I've been experimenting with bullet journaling for a few years, on and off. For this semester, I decided I would bullet journal to stay organized and focused during school. Over the course of only 3 months, my process changed immensely.

Here's what I changed to better fit me.

1. No index

I never used my index, and the process of numbering everything took too much work for me. Maybe if I find a better way to do it, I might try indexing again.

2. No future log

I also rarely looked at this, and I don't usually plan things more than a month out anyways. It was great during summer break, but once I was in school, I didn't need it.

3. No monthly logs

Monthly logs were such a pain that I stopped filling them out, and my calendar was always too small for me to use.

4. No daily logs

I was busy every day and would never look at these, let alone fill them out.

5. Weekly logs only

To make up for all of the logs I cut out, I started keeping tabs on what I needed to do weekly. It's worked out for me so much better than writing things in multiple places.

6. No weekly to-dos

I used to write to-dos and goals, but that just made me feel like I didn't get anything done, even when I did. Taking these out let me focus on my week.

7. Pencil first

For some reason, I would always go into my bujo with a pen, and I made so many mistakes. I've started only using pens after the week passed.

8. Cover mistakes instead of crossing out

This is more about aesthetics than necessity. Having crossed out words doesn't look as good as I'd like. It also goes back to Number 7.

9. More drawings

For my first month or two, I didn't use any drawings. It looked so boring.

10. Themes

This goes back to Number 9, but I didn't draw much because I didn't have themes for the months. Having themes also helps me practice drawing.

11. No trackers

I tried using trackers like 4 times, and I could not do it. If I missed one day of filling out the journal, I wouldn't fill out the rest of it.

12. Better bookmark

Sticky notes are not good as long-term bookmarks. I ended up making one instead that would stay in place and not get ruined.

13. No collections

I used to do a lot of collections, and most of my newest collections have been me refreshing them. So far, I haven't wanted any new collections.