light purple bullet journal

I struggle to stay organized, and sometimes (okay, all the time) I have too many ideas in my head at any given moment. If I’m just sitting still, I can think of several things I should be doing, a few more that I want to be doing, and a crazy idea I’m dreaming of. But finding a way to change those from to-do lists to actionable tasks I can work on each day is not easy. I’ve seen people making bullet journals, and I’ve wondered if that would help. But taking the time to set it up is exhausting, and for those of us who aren’t visually creative, it can be a challenge to come up with ideas that look as good you want it to.

When I saw this pre-made bullet journal, it felt like it could be exactly what I’ve been wanting. The pages are pre-designed, so you can just fill them in, week by week, month by month, and track the small daily tasks that add up to finished projects.

The journal starts out with yearly goals you can set for yourself, including travel ideas, savings, exercise tracker, and a place to add your favorite movies of the year and to track your reading. Then it’s on to the monthly pages to track your mood, sleep, eating, and budgeting. There is a place for what you’re grateful for and a habit tracker so you can make or break a habit of your choice. And then there are weeks to fill in with activities, appointments, meetings, and priorities.

Each month has a different theme, like hearts or planets or travel. There are two bookmarks, so you can easily find your place in the yearly tracker as well as the monthly tracker. There is an elastic pen holder (although the bullet journals I’ve seen use a bunch of different pen colors to add to the visual interest) and a small folder at the back to hold small papers or receipts. There are some blank (dotted, but otherwise blank) pages at the back, so you can add more thoughts or lists, or you can track things that aren’t specifically included earlier in the book.

I love that this journal is so thoughtfully designed. There are whimsical illustrations and clever trackers. It makes me happy that everything is mapped out for me already, but it still leaves room for me to make this my own. Anyone who has wanted to start a bullet journal but was overwhelmed at how much work it takes to get started will find this an easy way to jump right in. It’s a years’ worth of journaling, but there are no dates, so you can start whenever you want. It’s easy.