Why Is Bullet Journalling (Bujo) /Habit Tracker So Popular?

The weekends gone and it's Monday yet again.... This is the February weekly spread for this week. I had.choose. this months color ultramarine blue and floral theme. Check out the others and let me know your thoughts on this... . . #weeklyspread #bujoweeklyspread #bujo #bujoideas #bulletjournal #bulletjournaling #journaling #february #bujocommunity

A post shared by Kavya (@artsydoodledo) on Feb 11, 2018 at 6:49pm PST

You’ve probably seen this on Buzzfeed, Seventeen, etc. Also known as the habit tracker, Bullet Journalling or BuJo is touted as an alternative to journalling. Some people swear by it, others think it’s a complete waste of time because of the sheer dedication you need to beautify your bullet journal/habit tracker. I personally think it’s a great way to keep track of your progress towards your goals, and a novel way to journal. Here’s why.

Image by distelfliege

1. IT HARNESSES THE POWER OF VISUALIZATION

We are visual beings. Ancient Egyptians knew this when they came up with hieroglyphs, and us modern humans adapted that into emojis. It’s no surprise that some of us would find visual cues more engaging than non-visual ones. 

If you often keep track of your daily expenditure by jotting it down in a notebook, you know how tedious it can be. Monday - $25.90, Tuesday - $13.00, Wednesday - $18.90, etc. At the end of the week, what you get is a chunk of text and numbers. But if you were to adopt the bullet journalling method, it could look something like this (super lame example, but if you do it pretty enough - it'll look so nice!): 

2. IT KEEPS THINGS IN BITE SIZES

I think one of the reasons why bullet journalling is so popular is because it helps you to visualize your goals or record your day in bite sized pieces. No one is doing long form journalling these days - it takes too much time + effort to string sentences together just to describe your day. Bullet point it! Want to save RM500? Break it down to RM5 blocks! Want to run 21km? Break it down to 1km blocks! 

(here’s a super lazy example I did, which really did motivate me even if a little, to continue jogging)

3. IT’S INSTANTLY GRATIFYING

It’s also instantly gratifying when you track yourself achieving goals little by little, block by block, and accomplished in small measures. My personal favourite is filling up the outline of an empty bookshelf with titles of books I’ve read throughout the year! 

Remember: 

• It’s not necessary to do all of the different types of Bujo 

• Identify what habit you want to track 

• Test out different methods/styles

• Stick with one that works best for you

More links:
Bullet journalling ideas on Pinterest
#BujoJunkies on Instagram

I picked up a lot of methods from Seventeen's Guide to Bujo:

Feel free to share how you do your bujo/habit tracker - and if you have a hashtag to your own series on IG!