How to Use a Bullet Journal for Fashion Blogging

Ever wondered how to use a Bullet Journal? In this post I’m going to be giving you an insight into how I use the planner, why it has been my go-to journal for over a year, plus some handy Bullet Journal hacks to make your planning faster and simpler!

Starting off the New Year is as exciting as much as it can be overwhelming! Many of us rush to buy annual planners that we first have to learn how to use, only to then find out that they don’t really cater to our needs. I believe that putting too much faith in a planner designed by and for somebody else is one of the contributing factors leading to us giving up on all of our goals and New Year Resolutions by the end of February! If I had to choose the single, most useful organisation and productivity tool from last year, I would have to say it was learning how to use a Bullet Journal! No more scraps of paper lying all over my desk in addition to the annual planner and numerous other notebooks. Now I plan most of my schedule and to-do lists in one simple planner.

What is it and How to Set up a Bullet Journal?

A Bullet Journal is a simple yet effective way of journaling and planning. If you’re a fan of the micro/macro system then you will love the Bullet Journal’s ability to plan on a big and small scale. You can use the journal as a habit tracker, as a business planner, as a yearly diary, and in many more ways. Surprisingly, Bullet Journals are empty diary notebooks, with nothing but plain paper inside (traditionally with small bullet point dots instead of lines), but they give you the option to customise how you like. Setting up a Bullet Journal is easy, but I would recommend making notes on a separate piece of paper, detailing what you would like your journal to include? Now, here comes the fun part. You can then begin to create your journal pages in any order and in any style that suits your personal preferences. Should you search for Bullet Journal inspiration on social media, you will see how creative and colourful they can be. The versatility of this type of planner means that you can get as creative as you want or keep the layout as simple as you like.

What You Need to Get Started:

· A Bullet Journal

· Pens

· Ruler (I love this gold one)

· Stickers (optional but make your Bullet Journal more creative, attractive and well planned).

Bullet Journal Page Ideas

I first got into using a Bullet Journal during April 2017. In all the years that I have been running a business and needed a good planner, I have always struggled to find a suitable planning system that resonates with my needs. Ironically, so many planners (even those created by ecommerce businesses) cater more to ‘traditional’ brick and mortar business rather than to online business owners. I know what I need from a planner but when you buy a ready-to-use planner, they can be very limiting and tend to dictate what you need to write or plan. After spending hours researching different planner types and then starting off the year with a standard yearly week-to-view diary which was too small for my business planning, I decided to research more about the Bullet Journal method. And from April 2017 I have been a keen journalist and happy fan of the journalling system. Admittedly, I have customised the system to make it most suitable for my daily business life, but the beauty of the journal is that you can modify it until you achieve your desired results.

I don’t use the bullet point system that is best associated with the journaling system and I don’t index each page either. Instead, I’ve created a straightforward planning system that allows me to add pages with ease, as well as keep track of numerous activities in my business and personal life simultaneously. If you’re unsure what to add to your journal planner then here are some excellent Bullet Journal page ideas that may prove helpful:

· Productivity planner

· Monthly calendar

· Day-to-view planner

· Fitness tracker

· Website stats tracker

· Social media planner

· Recipe book

· Weight loss / weight gain progress sheet

· To-do lists

· Bucket lists

· List of goals

· Editorial planning

· Youtube video content planner

· Content planner

And the list goes on…

In my 2018 journal, I am currently using the following Bullet Journal pages:

· Productivity planner

· To-do lists

· Bucket lists

· List of movies to watch

· List of books to read

· List of goals

· Editorial planning

· Website stats tracker

· Social media planner

Bullet Journal Hacks

A planner full of plain paper gives you the option to be as creative, artistic or as simple as you choose. If you’re a visual person then you may choose to add in lots of beautifully curated sketches and calligraphy to your planner. If you respond best to text then keep it simple with just your planner and a plain black pen. There is so much journalling inspiration out there, just search Pinterest to see what others are doing. Personally, I like to mix mine up a bit. Some pages are full of cute graphics and fancy writing, whereas my to-do lists are very simple. Here are some Bullet Journal hacks to make journalling simpler:

· I don’t use the index in the journal and I don’t number my pages, so instead I colour code my pages. I use red pen for blog planning, blue for to-do lists, green for business notes, and black for personal life stuff.

· Don’t forget to draw up things like graphs, tables and charts – another great way to stay organised.

· This year I’ve started a “Productivity in Pixels” table. Basically, I colour in each square at the end of the day based on how productive I feel I’ve been. The options are: 1) very productive, 2) semi-productive, or 3) not productive. Each option has a different colour. I assigned “not productive” to a brown pen because I hate the colour brown and therefore it is the colour I want to see least of in my table.

· Interestingly, I like the colour red (it is one of my favourite colours), so I respond well to the colour. Many planners avoid using red because it’s supposed to signify negative vibes, whereas it actually motivates me…another great reason to use this planning system because you get full control over colours, formatting and content!

· I have all of my tables and charts, and goals at the front and at the back I have my miscellaneous business notes, and personal notes.

· When I create a to-do list, I use different colours for each day of the week so that I can differentiate each individual day if I’ve listed more than one day on a single page. This eliminates the feeling of overwhelm because I’m not seeing one long list of tasks to complete but just a couple of tasks per day.