This trial has had me thinking a lot, but surprisingly, not that much about bullet journaling itself. Towards the end, I’ve been thinking about my recent focus on systems over execution. Another element has been my mediocre ability to consistently keep up with daily habits. Although, my final change to the theme journal definitely helped me get through the finish line feeling positive.
My Thoughts Overall
Over the past few months, I’ve had a number of things I’ve wanted to work on. My trials, however, have been focusing too much on trying to create habits and systems to facilitate that work, instead of the work itself. Looking back, I feel I spent too much time thinking about what I needed to do on a given day instead of just picking a project and making progress, something I did with limited success for a few days.
With that lingering thought out of the way, I don’t have much strong feelings one way or another. I struggled to keep myself consistent throughout this trial. Many days, I would jot down a few things quickly at the end of the day instead of the beginning.
Daily habits have not always been the easiest thing to introduce to my day. I’ve written before about how I find it easier to remove than it is to add. Trying to build linked habits is definitely the best approach to additions. I was able to get into a decent groove with my morning coffee, stretch, and journaling for a few days, but due to a lot of changes around the house with an upcoming move, a ton of my daily habits have been thrown out of whack.
Theme Journal
While the habit wasn’t ideal this last week, I did like the introduction to the full elements of the theme journal. Having specific prompts for gratitude, freeform thinking, and my priority every day was a nice way to get things started.
The gratitude sections were a good way to get thinking positively early in the day, especially the professional section. It can be easy to take for granted the positive elements of work when there are times when those don’t always get a chance to shine.
The least used section was the lines for free thoughts. Previous journals I’ve written have only been this section and somehow were able to fill a full page or more. Here, I felt myself writing one or two sentences, sometimes something along the lines of, “I don’t really have anything to say today.”
Looking Forward
I like the idea of revisiting this with a physical book over the app on my tablet. I also think sticking to a more rigid format would be beneficial too. I would certainly weigh the two major options, the theme journal and bullet journal methods against each other, but the former certainly has the advantage.
For now, I’m going to put this back on the shelf. For the next four weeks, I’ll be returning to a fun, creative hobby that I fell out of the last few months, streaming on twitch.tv. Over the next few weeks, I want to make an extra effort to treat it more like a part time job and see if it still offers the same, if not a greater, feeling of enjoyment.
Trying Out Before Buying In 