I Built Bullet Journaling into the End of My Work Week: Here’s What Happened

One of the things I implemented during my time off was starting the practice of journaling again.

I used to be avid about journaling, but recently, maybe because I’ve found other outlets like this blog, or therapy, I’ve stepped away from it.

Recently, I heard from one of the podcasts from The Knowledge Project: Ep 194 -The Pursuit of Happiness; that humans tend to adapt to their conditions fairly quickly. The argument was that material goods, status, lifestyle, and housing were poor indicators of happiness because we tend to adapt no matter how good our circumstances become.

This is why I think it’s extremely important to build a daily habit of gratitude or reflection into our day. To most, self-reflection is perceived as something that takes up a lot of our time or is emotionally laborious. 

This is simply not true. Like any larger goal, gratitude building can be broken down into simple, everyday actions. But the intention has to be there. You must be willing to pause your Netflix for 5 minutes to do this every night (some nights it’s harder than others).

I can’t say so far it’s made a gigantic impact on my life or my overall happiness, but I do believe that practices like these take time to pay off. And even if my overall happiness or contentment with life increased by 10%, that’s much better than nothing.

Here’s what I learned from a week of bullet journaling.

It can help you streamline your day and increase efficiency

To put into context, my bullet practice is broken down into two simple sections:

3 things I’ve accomplished

3 things I’m grateful for

Most people can’t remember what they did the day of, because they’re not truly present or engaged. Life can become a giant checklist, with no sense of actual direction.

I find that if you sit down at the end of the day and acknowledge the things you’ve accomplished, even small things like finally doing your laundry, it’s almost like giving yourself a mini reward or pat on the back.

Taking the mindful action of writing three things down, brings more awareness to our productivity and what we’re actually achieving throughout the week.

A further challenge: don’t just write blanket statements, try to describe what you did or what you’re grateful for in great detail.

It can help “nice things” last longer

We’ve all experienced moments where we’ve felt inexplicably happy or grateful for whatever circumstance that was sent our way. Maybe it’s getting the job we really wanted, or experiencing a really outstanding meal. Simple or complex, the excitement almost always fades. And it fades rather quickly.

One way we can reintroduce some of that excitement or gratefulness back into our lives is to be more conscious as we go through our day-to-day. To take a moment to notice our surroundings, and appreciate them. We learn to slow down and encode that moment or that feeling onto paper (or notes on our phones), thereby, making it a more succinct memory.

The more frequently we’re able to remember the small (or large) things we’re grateful for on a daily basis, the more content we are likely to be with what we have.

Part of why people are unhappy is because they’re always looking toward the “next thing”. Being content doesn’t mean you stay where you are, but rather as you proceed through your journey to the next step, you’re able to carry through with a smile, rather than a grunt.

It takes discipline to get good at it

Like any habit, it’s easy during the first week because you’re hyped on motivation. In the second week you might still be going strong, but towards the middle of the third—that is when it starts to wane, and the urge is to go back to your regular way of life.

There are more pleasant activities we’re more drawn towards (ie. watching Netflix, going out, and socializing) and as humans, we’re just prone to taking the path of least resistance. In order to actually form this habit, we have to push the urge to neglect the practice for more pleasurable experiences. It doesn’t mean we have to negate those experiences, rather, we have to find those five minutes, somewhere to do it.

And let me tell you. It sounds easy, but it’s not. 

Sometimes, you quite literally just forget. 

I think one of the easiest ways to bypass this hardwired pattern is to put your journal somewhere that’s visible. Maybe on the dining room table, so before you reach for the remote control, take 5 to jot a couple of things down. Do the “hard” stuff first, before you relax. 

“In sight, in mind”.

Conclusion

Bullet journaling only takes a couple of minutes a day, but it can really add up in the long run. The effects can be transformative on how you see the world and perceive how life is. It can allow us to slow down on a daily basis, become more aware and engaged in our activities, and allow more contentment to seep into our lives.

Life can be truly beautiful if we look at it through a lens of gratitude and accomplishment.