My Bullet Journal Story

In elementary school, I had three coloured gel pens that the girls sitting in my vicinity would fight over to use. In high school and university (shout out to YorkU!), I got a free agenda every year where I could jot down important notes to keep track of homework and extracurricular activities. From a young age, colour coding and keeping a schedule were very important things to me.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve really enjoyed taking on responsibilities and making sure that I’m delivering the best I can deliver. Agendas and different coloured pens were a great way to keep track of everything I wanted to get. Crossing something off my to do list has given me an irreplaceable kind of satisfaction. For a while, though, I did the bare minimum and that seemed to have worked for me.

Fast forward to university, where the learning was different and I was struggling getting things done (oh no!). After going to my career and counselling centre’s workshops on stress and time management, I started doing one thing that made my life easier AND better: I took even more control of my time.

I started planning my days to the HOUR. I knew that I had to schedule everything: classes, bus AND train AND subway times, a part time job, events and workshops, curricular activities, homework and studying, and a bit of a social life (although I barely had one in undergrad). This might be extreme to some people, but for me, it was data. And data helps me make important decisions.

At the beginning, this data helped me decide which classes to take, which assignments I needed to prioritize, where to fit in my work shifts. So this scheduling did help — but only on an immediate level.

Fast forward to mid-2016, when I heard a bit about bullet journals and thought they were a neat idea. By this time, I had lifted my hourly schedule policy in favour of exploring career options and taking things day by day. And then, the catalyst: a break up (ugh, I know). It was the kind of event that made me question what I’m doing with my life and what kind of person I want to be.

And so… I grabbed a small, lined notebook that I purchased at Michaels for 2 CAD, and started to plan my life. Again. I started off with small ambitions: plan my days and weeks, not to the hour, but with the important things I wanted to do in mind. I also started to journal my thoughts, hopes, and goals — not knowing how foundational this practice would be later on.*

This 2016 journal inspired me to adopt a sort of bullet journal in 2017, which I improved on in 2018. Both of these journals were also lined, but I started to divide the pages into months, weeks, and days. I also added in space to journal and list out my goals and aspirations. My journal started to become an extension of myself.

Thanks to attending design school in 2017, I grew an affinity for data visualization — even if that data viz was me colour coding my mood — as well as unlined pages. I flexed my creativity and desire for control, and for 2019 I bought a Leuchtturm 1917 dotted journal for around 25 CAD. It was totally worth it. And with this fancy new bullet journal, I really went to town in personal development and becoming an Asian-Canadian version of Leslie Knope. I added exercises from Lavendaire, Fran Hauser, and good ol’ Pinterest. I made mini vision boards for each month. I wrote down people’s birthdays so I wouldn’t have to rely on Facebook anymore. And I with each addition, I became happier and self-possessed. I substituted a template somebody gave me for my own curated version, and a teeter totter of overwhelm and stuck-ness to a manageable balance of structure and freedom.

Life lessons from my bullet journal:

• Iteration is key. I started with free school agendas to weekly templates, and built up to use lined and then finally dotted notebooks.
• Mistakes are expected and welcome. Aiming for perfection isn’t the point. Sure, I use a ruler when drawing lines, but even that leads to mishaps. Use this as an opportunity to acknowledge that you’re human, and move on.
• The process can and should be enjoyable. Sure, there’s labour required to doing things that are important to you, but if you include things that make you happy, the work doesn’t feel as bad.
• Setting aside time to take care of myself is vital. The act of putting yourself first can be anything from comforting to rebellion.
• If it’s important to you, it will get done. If you keep writing that same to do list item 8 days in a row, ask why it’s been 8 days. Which leads me to my next point…
• How you spend your time reveals a lot about you. That thing you keep putting off might indicate your fear of failure or the fact that you might not actually care about it. That’s okay, and that’s good. Address this, do the thing, ask for help, delegate, mitigate, or eliminate.
• Play to your strengths. I learned that I can create structure out of chaos, and make it beautiful. I learned that I can prioritize things, say no, and get the scary stuff done. And I’ve used these skills and tools to my advantage.

Thank you for reading all the way, and feel free to ask questions in the comments or at camille.talag@gmail.com. Happy journalling, and be well!

*I’ve been writing in a journal since I was 12, but the majority of my teenage years and early-mid 20s consisted of recapping my days and complaining about things and people haha. I’ve since learned to use journalling in my mental health practice and as a way to get inspired to make my goals happen. Perhaps another post on this in the future?