I have been a stationery junkie for as far back as I can remember and an avid planner. While everybody at school carried homework diaries, I carried a file-o-fax or a trapper-keeper which not only helped me to organize my home work, but also my extra-curricular activities as well as personal engagements and chores.
As I grew older, I also outgrew these planning methods as my days became busier and my responsibilities multiplied. I found it difficult to find a system or a pre-planned diary that I loved enough to be consistent with. Out of frustration, I switched to simple lined journals and found myself maintaining as many as 5 at a time for all different things happening in my crazy schedule.
And then I finally discovered bullet journals. I was in love and there has been no going back since. The dotted grids made the possibilities seem endless while still providing enough definition to a blank page.
Here are 5 main reasons I began using a bujo and have stuck to it.
1. Those pretty dots
A lined diary or any page which is marked with grids or any form of borders or boundaries, controls your writing size, style and direction. On a blank page on the other hand; well lets say without direction, my writing loses its way. With dotted grids however, you are free to choose whichever way you want to write, doodle, draw or scribble even, all the while having those pretty little dots keeping you in check and guiding you where you need it. It is the perfect blend of blank and lined paper without being either.
2. Mixing up different layouts
Staring at the same layout week after week is mundane. This was a problem I encountered especially with dated diaries which have the entire year mapped out for you. With a bujo, I could have a vertical layout one week, and a horizontal the next; a day to a page if I wanted or all 5 weekdays on one page if the week wasn't busy. This kept me motivated to keep planning and excited about how I could mix things up next week. If I had no inspiration, I'd just revert to using a layout which I had enjoyed using in the past.
3. No space constraints
Because a bujo is populated as you go along, you can take up 10 pages in a month that is busy and only 3 in a month where you took it easy. I generally don't plan when I'm travelling, I like to be spontaneous. Hence these holiday weeks are lighter on my bujo but heavy on my social media pages :)
4. No guilt of having un-used space
The problem with dated diaries is that in order to utilize them completely, they need to be purchased at the beginning of the year (or at the end of the previous year). I've always found it awkward to be starting from March, in case that was when I was purchasing the diary, and having all of January and February blank. Those white or ivory unused sheets would irritate the journaller OCD out of me! With a bujo, you start where you like and if for some reason you don't want to journal for June and July, no harm done, August can begin right after May ends.
5. Personalization
With a bujo, I found the absolute personalizing freedom I had been hungry for. If I felt the sections I had created in one month did not yield any productivity, I could remove them from my next month. e.g, if a calorie intake log was something highly unutilized in October, I didn't have to continue with it in November, I could replace it with a meal tracker or remove it all together. I could change the themes of my monthly layouts anytime I wanted, be fancy one month and completely simplistic the next. My bujo was mine to create, journal, re-live and utilize. A mini-me :)
That is not to say that any other planning method is any less effective. This is just what has worked for me. I also have never tried using the original bullet journaling method which accompanies the bujo either. We all have our own ways of staying organized, prioritizing and creating. There is no right or wrong way, its just a matter of getting things done and completing our days in what we would consider as productive a day as possible.
