3 Reasons To Start Bullet Journaling In 2023

Five years ago, I didn’t have any reason to bullet journal except to put into good use the stationery supplies I often received during Christmas. Yet every time the calendar hit December 31st, I would find myself writing down my year-end reflections and goals for the next 12 months.

If this scenario seems familiar to you, it might be because you’re also a bullet journaler without even knowing it!

In today’s article, I want to share with you three reasons why you might just stick with it for many years to come. After all, it’s never too early to get a jump start on the new year 2023 😉.

In this article, you will discover:

3 Reasons to try bullet journaling
Things that you can track using bujo spreads
How bullet journaling helps in organizing your life and school/work stuff
Trending bujo spreads you can try in 2023

Woman sitting on a bench in the park and journaling.

Reasons Why You Should Start Bullet Journaling 📔🖊️

1. Bullet Journaling Makes You More Accountable

If you want to be truly committed to your goals (read: New Year’s resolutions), your best bet is to put them into analog writing. By doing so, you’re creating a standalone visual reminder of things you wish to accomplish minus the clutter of phone-based organizers.

Indeed, there’s nothing like a series of notifications on your phone or digital device to make you feel overwhelmed with things to do. Often, this overload of reminders gets lost in your daily routine, as your to-dos would overlap across your schedule.

The trackers that are manually input into physical journal pages are unchangeable. This means you can’t alter or assume your progress rate unless you decide to rip off the pages and be back at square one. By seeing how much you have accomplished, you can remain accountable for your progress or the lack thereof.

Also, there’s a good chance you’ll stay motivated every time you see your progress or whenever you tick an item off your to-do list. It’s like this scenario: you see things you have already accomplished, be inspired by your achievements, and then move on to tackle bigger goals.

2. Bullet Journaling Helps Track Your Habits

One of the reasons to bullet journal in the coming new year is to start monitoring your habits more effectively.

According to an analysis, paper-based self-trackers are very flexible because they incorporate context and add a personal touch that is missing in their digital counterparts. ¹. What this means to journalers is that they can treat their bujo as an extension of themselves, where they can attach their goals to habit formation.

Most digital trackers are rigid and may be limited to money-saving and productivity. But with bullet journals, you may also indicate tracking your water consumption and household chores. By the end of the week or month, you’ll even have a visual overview of how you performed in these areas.

Trackers may also help you discover things about yourself that you might not be able to learn without doing bullet journaling. For instance, your water tracker could be telling you that you frequently miss your regular fluid intakes in the afternoon because you don’t rise from your desk until you’re done working.

Another example of an effective habit tracker is the sleep log. It tracks how early or late you’ve been hitting the sack every night so you can see a pattern. This pattern may give you an insight into your sleeping habits and why you are feeling groggy during the day.

You can have as many trackers as you need for monitoring not just your productivity levels but also your well-being. If you’re taking supplements and vitamins, you can track the doses throughout the day, which is often difficult to keep in mind.

Also, if you’re trying to make reading a habit, you can start tracking the pages you’ve read every week across multiple titles. The list of things that you can monitor using your bullet journal is exhaustive yet flexible enough to motivate progress.

3. Bullet Journaling Keeps You More Organized

The point of bullet journaling is to help you achieve a work-life balance (or improve your school-life equation). By streamlining your plans, to-dos, and calendar reminders, you can develop better prioritization skills that will allow you to live life to the fullest.

Bullet journaling simplifies your schedule into manageable bits so you don’t feel overwhelmed with things to do. I don’t know about you, but seeing my lists and trackers in an orderly fashion makes me more motivated to maximize my time and resources.

For some journalers, they would treat their bujo as a brain dump of sorts. Journal spreads such as reflection pages, daily vocabulary, and mind maps are just some of the brain dump ideas that you can add to your bujo. By making it a daily practice, your thoughts can be more organized and set on more important pursuits.

From as seemingly trivial as making the bed to more career-focused activities like appointment setting, bullet journaling can be a great organizational tool that ensures your well-being is in top shape despite the demands of housekeeping and the daily grind.

Starting your journey to bullet journaling may sound intimidating. But luckily for you and those new converts, you won’t be starting out clueless. There are a lot of resources and inspiration from the internet that you can use for creating bujo spreads suitable to your goals and preferences.

Here are just some trending examples to try this 2023:

Beverage Tracker – for those who want to be mindful of their fluid intake
Budget Tracker – for money-savvy journalers who want to be on top of their finances
Mandalas – for practicing mindfulness and focus
Travel Master Packing List – for those jet setters who want a stress-free holiday

Conclusion

There are plenty of reasons to bullet journal in 2023, and this article has given you just a few of its amazing benefits. I hope that by now, you have figured out how bullet journaling may help you in achieving not just your New Year’s resolutions, but also each small habit leading to a better version of yourself.

In this article, you have learned the reasons why you should start bullet journaling for tracking habits and other things, as well as how it helps you stay organized and learn a few bujo ideas to add to your pages this 2023.

Do you have questions about starting yours? Drop me a line and let’s connect!