Do you ever feel your bullet journaling motivation going down the drain? Well, I have. There were periods where I didn’t even want to touch my bullet journal.
Recently, I hit a bullet journaling slump. I felt unmotivated to open my journal, going a whole week without using my journal. As a result, I was less productive and didn’t complete all of my necessary tasks.
However, I’ve been able to get over my slump each time and come back more motivated than ever — that’s what I want to share in this blog post today. I will show you my top bullet journal tips to get you back in the game.
1. Pinterest
Pinterest is amazing for finding inspiration, ideas, and motivation for your bullet journaling endeavors. Seeing other people’s ideas helps me generate ideas for my journal.
When I was in art school, almost everyone used Pinterest. Building off from other people’s ideas and incorporating your artistic touch is creativity is cultivated. Everything starts with some sort of inspiration.
Resource: Follow us on Pinterest for daily bullet journal inspiration and tips 🙂
2. Don’t compare yourself to others
This is one of the key bullet journal tips I would give myself when I first started. Bullet journaling isn’t a competition. There is a difference between looking for inspiration and trying to compare yourself to others.
Using social media for inspiration is great and can help you spark some amazing and unique ideas. I get so many fun and creative ideas by looking at what others have done. However, it becomes unproductive and demoralizing when you start to compare your journal to everyone out there.
Your bullet journal is unique. It has your individual touch to it. Moreover, your bullet journal should serve you. Don’t let comparison steal your joy away when there is no competition in the first place!
3. Creating a spread with stuff you love
Incorporate the things you love in your bullet journal. If you like Sci-fi, create a spread dedicated to that or create sci-fi themed pages. If you like anime, you can create spreads about anime, the ones you want to watch, and more.
For me, I like cute things. I love pinks and pastels, cartoon animals, doodles, and more. I use colors I love and incorporate cute stickers in my bullet journal. This makes me happy and motivates me to continue using my bullet journal.
Whatever you love, find a way to integrate it into your bullet journal.
4. Experiment with New Supplies
To help my motivation, I like to try new mediums. I recently used watercolors and fell in love. I wanted to use watercolor in all my bullet journal spreads.
Switching things up in your journal can help bring back excitement and motivation. Using different mediums might also inspire some novel creative ideas.
Recommended Resource: Affordable Bullet Journal Supplies
5. Create a page on who you want to be
To help motivate me, I create a “self goals” spread for each bullet journal I start. This is the spread/page where you list, draw or collage everything you want to be: the type of person you want to be, where you envision yourself, what you want to do, and more. If you aren’t artistic, you can also write key phrases and words.
This is motivating to me since I am visualizing and manifesting my dream life. I am putting my goals down onto paper and holding myself accountable. My bullet journal is a helping tool — it will assist me in doing what I need to do.
6. Include inspirational and motivational quotes
Sometimes you just need that extra push during difficult times. Inspirational and motivational quotes uplift me and they help me get through the week. You can incorporate pages with motivational quotes on it or create a spread with the different quotes you love.
I use my bullet journal to keep myself accountable for my goals. Adding motivational quotes helps me strive towards my goal and to also continue using my bullet journal.
7. Revisit why you started your bullet journal
If you ever lose motivation, it might be a good idea to revisit why you started your bullet journal in the first place. What was your original goal?
Was it to be more productive? Or did you want to hold yourself accountable for certain tasks? Find the initial reason for the drive to start your bullet journal.
8. Determine how to make it a better experience for you
Maybe aspects of your bullet journal aren’t working as much as they could. The system you have in place may simply suit you poorly.
Here are some questions you can ask yourself to find out:
- What do you like the least about your bullet journal?
- What do you like the most about it?
- Are there elements of your journal you use more than others?
- What section do you barely use at all?
- What section/aspect of your bullet journal helped you out the most?
- How is my bullet journal serving me?
It’s important to reassess what you’ve done to improve your experiences. For example, I didn’t like the rigidity of my first bullet journal— I felt constricted with the bound pages.
A solution I found was to use a binder instead. This minimized my fear of messing up and the freedom to change my bullet journal however and whenever I wanted to.
9. Simplify your Bullet Journal Spreads
Maybe your spreads are too complicated and intricate. If it’s too time consuming and stressful, then you might want to think about simplifying your spreads.
To help simplify your bullet journal spreads you can:
- Use Templates to Save time.
Rather than redrawing the same time-consuming chart over and over again, why not use a pre-made chart? In our free VIP Community Page, we have a library with printables and bullet journal templates.
Resource: VIP Community sign-up page
- Eliminate spreads you don’t use
If you notice a spread you’re not using, be sure not to include it in your future bullet journal or pages. This will give you more room to include pages that matter to you.
Conclusion
We all have those days where we lack motivation. It’s normal to have a slump — everyone goes through it. However, we just need to pick ourselves back up.
Have you ever hit a bullet journaling slump? If so, let us know about your experiences and bullet journal tips in the comments!
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