by Nikola | Feb 6, 2019 | Bullet Journaling
Have you tried to incorporate a new habit into your life to improve your quality of life? Or maybe you have tried to increase, let’s say, your daily water intake using a habit tracker? If you are like me you probably have tried out new habits and failed at times and succeeded in some others.
Using a habit tracker, what did you find? Is it just one more thing on your to-do list or are you struggling with finding the perfect app or system that works for you? Well, your bullet journal is a great place to start. I’ll show you 80 ideas for habits to track using your journal. With a journal, you have total control over how your “app” will look, everything you want to track is in one place and you will create the perfect system that fits your needs. Do you need more reasons for starting to track your habits in your bullet journal? Glad you asked.
Benefits of using a habit tracker
For a new habit become second nature to you, it takes on average more than two months for a new behaviour to become a real habit. If you absolutely want a number, experts say that 66 days of performing an action daily a new habit will set in. This all depends though on each individual person and circumstances.
Using a habit tracker will
- Make it likelier to achieve your goals
- Give you a sense of everyday accomplishment and a feeling of being in control
- Show you how you are doing with your goals
- Offer insights into new ways to adjust if need be
“The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.” – John C Maxwell
If you are looking to create a series of new habits, experts recommend to work on one at a time and then build on the established habit. Let a habit be the trigger for your new habit. For example: When you wake up, drink one cup of water. When you mastered that, you can add the next habit, such as practice your daily affirmations. And so on. Stack your habits so to speak.
How to track your habits
When it comes to tracking your habits, it is all about your personal preference. Use whatever system that works best for you and that you enjoy the most. Remember, tracking takes determination to keep going, just like your new habit.
Here are a few ideas for tracking your habits:
- Bullet journal
- App on your phone or computer
- Paper
- spreadsheet
Habit Tracker Ideas for your Bullet Journal
Depending on the tracker and habit that you want to cultivate, you can use a daily, weekly, monthly or annual tracking system. Some work better than others. I just created a double page with all the things I want to track this year. Somewhere during the process, I realized that I should have opted for a monthly tracker spread though.
If you would like to increase your water to eight glasses per day (approx. 2l) you might feel more motivated to track each glass of water you drink. Therefore a daily tracker in your weekly log might be most helpful. For most trackers, a monthly spread works really well.
Here is a list of ideas of habits to track:
Self Care
- Affirmations
- Mediation
- Reading
- Reducing Screen time
- Journal
- Bullet Journal
- Call/write to one friend or family member
- Get outside
- Get up by (X)am
- Go to bed by (X)pm
- (X) hours of sleep
- Mood
Health and Fitness
- Yoga
- Stretching
- Cardio
- Minutes walked
- Supplements and Vitamins
- Medication
- Pill
- Record weight
- No smoking
Nutrition
- No processed sugar
- Meal planning
- Food prep
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
- No soda/pop
- Calorie intake
- Water intake
- No alcohol
Hygiene
- Ovulation
- Floss
- Body lotion
- Face cream
- Manicure
- Pedicure
Household
- Vacuum
- Mop floors
- Load/Un-load Dishwasher
- Laundry
- Clean counters
- Dust
- Clean bathrooms
- Declutter
- Water plants
- Grocery shopping
- Change bedding
Family
- Quality time with kids
- Reading to child(ren)
- Playing outside
- Quality time with partner
- Homework
Pets
- Spending time with pet
- Cleaning litter/feeding bowls/Cage etc/
- Groom
Car
- Wash Car
- Vacuum inside of car
- Declutter interior
- Check oil
- Inspection
Financial
- No spend
- Track expenses
- Monthly savings
- Track income
- Pay bills/debt
- No eating out
Creativity
- Colouring
- Doodling
- Playing instrument
- Photography
- Creative writing
Side Hustle
- Create blog post
- Read emails
- Take pictures
- Fill Social Media channels
- Learn something new
- Sign-up for e-course
- Email marketing
- Youtube
- Plan material/posts/content for next quarter
Whatever habits you decide to track and what kind of tracker you use, remember to keep the goal in mind and make the ride as motivating and enjoyable as you can. And if something does not work for you, tweak it. Never give up on your dreams and trying to improve your quality of life. It’s all about you!
Shoot me a message or comment in the section below what habit trackers you like to use and find the most helpful.
by Nikola | Jan 7, 2019 | Achieve your goals, Bullet Journaling
New Year, New You. This is absolutely possible and you are the only person who can renew and reinvent yourself. With every new year, comes the chance to look back on your last year and set resolutions on how to do/be/get better in the new year. Are you also one of the New Year’s resolutions setters? Or haters? How many people are actually able to keep up their resolutions? Or how many times have you heard or thought: New Year’s resolutions don’t work, goal setting is impossible, I just can’t stay motivated or “It is too hard”? Let me share five simple secrets with you how you will be able to achieve your goals this year and be excited to keep working on them. Yes working. The way to living the life of your dreams is work, but it should be fun, and it is definitely worth it.
