Not Squilliam Fancyson

We're a week into February, which is my second month of bullet journaling. It didn't take much effort to migrate the few things I didn't do in January over to February, but that's mainly because I keep my journal very simple.

Squilliam journals beautifully.

I do feel the requisite level of guilt at not having done those things, but now I have the added pressure of their lingering existence to help motivate me (I guess).

As James Clear--and no doubt other experts on productivity, habits, and just plain getting stuff done--will tell you, a big part of the secret to sticking with a habit is to keep it simple, especially at first. With that in mind, my daily journal is usually five or six bullets long, and my monthly list isn't much longer than that, as a general rule. Clear would probably say to start with just one bullet a day (at the start), just to make sure you do it. I mean, one is too easy not to do, right?

Keeping entries easy means there's never any stress associated with updating the journal, which makes it much more likely I'll keep coming back updating it. I've got nothing against the folks out there with much more complex (and beautiful!) bullet journals, with intricate design, multi-page entries, and masterful artwork, but that's not for me. Certainly not now.

Lovely, but too much work to bother with.

The link above is a blog entry that laments how horribly complex bullet journals must be. Except they don't have to be, and mine isn't.

Later on I might get a bit more adventurous and ambitious, but like Clear and those other folks say, the first day, first week, first whatever, of any habit should remain simple. Get some quick wins, and you are more likely to keep it up over the long run. Or keep it simple forever if it works for you.

So far that's working with my bullet journal, which is certainly simple, with the exception of my monthly habit tracker. The tracker is still not what I want or need it to be.

The larger, horizontal graph I used for February doesn't leave me enough room to record all the data I want. Most trackers use dots for completing a task, but I really want to include more data, such as the distance I run or the amount of time I spend practicing guitar. I also feel like noting that those tiny run distances are full-on sprints with a two-year old husky, and not as sad as they seem. Really.

Much too cramped for data, and it's worse if I add interior lines.

I clearly haven't cracked the code on how to make a more complex tracker fit, short of using weekly trackers instead. I might try that in March. I'll keep experimenting, and will certainly entertain your suggestions.

I also should note that I'm using actual photos of my own journal. These are (clearly!) not fancy Pinterest journals. I think the uber-journals intimidate a lot of people who think a bullet journal must be a magnificent work of art. It doesn't. It just needs to work.