Keeping Track

I've always been a very visual person and I have a terrible memory. Seriously, I use sticky notes and lists daily to help keep myself on track. Several years ago, I was introduced to bullet journaling and I instantly fell in love. Bullet journal rapid logging is a way of capturing information with bulleted lists. The list has a legend identifying each type of item (e.g., task, notes, events, etc.). This allows you to quickly capture thoughts and make notes in one spot that you can refer back to. I used rapid logging to take notes during work meetings to jot down critical information and keep track of tasks to complete. An index at the front of the book allows you to find information quickly.

When I changed jobs a few years later, I transitioned to a more digital approach and left my bullet journalling ways behind. This was partly an effort to be more ecologically friendly, but also because my work uses a digital charting platform with built-in reminders, which rendered my work bullet journal obsolete. Although this change was effective and efficient, I found myself missing my bullet journal.

About a year ago, I came across several Pinterest boards about using bullet journaling to organize your personal life and was inspired. I decided to start a new bullet journal to keep track of my personal habits. Drake does something similar with a free app called Goal Tracker. It's easy to use, visual, and motivating for him, but it doesn't do it for me. Unsurprisingly, if I can make something into an art project, I absolutely will. My bullet journal is like an adult colouring book, but more practical. Because it's just for me, I find it a very low pressure way to be creative.

I track goal areas and habits that I’m trying to develop. For example, how often I weight lift, do cardio, walk the dogs, hit my step goal, eat healthy, and if I managed to write these monthly blog posts. I also jot down important events or fun things that happened that month. Pinterest suggests that other people use their bullet journal habit tracker to track sleep, spending, books read, and a whole host of other things.

As my life changes, the habits I track change. For example, when I started my habit tracking bullet journal, I included "cook dinner." Drake had just started a new job where he worked 11 hour shifts. This meant I actually had to cook dinner a few days per week instead of relying on Drake to do it all. With his shift work schedule, I wanted to track how many nights I made dinner independently. Admittedly, it had been a while since I’d cooked and I was in need of some external motivation. There's something so satisfying for me about colouring in a square once I've completed the task. (Yes, I am that type A). Lately, I've substituted "cook dinner" for "mood." I'm cooking more often and it's much less daunting now that I'm back into it, so I no longer feel the need to track that habit. Instead, I am monitoring my mood now that I have stopped taking hormonal birth control after 14 years and am completing bi-weekly therapy sessions. If you read my blog regularly (assuming anyone does), you will know that I begun going to therapy in May 2021. I'm still at it and am finding it incredibly helpful. However, some sessions are hard work and can leave me raw and emotional.

Here are a couple of my favourite month pages/habit trackers.

December 2020

June 2021

July 2021

August 2021

Have I convinced you to give bullet journalling or habit tracking a try? If so, here’s what you need:

• Note book - Traditional bullet journal notebooks have dotted pages. I can never seem to find one in a size that I like with a price point I’m willing to pay, so I settle for regular old lined pages.

• Writing utensils - as a member of the left handed club, pencils are not my friends. They smear all over my page and hand, so I gravitate towards permanent, not smearing pens and markers. It’s also important that they do not bleed through the pages. I'm a big fan of the sharpie pens and the Zebra mildliners.

• Stencils - (Optional). I’ve picked up a few stencils out of the clearance aisle of my favourite craft store. I can't seem to find the ones I have online, but here is something similar.

• Month tabs - (Optional). I received some of these as a gift and love them! Will definitely be looking into purchasing more soon.

Do you have a bullet journal or habit tracker? Are you going to start?

Best,

Laura