For the bullet journal enthusiasts among you, I have included four spreads that you can steal to dream big, plan and achieve your goals in 2019!
Secret #1 Set inspired goals
When you start this process, allow yourself to dream big. Put every single goal, dream or wish you can come up with on a piece of paper, in a bullet journal or your preferred method of noting things down. Make sure though that you write it down. The act of putting words to a page, even if it is in digital form, allows your brain to let go of the thought and stops your mind from spiraling ineffectively about the same idea.
Now, look at your list and assess your thoughts and cross check them with your values and what will really bring you joy and fulfillment. Let go of the goals that you might think you have to strive for, or what you observe others do. Pick the top three that you feel excited about. This doesn’t mean you cannot achieve smaller goals on the side, but if you chose too many projects, you will most likely feel overwhelmed and be tempted to give up. Selecting the most important three goals will help you stay focused and on track. Remember, this is supposed to be fun as well.
Secret #2 Be realistic
While it is great to have big dreams and harbour them, it is also important to stay realistic. I would love to have my own digital product line and sell them successfully to thousands of people, but I realize that I will probably not be able to achieve this in this year. I have a full-time job and a family. It is more realistic for me to aim for creating and launching one digital product this year. This does not mean though you should refrain from setting the bar high. Go ahead and challenge yourself and don’t let fears hold you back. Stay true to your values and passions, consider the time you have available to work on your goals and the resources you can devote to them.
Secret #3 Be specific
Now that you have selected three goals, think about what success would look like. Play out the scenario in your head and try to capture the feeling you have when your dream has come true. Now, write down your three goals and be very specific how you describe them. Avoid any vague descriptions. This is one of the main reasons why most resolutions fail. Let’s say eating more healthy is your goal. What does this look like? Eat fewer carbs, less meat, more vegetables, decrease sugar? Consider what and why this is important to you. When you describe your goal in detail it is much easier to break it into actionable steps.
Secret #4 Take inspired action
How excited are you to start working on your goals right now? Very much? Can you see the steps you need to take to reach your goals and fulfill your dreams? Write down the steps you need to take on your way to success. The more steps you build in for you, the easier the process will become. Even a marathon runner takes each step at a time. Many small steps will bring you to the finish line.
Build in times to rest, to treat yourself for reaching a milestone making sure you have fun along the way. Along the way, have check-ins with yourself: “Does this goal still inspire me”? Circumstances and goals can change along the way. Don’t hold on to things that don’t suit you any longer. Rather adjust and tweak.
Secret #5 Hold yourself accountable
After you dreamed up your top three goals, envisioned success, evoked them using specific words and defined the steps you needed to take, you are now ready to hold yourself accountable.
You can do this in a variety of ways:
- Tell a friend and ask them to hold you accountable and cheer you on.
- Set milestones within a timeline
- Set a to-do list in your weekly bullet journal spread and make sure you work towards them.
- Reward yourself for reaching milestones (i.e buy a set of new brush pens that you are only allowed to use when you have reached a certain point. Make it interesting for yourself)
With each new point, I cannot quite make up my mind which is the most crucial step in the process, probably because they all depend on each other. And this true for this step as well. I am tempted to proclaim this as the most important step.
There will be times where you will want to give up, where you feel a lack of energy to pick up where you left off, where you feel overwhelmed or try to convince yourself that your goal is no longer important to you. This is your mind trying to trick you into going the path of least resistance. Don’t despair, this is normal. Just know that such a phase might hit you, I am in one right now. Push through. Your dreams are worth it!
Are you ready to rock 2019? What will inspire you to take action and hold yourself accountable? In order to achieve your big dreams this year, you will need to commit yourself to your dreams and goals! Work on them every day and you will succeed! You can do it!
by Nikola | Dec 26, 2018 | Achieve your goals, Bullet Journaling
Have you reviewed your year 2018 yet? But, aren’t New Year’s resolutions enough trouble? With this powerful end-of-year review you can assess and appreciate this past year in three simple steps for success in 2019.
Reviewing a year gone by, as much as any project at work, will help you celebrate your successes and give you a clear view of what worked and what you could do differently.
When you reflect on what went well, what was freaking awesome and what could have gone better, you will be able to rejig your approach and reset your goals for the year ahead. You’ll find good moments from the past year to commit to your memory, celebrate your victories and learn from your mistakes.
