and I had my journal open on the patio table. She pointed at my color-coded task boxes and said, 'Why do you even need that? Just use your phone.' It stuck with me because she didn't get that the act of writing it down helps me think. How do you explain the point of a bujo to someone who just doesn't see it?

Found a perfect bullet journal pen display at the art store in Pasadena

I was at Blick Art Materials on Colorado Boulevard last weekend looking for a new brush pen. They had this whole wall of testers, maybe 50 different pens, all clipped to these little plastic holders with a tiny notebook next to each one. You could test the pen on the exact same paper you use in your journal. I ended up trying 7 different fineliners I would never have bought blind. It made me think, why don't more of us set up a personal 'tester page' in the back of our journals? Just a grid of swatches for every pen and marker we own. Has anyone made a dedicated pen testing spread, and did it stop you from buying a dud?

Serious question, did anyone else think habit trackers were a total waste of time?

I avoided them for months because I figured just writing stuff down wouldn't change anything. Then my friend in Chicago told me to try a super simple one for just two things, drinking water and making my bed, for a single week. Seeing those two unbroken lines of dots after 7 days actually felt really good and kept me going. What's a habit that actually stuck for you using a tracker?

Appreciation post: My bullet journal's weekly spread got way too messy after I tried a new color-coding system with 8 different highlighters.

I thought more colors would make things clearer, but it just became a visual mess that stressed me out. Has anyone else tried a complex color system and had to scale way back?

My bullet journal saved my butt during a 3-day power outage

Last week, a storm knocked out the power in my whole town for 72 hours straight. My phone died on day one, and my usual digital calendar was useless. I had to get a generator for the shop and reschedule a dozen appointments. Because I keep a physical bullet journal, I had all my client info, job numbers, and a pencil to rewrite my week right there. I even sketched a quick map to the only hardware store that had fuel. Has anyone else had their analog system bail them out when tech failed?

Serious question, I read that the original bullet journal method only used three core symbols

I was looking at the official bullet journal website last night and found a page about the basics. It said the first version from 2013 only had a dot for tasks, a circle for events, and a dash for notes. I was really surprised because my own journal has like ten different colors and maybe twenty symbols for things like water intake or mood. It made me think about how much the hobby has grown past its simple start. Has anyone else tried going back to just those three basic marks for a month or something?

Noticed a lot of people using their bullet journal like a scrapbook and then getting frustrated when it doesn't help them get things done.

I see it all over social media. The focus is on making each weekly spread a piece of art, with washi tape, watercolor headers, and full-page illustrations. That's a cool hobby, but it's not the system. The original point was rapid logging and migration to actually manage your tasks and thoughts. My cousin showed me her book, and she said, 'I spent 3 hours on Monday just setting up the week and then didn't write a single task.' If the decoration is stopping you from using the core method, maybe that's the problem. Has anyone else had to scale back the art to make their journal functional again?

Overheard a client say their bullet journal was 'too messy to be useful'

They were using a $25 notebook and stressing over perfect layouts. It made me think the point is the system, not the art. Has anyone else ditched the fancy spreads for simple, fast logging?

Pro tip: Your index is probably useless if you're not using page numbers

I flipped through a friend's journal and every index entry just said 'tracker' or 'ideas' with no page reference. They admitted they never actually go back to find anything because it's too hard to locate. How do you force yourself to actually number your pages from the start?

Unpopular opinion: I switched from a Leuchtturm1917 to a basic Moleskine for my bullet journal last month

I mean, the Leuchtturm has more pages and that dot grid is nice, but the paper is so thin my Tombow Dual Brush pens bleed through like crazy. The Moleskine paper is thicker, so I can actually use markers on both sides of a page without it looking messy. Has anyone else picked a notebook just for better paper, even if it costs more?

I dropped $80 on a set of fancy stencils and I'm not sure if it was a good idea.

I bought a pack of plastic layout stencils for my weekly spreads, thinking they'd make everything look perfect and save me time. After using them for a month, my pages do look cleaner, but I feel like I'm just tracing the same shapes every week and it's gotten boring. On one hand, it's a big help when I'm tired and don't want to draw freehand. On the other, it kind of kills the creative, personal feel I loved about my journal. Has anyone else bought a tool that ended up making your process feel too rigid?

My bullet journal tried to predict the future last month

I set up a habit tracker for my new morning routine, but I accidentally used the wrong color key. For three days straight, I marked 'drank water' in the 'paid bills' column. I only noticed when my partner asked why I was celebrating paying bills with a glass of water every morning. It made my whole financial spread look like a very hydrated success. Has anyone else mixed up their trackers in a silly way?

PSA: My bullet journal fell into a fountain at the Denver Botanic Gardens

I was trying to sketch a flower layout for a future weekly spread, leaning over the water. My pen slipped, I fumbled, and the whole journal went splash. Fished it out, but the pages were soaked and my ink bled everywhere. Now I have a weird, wavy, watercolor effect on like fifteen pages that I can't use. Anyone have ideas for how to salvage a waterlogged journal, or should I just start a new one?

My aunt told me to only use a ballpoint pen for my bullet journal

She said it would never bleed through the pages, but my Pilot G2 still left ghosting on my Leuchtturm. I ended up with a whole week of spreads that look like faint ghosts. What pens do you all use that really don't show through?

Back when I started, I had to pick between a fancy journal and a cheap notebook

I remember standing in the store, looking at a $25 dotted journal and a plain $3 composition book. I went with the cheap one, thinking I'd mess up a lot. For the first six months, I just used a black pen and a ruler to draw my own grids. It was slow, but it made me really think about what I needed on each page. Now that I've got a nicer book, do you think starting simple helped you learn more?