How to Start Bullet Journaling

From the moment I discovered bullet journaling, I was hooked! But with the multitude of resources available, I quickly became overwhelmed and struggled with actually starting to journal. So, today, I’m sharing a few of my favorite tips, tricks, and tools that will show you how to start bullet journaling!

How to Start Bullet Journaling

From the moment I discovered bullet journaling, I was hooked! The layouts, the tools, the colors, oh my!

But with the many amazing resources available, I quickly became overwhelmed and struggled with actually starting to journal. As I worked to move past overwhelm and get started bullet journaling, I picked up a few tips and tricks.

I now use bullet journaling everyday to explore my interests, plan my time, and manage my to-dos, but it wasn’t easy to just jump in and start.

To help you with that first, challenging step, here’s what I learned about how to start bullet journaling.

Determine Your BUJO “Why”

The best way to jump in and start bullet journaling is to determine why you want to BUJO!

• Do you want to track your goals? Improve your health? Better manage your time?
• Want to keep track of your many to-do’s or projects and your progress on each?
• Or maybe you’re more interested in creating and tracking collections, like books read or movies watched or TV series completed?
• Excited about bringing a little beauty to mundane items like to-do lists and weekly schedules?
• Or perhaps your why is any of a thousand other whys?
• Or a combination of several?

I originally started bullet journaling to track my health and health-related goals, create collections, and as a creative outlet, but I later added monthly, weekly, and daily layouts to help me stay more organized and to better manage my time.

Now, organization and time management are two of the primary purposes of my bullet journal.

Once you know why you want to bullet journal, you can better determine any supplies you might need, complete additional research, if necessary, and have a clear idea of what you want to accomplish!

Not sure of your BUJO why? Pay attention to and track the layouts, images, and pins that resonate with you!

Research and Explore

Once you know your why, spend a little time researching and exploring the vast and very personal world of bullet journaling!

Get page ideas and layout inspiration related to your why, and ideas on how you’d like to organize your bullet journal (if you want an organization plan…it’s wonderful to go with the flow, too!).

I followed a few bullet journalers on Instagram and started a Bullet Journaling board on Pinterest to capture my favorite layouts, inspiration, ideas, tricks, and tools.

I also jotted down notes about things I wanted to include and how I wanted to organize my BUJO once I was ready to take that first step.

One caveat with this step: Bullet journaling evolves as you do. Enjoy your research and exploration, but don’t spend too much time or energy here!

Gather Supplies

Before you rush out to the store or jump online, please know that you don’t NEED any specialized supplies to start bullet journaling. Any notebook and writing utensil will work!

Grab an old spiral notebook or composition notebook, a pencil, and the remnants of last year’s school supplies (coloring pencils and Crayola markers, anyone?!), and you’re ready to go.

But, if you’re a self-professed office supply junkie like me, you may choose to purchase a new journal and a few supplies.

No big surprise, but I seriously {{heart}} journals and colorful pens and markers! 🙂

Pre-Plan and Sketch

When I first started bullet journaling, it was too overwhelming for me to design layouts, and I just wanted to get started using my bullet journal! So, I took layout inspiration from my favorite bloggers and tweaked them to meet my needs.

Even with that existing inspiration, I started with a little pre-planning and sketching.

I create a basic sketch of the layout I want to use on an empty page of an old bullet journal or on a photocopy of an empty page. I make any changes I need to the layout, take note of colors or embellishments I want to use, and note the amount of space I’ll need for each element. This way when I actually create the layout in my bullet journal, I know exact spacing, colors, etc.

If I’ve created a similar layout before or if it’s not too complex, I’ll even sketch in pencil on the actual page I’m going to use.

Pre-planning and sketching help to control for my perfectionistic nature. I have mistakes in my bullet journal (it’s part of the process), but this step help to minimize them along with my frustration and disappointment.

Embrace Imperfection

Mistakes happen. Things change. Life happens.

No matter how hard you work, how much preparation and sketching you do, you’ll create layouts that you just don’t end up liking. Or you’ll goof when creating a layout, even after carefully planning it out step-by-step.

That’s okay! It’s part of the process, and it helps you to evolve as well.

Learn to embrace imperfection when you start bullet journaling, and you’ll enjoy this tool and the process much more!

Just Start

Bullet journaling is an incredibly unique and subjective activity. That’s one of the characteristics that really appeals to me. You and I can make our bullet journals whatever we want them to be!

If these tips don’t resonate with you, fuh getta bout em. 😉

This is your project, your journal….

Just start and see where the process takes you!

How to Start Bullet Journaling

When you first discover bujoing, it’s easy to become overwhelmed and unsure of how to start bullet journaling. But by determining why you want to bullet journal, spending a little time to research and explore, gathering a few basic supplies, pre-planning and sketching, embracing imperfection, and JUST STARTING, you’ll soon discover the fun and versatility of this tool!

I hope you found today’s post helpful and that you’re ready to jump in and start bullet journaling!

Related Posts

If you found today’s post helpful, you might also enjoy these related posts:

• 9 Things I Learned in My First Year of Bullet Journaling
• How I Stay Organized with Bullet Journaling
• My Favorite Bullet Journal Supplies
• Favorite Bullet Journal Layouts That Will Inspire You

What are your favorite tips for how to start bullet journaling?

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Thanks for joining me today!