And the best part, it is lots of fun. In your end-of-year review, you’ll reminisce, note down everything that you feel is worthy of your time and attention, and then you can let go. Your paper, notebook, or bullet journal will hold the information for you and you can get back to it whenever you feel like it.
So how to best go about it? Here’s what you can do:
End-of-Year Review
Currently, my favourite quote is: Happiness is perceived progress.
Look back at your past year and remember the good, the bad and the ugly. This will help you appreciate the progress you have made. A bullet journal is ideal for this. Every day I make a quick note on how I spent my free time. I either worked on my big goals or if I didn’t, I might have just taken the evening off. To me, that also counts as a win, as I always complained before about not having enough “down time”. Just the fact that I note it down, makes me realize that I do have time where I relax. My weekly goals help me stay on track and I can enjoy a “night off”. No more guilt! The secret is all in where your attention is on.
In your end-of-year review, jot down your thoughts based on the following categories
- Highlights of the past year
- Achievements
- To be Thankful for
- Lessons learned
- Things to improve
List of favourites:
- Funniest moment of the year
- New friend(s) you made
- Best food
- Treasured family memory
- Movie you liked the most
- Favourite song/band
These are two examples of how I reviewed my past year in my bullet journal:
Stargazer mind map
Circular timeline
Level 10 Life
In step #2 you will reflect on your life by using a tool called Level 10 Life
This is how to do it: Decide on the areas of your life you would like to review. The list below may inspire you to find your own.
- Family
- Partnership
- Friends
- Finances
- Career/Job
- Health and Fitness
- Fun and Recreation/leisure
- Giving
- Home/Physical environment
- Personal Growth and Development
- Spirituality
Choose 10 areas that resonate most with you or you find most important in your life.
Then, asses each area by asking yourself the following questions:
- On a scale from 1-10, with ten being the happiest/best, how would you rate your INSERT AREA 1?
- Why is your number at this level?
- What would it take to reach a higher level?
Note down all your answers and then move to the next area.
Level 10 Life is most times accompanied by the page Level 10 Goals. On it, you can write down your ideas on how to increase your happiness in this specific area. Remember the question you asked yourself earlier “What would it take to reach a higher level?” Your answer will guide you in filling out your goals.
For my bujo friends out there, you can also chart out your findings in this Level 10 chart
In my Level 10 Life I assessed the area spirituality with 7. My Level 10 Goals list that I could meditate to increase this area. I have heard so many good things about regular mediation but never got around to it. To be fair, I haven’t figured out yet how to include this into my daily routine, but I thought I could at least use daily affirmations to set myself up for success in the morning: Mini-meditation. Yay! And bam got one thing covered without stressing myself out about having to meditate daily.
19 before 2019
Are you still thinking about the dreaded resolutions? The ones that nobody ever keeps?
New Year’s resolutions cannot work if you don’t plan out your goals, break them into achievable steps AND have fun along the way. The 19 before 2019 bucket list is a fun way to end your year and might give you a head start on your resolutions.
On it, you come up with 19 things you want to be doing before the end of the year 2018. Make it to whatever you want! This is your list, it should not be arbitrary. Most importantly, you should have FUN with it.
Hope you had or will also have lots of fun with your review of 2018. Let me know how your review goes. I would love to hear from you.
by Nikola | Dec 3, 2018 | Bullet Journaling
With the beginning of December and stores and houses decorated for the holiday season, it sure feels like winter is upon us. This is a great time to get a head start on your holiday goals and what better way to do that than in your favourite Bullet Journal? Here are 10 Winter Themes for you to include in your Bullet Journal that will get you on track with your goals and in the holiday mood.
December monthly log
I started this winter journal-journey with my December monthly log. I was done in 5 minutes, and the winter-themed craft paper that I bought 4 years ago came in handy. For the circles, I simply used a glass. No fancy stuff needed, but hey, if you have it, go for it!
December log –minimalistic version
Then I thought that I should show you how the same or similar idea would look without the wintery-themed paper. Eh voila, here you go. Very minimalistic and the crisp blue goes a long way.
Favourite winter rituals
As the winter months are very dark in this hemisphere, social and professional engagements usually pile up, I felt it was important to include a self-care prompt into my journal for the winter months. For this spread, I used the tangle pattern Joki again in this nice and crisp ice blue. Love my paper mate pens for this.
Mood tracker
This is by far my favourite mood tracker that I have found. I love the mountain silhouette, and it was also very simple to set up. Simply place 5 slightly overlapping triangles on your page. Depending on the length of the month (30 vs 31 days) divide each mountain into 6 fields for your days. On a 31 day long month, divide the biggest triangle into 7 fields and the rest into 6 fields. Bada bing, bada boom… 😀
Include a colour code so you know which pen to grab when you feel Uh-mazing.
