the reasons that i'm quitting bullet journaling at least for now
some of the reasons why i hate bullet journaling
why bullet journaling didn't work for me at that point i hated bullet journaling
*indistinct voices speaking over each other*
you are most likely going to quit bullet journaling and i'm going to tell you why
ever wonder why every time you open youtube there's yet another video with some nice looking
person with a sad expression holding up a notebook with why i quit bullet journaling in front of it
well i did and as a bullet journalist of almost seven years and now a professional i felt i was
qualified to do a little bit of digging some investigative bullet journalism into this matter
to discover why so many people quit using their bullet journal first a brief history lesson the
bullet journal method was developed by writer carol and first posted on the internet back
in 2013. this simple method for organizing and planning your life with just a notebook and a pen
slowly spread across the internet before exploding with popularity around 2017 or so becoming a
full-on internet phenomenon since then there has been an ever-growing number of bullet journalists
sharing their work on the internet including myself and an ever widening gap between those who
follow the bare bones original simple minimalist method and those of us who like to get a little
more creative and artistic in our bullet journals the method itself is super simple it's basically a
do-it-yourself planner that allows you to track and plan what you need and leave what you don't
so if it's completely customizable and up to the individual how they want to create and use it then
why do so many people quit well i did the research so you don't have to first i went to youtube
and searched those after mentioned why i quit bullet journaling videos of which there are many
and i watched them all and took notes and also made graphs i also pulled my instagram followers
and added in those data points too so what did i discover the same reasons came up over and
over again five reasons to be exact so let's go through them one at a time and allow me to share
just some tips and tricks that might help you avoid these common pitfalls and allow you to enjoy
your bullet journal for years to come reason one performance a theme that reemerged over and over
again while watching these videos and looking through the instagram responses was exhaustion
due to a perceived need to perform their bullet journal for others social media is the antidote
to both productivity and creativity when you're creating with the intent to share the creative
process can morph from authentic expression into hollow performance are you performing your
bullet journal or are you truly using it serving your own needs first beauty is not a condition
of bullet journaling getting too caught up in aesthetics and forgetting about productivity and
even more than that purpose will leave you drained unmotivated and uninspired focus on why you like
to bullet journal aka find your purpose and stick to it and i want to add in here that it is totally
okay if your number one priority if your purpose for having a bullet journal is to create something
beautiful i personally adore the relaxation and mindfulness that comes along with getting to
create beautiful artwork in my bullet journal on a regular basis i'm so much more likely to use it
when it's aesthetically pleasing to me but if that doesn't matter to you or just isn't a priority
trying to make it beautiful to fit in with the online aesthetic of it all is just going to hinder
you for me transitioning from the minimalist basic system into the more aesthetic artistic version of
a bullet journal allowed me to rediscover my love of drawing and painting my bullet journal is now
both my main productivity tool in both my personal life and my work life as well as a fun hobby and a
creative outlet and if you're feeling conflicted just remember you don't have to choose one or the
other there is no reason at all why you can't use the original minimalist system for a couple months
and then have a super artistic aesthetic theme or two and then back to the minimalist system
when you get busy or just don't have any creative ideas and then back again to creating a beautiful
painting or drawing it's your bullet journal you can create it however you like and you don't have
to make a million rules for yourself to follow you can also do some sort of amalgamation of the two
where maybe you create a really beautiful artistic cover page and then every other spread
is just bare bones basic this is your bullet journal we're talking about you make the rules
key word there being you because if you get too caught up in performing
your bullet journal for others on the internet and not prioritizing your own wants and needs
you will quit reason two perfectionism i'm sure you saw this one coming because for some reason
the venn diagram that is bullet journalists and perfectionists is literally just a circle and
as a recovering perfectionist myself i can 100 empathize but holding yourself to an impossible
standard and giving up as soon as you make a mistake forget about a spread don't do each habit
every day or have messy handwriting it's just a recipe for misery and that goes for your entire
life not just bullet journaling take it from me let's get this out of the way you will make
mistakes you will end up with spreads you don't like or don't use and that's just the process no
one is immune trial and error is an integral part of developing a bullet journal system
that is uniquely suited to your life and your brain and if you stop yourself from even trying
because you're too afraid to make a mistake you're missing out on all of the beautiful
things that bullet journaling could bring to your life i think when talking about perfectionism it's
really important to remember reason one you don't have to share your bullet journal with anyone if
you're dealing with perfectionism you already know that you are your number one critic but the only
thing that can make perfectionism worse the only thing that can top our own critique of our own
work is putting it online for the world to see and dealing with others criticism and opinions
compounded on top of our own so just don't do it to yourself especially if you're trying to build
a new habit trust me it is way more fun to share your bullet journal once you've found your groove
once you know what works for you and what you like you'll feel a lot more confident and comfortable i
promise perfect is the enemy of the good it's also the enemy of getting started getting things done
and feeling good about yourself a bullet journal isn't supposed to be perfect it's supposed to
be useful in your pursuit of what matters to you whether that's mindfulness productivity creativity
relaxation organization or some combination of the above mine is chock full of mistakes
scribbles half finished spreads spreads that i forgot about and coffee stains and
i wouldn't want it any other way i don't need something perfect i need something
that i'm motivated to use that's where the art comes in so that i can get my [ __ ] together
and keep it together ideally a bullet journal isn't supposed to be perfect and neither are
we and if you get too caught up in making your bullet journal perfect you will quit reason 3
comparison social media pits us against each other to serve the algorithm and on visual
platforms like instagram and pinterest that means prioritizing spreads that are familiar
tidy and eye-catching did you notice what was glaringly absent from that list useful real
tailored to the individual comparison truly is the thief of joy and so many people who quit bullet
journaling cite this internal pressure to live up to what they see online as a major factor in
