With a new year right around the corner, a lot of people are making lists to what they want to accomplish in 2017. One of the top priorities for many is to stay productive the next twelve months, and finding new ways to be on top of their responsibilities. For me, I made the switch to a more fruitful lifestyle the beginning of my first semester of college, and it came in the form of a bullet journal. The bullet journal is a system of planning dedicated to promoting inventiveness and organization. All you need to make a bullet journal is a quality notebook and a trusty pen, or thirty pens if you’re like me. Its components include tools such as an index, note-taking area, and monthly/daily calendar log, but you can add more modules that you would like as you go, like a weekly grocery list, doodles section, etc. The bullet journal is, in essence, a more personalized planner that has the ability to go beyond what a basic planner is meant to do. You build it up yourself, or with the help of a special notebook designed specifically for this type of journaling, and can add to, remove, or redesign any aspect of the original concept into your own.

I’ve always wanted to be the type of person who is always on top of everything and has a plan for what’s to come, but never found the time in high school to formulate such a thing. That’s why the summer before my college career, I decided to dig further into this thing called the bullet journal. Regular planners at stores always bored me no matter what. Once I got past the beautiful covers and neat calendar layouts, I found there was nothing there but days that I was expected to fill in, and I felt restricted in what I could do with my planners. As a writer, I wanted to have a notebook that I could use for my ideas as well as my educational and life responsibilities, and the bullet journal became that answer for me.

Once I explored past the basic idea and setup of the journal, it came time to actually sit down and create one of my own. Search any social media site with #bulletjournal and you will find pages upon pages of the creative ways that other journalers have personalized their own notebooks. It was from these searches that I decided to make my own bullet journal not just a space for homework reminders and to-do lists, but also for random lines and ideas I think of that may be useful in writing later, albums I want to listen to, books I plan on reading, items I have to buy at some point, etc. My journal holds dates I need to know about and the quirky thoughts I have during the day. Even with the most gorgeous planner from Target, I wouldn’t have been able to fit all of what I wanted into a pre-made notebook, and if one came with space for all of that, the price tag may have held me back from buying it instead.

I kept up with and used my bullet journal every single day of my first semester of college. It kept me ahead of assignments when they were coming up, and I began to look forward to each month because it meant I got to create a new spread for the next four weeks. Writing in my journal, whether for a to-do list or a potential poem, was a form of relaxation and readiness in one, and I never felt unprepared or unsure of what was up next in my school work or personal life. Having this journal by my side forced me to become organized and to plan ahead, and it was most helpful item I could’ve had for the beginning my college life.

A lot of work goes into formatting a bullet journal of your own, and it takes practice and constant use to reap the full benefits from it. Although there are many apps that can do everything the bullet journal can do and more, I believe there is an official-like feel to having a tangible notebook that holds what you plan to do for the days, and possibly years, ahead. The bullet journal can be a direct reflection of what’s going on in your mind, and is what you make it. If you want 2017 to be a productive and more successful year, possibly consider making a bullet journal of your own. Having everything you need in one clear space has benefits that are personalized to you and can give you a glimpse to your life ahead.