Weekly forest spread
This spread is next week’s log for me and I can’t wait to use it. As with the mountain mood tracker, I started out super simple by placing tall and narrow triangles on the bottom of the page in pencil. Then, I sketched out the branches and used my trusted marker to create clean black outlines. After that, I divided each tree into segments and started to fill them with layering strokes: place a candy cane type line first, then repeat that and fill in the entire segment. I should have foreseen that green would look much better for this page than black, so I switched over.
Another idea for a monthly page
Even though November has already gone by you could use this cute layout for another winter month. My tip, start in pencil until you like the composition of your page, then use your black pen for the outlines. Again, this is super simple: I used a glass for the moon, simple lines for the branches, a thicker grey marker for shading and a red one for the berries, done.
Holiday gift planner
Oh, what would the holiday season be without frantically running around to get everybody a present? This page for your bullet journal helps you plan out and also budget for your gift ideas. The act of writing ideas and cost down will reduce the perceived stress and might even help reduce spending. Happy holiday shopping!
Another tangle: Ojo
This cute little tangle pattern looks a little bit like snowflakes to me, so I gave it a try. What do you think?
Two weeks ago, when I created the December monthly log, I forgot to leave a space for the last week of November. So what to do in case of a mistake? First of all, don’t panic. It is only a bullet journal. Secondly, be creative. I inserted a folded piece of paper for last week and adorned it with Ojo. I love this insert now.
Holiday activities
What are your favourite holiday activities? Practice brush lettering and throw all your ideas on one page!
2018 favourite memories
Last but not least, I wanted to include a page to capture and reminisce on my favourite 2018 memories. I like this idea so much, that I am thinking of including it into every month, and then do a review at the end of the year. What a great way to focus on the positive, noting it down and creating memories that way.
These were my 10 winter themes for my bullet journal. Which ones have you tried before and which one is your favourite? Yes, I know, I am from Canada so I continuously spell “favourite” with a U. As you might have noticed, I budged for two of the spreads though. Thanks for reading.
by Nikola | Nov 12, 2018 | Bullet Journaling, Happiness
Are you overwhelmed by your daily to-do list and could use a break? Do you feel guilty about not feeling happy despite all that goes well in your life? You are not alone and you might not schedule enough “me-time” into your daily and weekly routine. Here are 12 monthly pages about self-care that you can include in your bullet journal. You can also download these FREE printables.
Spending time with yourself is one of the most important things you can do for your mental and physical well being. Studies have shown that self-care or “me-time” not only reduces stress and depression, it also boosts creativity, productivity, happiness, gratitude, and empathy.
Even though you might feel you are taking time “out” of your schedule, you are actually putting energy back “into” your life.
Chances are, if you are using a bullet journal, you are already dedicating time to yourself. Great job. Keep at it.
Include these 12 pages ideas in your Bullet Journal as a “Me-Time” challenge:
Simple pleasures
- What songs do you turn on to boost your mood?
- What movies never fail to put a smile on your face?
- What friends always know how to make you feel better?
- What items such as blankets or cozy socks can you always turn to?
- What never fails to brighten your spirits?
Loving the age you are right now
List all the reasons why you are happy to be the age you are right now.
Unexpected Beauty
List all the times when you discovered unexpected beauty in a seemingly ordinary moment.
Empowered
Write “I am” statements that make you feel empowered.
- I am enough.
- I am creative.
- I am a strong.
- I am full of ideas and vision for my life.
Anything is possible
If anything was possible, what would your life look like?
Happiness list
List all the things that make you happy, or smile:
- Smelling flowers
- Seeing the sun breaking through the clouds
- Watching my child sleep
- A home-made meal that I receive praises for
- Sipping tea with my best friend and discussing love, life and Bollywood movies
Practicing Gratitude
There are probably very few of us who enjoy waiting in line for something. Think of all the lines you wait in and write about why you are happy to be waiting in them.
Thank You
Thank your body for all it is capable of.
What makes you feel strong?
List everything that makes you feel strong. If negative thoughts pop-into your mind, push them away and tell them they have no power over you.
This is so me!
What items & rituals make you feel most uniquely you? Here are a few ideas:
- Wearing scarves
- Your favourite belt
- Your favourite jewelry
Adventures await me
What adventures would you like to someday embark on?
For this page I used Japanese Keyboard-memos and layered them on the bottom of the page. Aren’t those cute?
What colour captures who you are?
Fill this page with cut-outs, colours, and tapes of that colour.
Wow, that was a blast. By including these self-care practice pages into your bullet journal you will have gone onto a self-discovery journey by the end of the year. Each month, it might not seem like you put anything into your journal that you don’t already know, but putting words to your thoughts and feelings will let you get to know yourself even better, giving you inspirational prompts throughout the year and for the year ahead.
