5 Reasons Why You Should Start a Bullet Journal

You’ve tried all kinds of planning systems. Pre-printed planners in daily, weekly, and/or monthly formats. Big planners. Pocket planners. “Life organizers.” Digital calendars like iCalendar or Google or Microsoft. Apps that promise to keep your schedule and your tasks organized and make you be more productive. You’ve tried cheap planners and free apps as well as expensive ones. You’ve tried everything…everything except a bullet journal. 

I know the feeling.

That’s exactly where I was about two years ago when I finally caved. I’d been looking for a new planner for ages, something to get me through the last two years of my PhD. I knew the planners I’d used in the past weren’t cutting it. They were just planners. They weren’t a reliable planning “system.” And yes, there’s a huge difference between the two. I’d been investigating some of the really expensive planners/life organizers. I’m not going to name brands but I think you can guess what I’m talking about. $70+ for a customizable planner. Looks lovely but also massive in size. I knew I needed something smaller. 

I’d been looking at reviews on YouTube and started stumbling across bullet journal videos. A lot of them linked to the original video on the official Bullet Journal channel so I finally watched that and something kind of clicked. I kept watching more videos on bullet journals and got sucked into the bujo community on YouTube (and later on Pinterest and Instagram) and started to think it might be something worth trying. All the planners I’d been looking at were expensive and still didn’t have all the features I needed/wanted. So I gave bullet journaling a try. And I was hooked.

I’ve done a number of videos on my YouTube channel about my bullet journal, from my first one to setting up my newest one and a bunch in between. I’ve also spoken on this blog about what NOT to do when you start one. But I’ve never really laid out my reasons for WHY you should start one and why I’ve become such an advocate for the system, especially for graduate students. So that’s what I’m going to do today. What follows are my reasons for why you should try bullet journaling.

1. You've tried everything else

If you’ve been through the process I just described in the introduction, you’re probably at your wits end trying to find a planning system/method that you’ll actually be able to commit to. I know people who swear by their Google calendar or their Filofax. To those people I would say, great! Stick with what works, they don’t need a bullet journal. But if like me, you’ve tried everything and never stuck with it, if you have a million planners that are only half used, if you’ve missed appointments because of a glitch in your digital calendar, then you might want to try a bullet journal. 

For the record, I do use a digital calendar as a backup for calendar alerts, but I use my bullet journal as a hard copy backup for appointments and deadlines as well as for managing my daily tasks (something I can’t get iCal to do for me).

2. You need something flexible

Same bullet journal as above, but a different case.

I also love that I can have my monthly overview plus weekly layouts and daily pages. If my week isn’t that intense then I can get away with just a weekly layout, but if my week is crazy, I can have a weekly overview plus daily pages. I fill out my journal one week at a time (but you can do a month of pages in advance if you prefer) and make each week be what I need. I can manage my time and tasks down to the 15 minute time block or I can just have a large task list and spend the week working my way through it. And if I don’t use my bullet journal for a few weeks, as is usually the case when I’m on vacation or during the Christmas holidays, no problem! I just pick up where I left off. No wasted pages like when I used a pre-printed planner.

3. You either need something super plain or you need a creative outlet

Coffee shop shot of my first bullet journal while I was
still doing comps reading.

The original creator of the bullet journal made theirs very minimal. Like, minimal to the extreme. Just a notebook, a pen, and a bunch of lists and symbols. Then a whole community built up around the concept of the bullet journal and now some people create works of art with their journals.  Basically the bullet journal can be whatever you need it to be and you can switch back and forth. Decorate it or don’t. Be super minimal or extravagant. The flexibility of the bullet journal is what really sold me on it. I love how decorative some people’s journals are, almost like a form of creative therapy, but then other’s are very minimal and basic. If I have time, I love decorating my journal with stickers and washi tape. But if I don’t have time, the only bit of decoration will be some color from a highlighter or Tombow brush pen when I draw out my layout.

4. Your life feels like it’s falling apart and nothing is helping you feel otherwise

My first bullet journal, a Ted Baker notebook I had in
in my collection but hadn't found a use for.

When I started my bullet journal I felt like a crazy wreck. I was in the middle of preparing for my comp exam and getting lost down a rabbit hole of reading and note taking. I was also teaching and managing other responsibilities and preparing for my portfolio review. I needed something to keep me organized that would be super flexible. I was also a grad student on a fixed income so spending a fortune on a beautiful planner that may or may not work for me just wasn’t an option. It was just by chance that I stumbled on bullet journals in YouTube, I had been looking for reviews on one of the expensive planners. Almost immediately I thought it was what I was looking for. The other great thing about the bullet journal is that it costs nothing to give it a try. My first one was in a Ted Baker notebook that I already owned but hadn’t known what to do with. So I had a pretty notebook but a system that worked for me. 

Almost immediately I felt like it was working. I felt much more organized each week, had one dedicated place for my task list and actually used the bullet journal to track my progress on my tasks. I was using it every week, for months, consistently. That was a first. I created pages to track my progress on my comps reading and other big projects (more on that in a minute) and while it didn’t magically make my life a million times better, it did make me feel like I was more productive and getting more work done each week, without feeling totally frantic. That was a huge improvement over how I felt with other planners.

5. You’re in the middle of a major project the needs management on top of your usual schedule

My ABD roadmap, I loved having the visual
marker of my progress.

My first journal had a tracker for my comp exam reading. I also had a “road map to ABD” that I moved over to my second bullet journal. Any project I had, I created a related spread in my bullet journal to keep a list of tasks related to that project. Rather than having a million task lists, sticky notes with reminders, and notebooks for each project, everything was housed in my bullet journal along with my schedule. I’m not being overly dramatic when I say my bullet journal changed my life just a bit. Again, it didn’t make me start skipping through my day and getting things done way ahead of schedule. But I did feel much less stressed as I worked each day and was more focused on what needed to be done. And I’ve stuck with it for over two years now and am on my fourth journal.

My comp exam reading tracker, all filled in.

So those are my top 5 reasons for starting a bullet journal. If you’ve tried everything else or can’t afford one of the more expensive planners, you really have nothing to lose. All you need is a notebook and a pen. Be sure to check out my post on what not to do when you start a bullet journal, it will save you some time and money in the beginning. Test it out and see if you like it, then you can start playing with things a bit more. You can also check out this playlist on my YouTube channel for the videos I’ve done showing more of my bullet journal and how I use it.

If you start one I’d love to see pictures! Tag me on Instagram (@jesuisjustemoi) or Twitter (@SeversonSimotti). If you found this post helpful I’d also appreciate it if you would share it with your friends. If you have a bullet journal I’d love to hear your thoughts on why you started it in the comments.