Adjusting for Your Needs

When you begin in a traditional bullet journal that has preset pages in the front, you may get a bit confused as to how it is relevant to your needs, especially if you do not have a diagnosis of ADHD and feel you have no deficit when it comes to paying and keeping attention.

That’s okay, because you can still adjust for your needs. Even without the traditional bullet journaling community, who would encourage you strongly to make it work for you, it can be a challenge to “do the math” or problem solve on your own.

So, in a traditional bullet journal, you will find the Key on page 2, Intentions on page 3, the Index from pages 4 – 7, and the Future Log from pages 8 – 11. Then, you have blank dotted pages from page 12 – 206.

I trust you can fill in your blank pages just fine with your ideas and thoughts.

Let’s take a quick look at how you can repurpose all of your preset pages without issue, just in case the bullet journal method is not what you need at this time, rather knowledge on how to make this type of journal work for you.

Intentions: This is on page 3. As stated earlier, you can fill in your soft, long-term goals on this page. You don’t have to fill it up or even write in complete sentences. Intentions are more about who you would like to become, but you can still incorporate goals if you’d like. If you are a SMART goals sort of individual, then go ahead and write it down here. Remember, it is a soft estimate, not a hard goal. You can have one or many – that’s up to you.

Index: This is on pages 4 – 7. If you know what a Table of Contents is, then you are fine here. It’s just jargon by this point, and all you need to do is write down the heading or subject line or title line along with the page or pages it is on. If you are like me, you’ll probably enjoy writing something like:

Intentions: 3

Index: 4-7

Future Log: 8-11

It helps to overcome any perfectionism or unsure-ism as I fondly call it. If you don’t feel secure, don’t worry, the first 3 items are always the same.

Future Log: So here you may run into your first really big challenge. In the history of bullet journaling, this future log is mainly delegated for planned events from Jan – Dec. Or, more recently, the future log is used a bit like a line-a-day of recorded gratitudes or daily wins, etc. Do you need to do this? No. Especially if it doesn’t benefit your IP (your intellectual property, meaning anything you can publish, even something as big as a master’s thesis or dissertation).

What I have adjusted for my needs is to put down entire project lists in the Future Log pages. They are huge, long-term projects that tend to pull my attention here and there daily. I wrote all of the current projects I wanted to work on, and the lists filled up all of the preset Future Log pages to the point where I used page 12 as an extra Future Log page, labeling it so at the top. You can do likewise, if it helps you to organize your brain, ideas, and thoughts.

See how it goes, and don’t go crazy. It is a very forgiving process as you find what fits you. The reason why it is so important to figure out the preset pages first, is that these pages will become your compass and guide your bullet journaling as you go on.

Should you find on page 23, that you really need to take care of your own health, then you can adjust for your needs there and not blame yourself if you are not working on your IP for the next month or year.

Should you find on page 77, that you are in dire need of a new pen or pencil, then go forth and find another writing utensil!

It all depends on what you need. It is very easy when in front of a journal to say, “Oh, I’ve never been good at journaling.” Me neither. You know what, it is acceptable for you to start without such experience. Bullet Journaling does not need to mirror diary-keeping, nor should it, really.

The pages, ultimately, serve you, lessening any anxiety, calming any fears, bringing to light one’s discouragement or lack of self-care or unaddressed business. You may pour all of your life here or just your IP, or even have a mix of the two. It is what you are comfortable with that matters most.