losing motivation with our bujo this doesn't just apply to artistic standards or feeling like you
have to outdo other bullet journalists this can also result in people feeling like they have to do
the exact same spreads as everyone else in the exact same way even if it doesn't work for them
of course feel free to try spreads that intrigue you but also keep an open mind be critical of
how that spread functions for you how do you feel setting it up how do you feel using it do
you feel motivated to use it are there aspects of the spread that don't apply to your life or
other aspects you wish you could include bullet journals are customizable which means you have
to put in that little bit more effort to analyze spreads that you incorporate into your system and
adjust them or eliminate them as needed and that doesn't mean you can't bring a spread back later
if you miss it or bring it back in a different way but it does mean that you don't set up 20 spreads
every single month out of a feeling of obligation when you really only want and need for
so gather inspiration online try new things but always stay true to your wants needs and purpose
because if you let comparison get the best of you you will quit reason 4 time ha time that ever
elusive dimension of which there is never enough the most frequently repeated reason for quitting
bullet journaling that i saw in my research was that it was too time-consuming and listen i get it
we are busy we don't have time to set up elaborate spreads every day of the week again this is my
full-time job and i still don't have time to set up a new spread every day most of us can still
manage a bullet journal in some form but if you are well and truly so busy that you can't even
keep up with the simplest version of this system then it's likely that bullet journaling isn't for
you and that is completely valid the trade-off here is flexibility if you have no extra time
and have no problem following a more rigid pre-made planner then that's what you should do
but getting the flexibility that comes with making your own bullet journal means putting in that
little bit more time there really is no way around it so if you want my tips for sticking with a
bullet journal without spending every waking hour on its maintenance then listen up first of all if
what is most time consuming for you is rewriting tasks over and over again i highly suggest you
check out the rolling weekly it saved my bullet journal and i cannot sing its praises enough
i'll link a video explaining it here it saves so much time if you're spending ages on creating art
then simplify my solution here is to create artistic monthly spreads but very simple and
minimalist weekly spreads so my initial setup for the month with a cover page and a quote page and a
calendar i'll make those really artistic i might whip out some paints but for my day to day in my
weeklies i use the exact same layout every single week and all i need is a single pen if you have a
few hours on a day off to set up your month you can do this method i do all of my monthly art in
my bullet journal in a single day love and use a spread but find yourself dreading setting up each
week or month try creating a longer term version of the spread that you can just set up once per
bullet journal if you can make a version of this spread that can last several months at a time you
just need to set it up once until you move into a new notebook give it a try and ultimately my
biggest tip or piece of advice here is that the entire process of setting up your bullet journal
whether it's a new notebook or a new month or your next week it gets easier the longer you do it once
you've worked through different types of spreads once you've found what works for you what you need
what you like the setup process becomes much much easier takes less brain power and less time this
is so important because if you don't learn to use your bullet journal time more efficiently you will
quit reason 5 overwhelm this is such a common problem within the bullet journaling community
and it makes me so sad because it is 100 avoidable people jump in too fast too soon and get in way
over their head so many bujo newbies start with like 25 super artistic and elaborate spreads and
then wonder why they struggle to keep up with it burning hot and then burning out so start
small start with only a handful of spreads and go from there i personally would recommend starting
with the absolute bare bones system as explained by writer carol in this video start with the
spreads you absolutely need future log monthly log daily logs and try it out for a couple months
grab a notebook you have on hand grab a random pen or pencil and just try the basic method get a feel
for it and see if it even works for your brain because as awesome as the bullet journal system is
as modular as flexible as it is it's not going to work for every single person so don't jump
in headfirst buy super expensive supplies and put in a huge amount of commitment in both time
and effort into the system before you even know if you like it once you get a handle on how the
system functions once you figure out if you like it and what does and doesn't work for you then you
can start to add a little more complexity and some embellishments and i know this might not be what
you want to hear i know the artistic element of a bullet journal the aesthetic of it all is really
what draws a lot of people to bullet journaling and i understand i love that side of it too
but i used the original method for years with barely any use of color let alone art before i
got to where i am now and that allowed me to build a solid foundation of understanding of the system
before it got complicated you don't need to wait as long as i did you don't have to wait years but
i would definitely recommend trying at least a couple weeks maybe a couple months if you can
before you get too deep just give yourself a chance to learn the system and adjust bullet
journaling is a marathon not a sprint and if you rush too quick in the beginning by doing too much
too soon you will get overwhelmed and you will quit so there you go those are the five main
reasons i discovered in my research that people quit their bullet journals and they're likely
the reasons you'll quit too if you don't find solutions that work for you all of this being said
it's okay if bullet journaling doesn't work for you if you've tried a couple of these tips or
maybe all of them and it's still not working it's okay to walk away you are not a failure the bullet
journal system just failed to fit itself into your life plus remember quitting doesn't have
to be a permanent thing you can take a break you can take a sabbatical and you can come back later
maybe bullet journaling doesn't work for your life right now but it will in five years time
or next month and the bullet journal system will be there when you come back to it if you come back
to it let me know in the comments if you've ever struggled with any of these five issues and what
you tried to fix them and whether any of those fixes worked for you also if you've quit bullet
journaling i would love to hear your experiences and if you're considering starting a bullet
journal this was probably a good video to start with but i can also recommend my how to start a
bullet journal video which i will link up here and in the description box thank you to my patrons for
your support extra special thanks to our newest patrons amelia amy stephanie ashley and merdula
welcome all of you to the squad we are so excited to have you if you at home want to join the squad
feel free there's a link in the card and in the description box down below and with that i'm gonna
get going thank you so much for watching this video and i'll see you really soon in my next one
bye friends feel free to check out some of my other bullet journal content here and here