When I started doing bullet journaling earlier this year, I began by using a diary that already had pre-made weekly spreads, but found them a bit limiting. So, since July I have been using a new journal so I can make custom weekly spreads – I love it.

I have never been great at art – no patience for the time needed to learn the skill. But the blank pages let me make custom spreads that have a little bit of the arty-fun-stuff for the week. Better still, I get to keep the pages to look back and get to have in motivating me. I have found that it can easily take me an hour or more to do the weeks spread, but it’s very relaxing, and I am happy to take the time to do it.

I am still learning the best way for me to use the bullet journal. I only use it for tracking personal life, there are too many tasks for my workday, so I keep that separate. Of course, for me, personal life consists of mostly writing, blogging, reading, and playing games lol.

I track the weekly tasks in my To-do, then per day, I decide what I want to accomplish for that day. This is in part because I am still learning what I can achieve with me writing per day. I also try and go back and add anything additional I managed that day. This is so I can understand how much I can get done if I am struggling with motivation at any point.

Here are some of the spreads I have created so far.

Reading list – this one I love. I spent a long time setting it up, and I love writing in the books I have read. I use Goodreads to track them as well, and write reviews. But this page just feels satisfying in a way that Goodreads doesn’t.

Weight loss – I have always struggled with motivation with losing weight, the consistency, and balance of good food vs moderation. Creating this spread creates a fun and simple way to track what I loose weekly. It has definitely helped as I am so close to losing a stone and a half – and being the lightest I have been in nearly four years. Every little circle is a pound off, and I get to move Pac man around the page. Double awesome.

Word tracker – This one is new this month as I have been working on two first drafts. Seeing the time spent writing, and words output has been absolutely thrilling and motivating. When it comes time to start editing, I need to find another way to track my count instead of new words.

Habit Tracker – For a start, this worked quite well for me, but this month I have not had the same success of using it. So next month I will be making a change to how I did this, not sure exactly what yet.

Weekly spread / Monthly spread – I am still playing with these, trying to find the right fit. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don’t. But the main thing I get out of these is the thought process of what do I want to manage to do this week, so they are never wasted.