Keeping Organized

I posted about using a bullet journal recently, and I figured I’d update you on how it’s been going. I don’t have any shiny pictures, but that’s more because there’s still a bunch of personal stuff on the pages that y’all don’t need to see.

Next time I set up a weekly page or so, I’ll take some pictures and let you see how I’m going. But this is how I’m actually doing using it! Let’s chat.

So I’ve had a habit tracker, and out of all the things I have in this bullet journal, I’m the most pleased with that. It keeps me accountable for all the things I’ve been meaning to do and not doing. I’m tracking my water intake, how many steps I walk, how many hours of sleep I get, whether or not I do any writing (and I’m specifically tracking creative writing in my books, not blog posts), whether or not I read at least 30 minutes a day, if I do my Duolingo lesson for the day, if I spend money on junk or not (usually meaning junk food, like Wendy’s or McDonald’s), and if I read at least a chapter of the repost of Addergoole. (I read most/some of Addergoole in its first run, but fall away and now that it’s reposted, I need to finally go back and read it all.)

I highlight in a block when I accomplish the task, and for the steps and sleep I write in the actual amount. It’s a good way of telling at a glance how I’ve been doing–and when I suddenly have a whole path of blank boxes, I see how badly I’m doing.

I don’t like blank boxes. I don’t like it at all.

I’ve also got a weight loss tracker, pound by pound until I’m where I want to be, a spending tracker to keep track of how much money I spend (which shouldn’t be as much as it ever is), a savings tracker… I’m forcing myself to be held accountable for everything I’m doing. And Lyn and I have decided to be accountable to each other for weight loss together. (Everything’s better together with friends!)

And already I’ve started to see the benefits of this. I’ve been forgetting/been too busy to do all kinds of things, and having put them in my bujo forces me to remember them. And since I put that all in the night before, it’s when I’m actually thinking of these things. Not affected by how unimpressed I am by the thought of doing it all that day, that morning. I see what needs to be done and I do it. Sure, I’m still distracted by stuff, but I’ve had such better luck with accomplishing tasks with the bujo than I ever did before.

If I can actually keep this up…maybe I won’t just sit around on stuff forever anymore. Wouldn’t that be a novel concept.

What about all of you? Anyone else a bujo user out there? How do you keep yourself occupied and on track? I know there’s stuff like HabitRPG and Habitica that help with all this as well; have you had success with those? I’d love to talk shop with you all. Tell me how you’re doing! And next time I can, I’ll share some pictures of my journal either on here or on Twitter or something. Instagram. Who knows, I have so many social media things.

Have a good week, everyone. Be productive!