The Essentials of Time Management (Part 1): How I Plan My Month Using A Bullet Journal

Hello, I am Patsitivity! This is my first official article after my introductory post. As promised, I will be sharing my best practices in communities here in Hive in the hope that it might help people improve their lives and reach their highest potentials. I am beyond ecstatic in writing this post and the next few posts related to time management.

Let's go! 💪

“We’re having dinner tonight with Josh, are you available?”
“It’ll be nice to spend this weekend at the beach, do you want to go with us?”
“We’re throwing a party for Jack tomorrow night, can you make it?”

If someone will ask me these questions, my answer is a big “Let me check my schedule”

Aside from the things and people I am expected to honor, I honor my precious time beyond anything else.

A SCHEDULE FOR EVERYTHING

Believe it or not, I have a schedule for basically everything.

From the smallest things such as when to buy the week's supplies, when to do my laundry, when to run my next half marathon, when to rest, when to write this article for you guys 😊, to the biggest ones such as when to buy my first piece of land, when to take a postgraduate degree, when to build a house, when to get married, when to have kids, so on and so forth.

I know what I want and when I want them to happen. But these things are only the bigger picture, and tell you what, if you have big plans, you need to work on the smallest details to achieve your goals. Otherwise, your goals will never materialize.

I’ve mentioned in my introductory post that I am living my limited and borrowed days as intentionally as I possibly can. And in order to stay true to this quest, I make sure I have control over my time, not the other way around.

WHY HAVE A SCHEDULE?

Having a rigid schedule is not for everyone. I repeat, creating an organized and planned month, week and day isn’t for everyone. It may work well for me but it might not work well for you. I know of individuals who like spontaneity and are better off doing things when they feel like doing things. I know of individuals who are highly productive even without a schedule.

However, if lately you’ve encountered telling or questioning yourself these things below:

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“It’s been a week and it seems like I haven’t done or accomplished anything at all, what’s wrong with me?”
“So where did my time go?”
“What was I doing the entire week again?"
“It seems like I’m not going anywhere.“
“I have so many things I want to do but couldn’t seem to do any, what’s happening?”

If you've indeed encountered these questions and been wanting to improve on how you manage your time, you’ve reached the right post. So read on, fellas!😉

In this article, I’ll be sharing with you the step-by-step procedure on how I do my monthly planning using the Bullet Journal Method. I planned to write this article before the month starts so it can help you organize the entire month of July but nonetheless, we're still on the first few days of the month and I’m pretty sure you can catch up.

MY BULLET JOURNAL JOURNEY

Last year, during a random project meeting, Ma'am Amor, a co-worker introduced me to Bullet Journal. She’s also one of my go-to persons in terms of financial advice.

So, what is a Bullet Journal (BuJo)?

There are actually countless definitions of what a BuJo is but my favorite is "BuJo is mindfulness practice disguised as a productivity system". It was first established by Ryder Caroll with the vision of tracking the past, putting an order to the present, and planning the future.

At first, I thought it’ll be unnecessary for I already have a notebook allotted for all my To-Do List (I’ve been using one since time immemorial), I have an excel file for my monthly meal plan and I have another file for my monthly schedule.

_{My Monthly Meal Plan for November 2020}

_{My Weekly Schedule looks like this before}

Last quarter of 2020, my co-workers ordered bullet journals from Shopee. And when the year turned another page, I thought it’s best to give BuJo a try. I first used a Bullet Journal last January 2021. Although there is a standard and simplified way of making and using one, you’ll be surprised with the countless ways of how you can create one as creatively and as artistically as you can. I’ve linked here some of the videos that helped me when I started my BuJo journey.

I know that curious question is lurking in your mind right now.

"Why keep a journal when you can just use technology for scheduling your life?"

There’s Calendar, Google Keep, Notes in your phone, Sticky Notes in your desktop and there are even a number of Apps for organizing your month, and all these are borderless; you can access it wherever you go, but why use BuJo?

The thing is I’m never afraid to be who I am, to do me. There are things I have to hold and keep a physical of. The rush of ticking off boxes of the things I’ve accomplished is a rush I don’t get when I use an application using my phone.

MY BLANK BULLET JOURNAL

Here’s what my bullet journal for the month of July looks like. This is basically the same format for all the months except when there will be new and interesting things that I’ll discover along the way and would like to add to the next month. Kaizen, my friend. Kaizen.

MONTHLY GOAL-SETTING

“What do I want to achieve this month?”

That’s the question I ask myself when making the first and perhaps the most crucial part of my monthly planning. Goals are like a compass or a map that guides you where you have to go, what you have to do to get to your desired destination.

For the month of July, my goals look like this:

_{This month's goals are connected to my yearly and quarterly goals.}

If you may have noticed, my goals are divided into sections, namely: Personal Development, Travel, Financials, Fitness, and Spiritual.

For this month, the highlights would be running fifteen (15) kilometers (or about 9.32 miles), achieving a new personal record for my three (3) kilometers in terms of speed, delivering my second speech for my Presentation Mastery Level 2 and writing at least two (2) article here in Hive.

And before I forget, the golden rule is to make plans before the start of the month - that is to identify what you want to achieve even before the month starts. In my case, I do it at least three days (3) prior to the start of the month. I personally like planning in advance because it gives me time to prepare myself for the big plans ahead.

MONTH IN A SPREAD

After setting the goals for the month, I create my schedule from the first until the last day of the month. I categorize all the things I have to do within the month in the following:

Time with God: Daily Bible Reading and Reflection, Watching The Feast At Home, Attending Mass on Sundays

Physical Activity: Exercises (Arm/Back Workout, Leg Workout, Core Workout, Yoga, Meditation and Running)

Communication Skills: All Toastmaster meetings of my club and other clubs I have to attend and other related training, seminar, and the like

Books/Readings: Shows the title of the book I have to read and the deadline as well

Creative Skills: The time I allot for editing videos and learning creative skills using professional tools such as Canva, Photoshoot and Adobe Premiere Pro

Journal/Writings: Scriptwriting for my speeches, journaling, and now writing helpful articles for Hive

Entertainment: You might feel that this girl is totally boring; all she does is work and schedule her life but duh, I schedule what to watch and when to finish them too. Kdramas add value to my life. 😂

Technical skills: My schedule for baking and cooking new recipes (I cook Tuesday to Fridays for my own meals)

Others: Laundry, housekeeping, buying supplies, other things I have to attend within the month

HABIT TRACKER

Another portion of my Bullet Journal is called Habit Tracker. I’ve been clinically diagnosed with General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) last year and I’d like to keep track of my anxiety’s physical manifestation (palpitation and difficulty in sleeping) and how it correlates with my stress level, mood, and my sleep the night before. As well as the things I do and going through that particular day.

_{As you can see here, I note the level of my palpitation against my stress level, my mood for that day, and the hours of sleep I had the night before. I also track my exercises, my runs (in km), my menstruation, the days I meditate. On the other side, I track important habits such as Bible reading and reflection, daily book readings, skincare routine, among others.}

The key here is to keep track of what's important and useful to you. What do you want to remember a few weeks from now? Is it walking your dog in the morning every day? Or the days you've gone out with your friends? It's all up to you.

CHECK IN

If the doctor will ask me when did I start feeling ill and what symptoms did I have, I can probably give the doctor the exact date and the exact symptoms I had because of this portion of my journal called Check-in.

Every day, I check in here and write how I feel emotionally and physically. Was a body part painful? When did it go away? What medicine did I take? Am I feeling emotionally unstable? Am I focused on accomplishing my tasks for the day?

This section also gives me an idea that sometimes I can be emotionally unstable due to physical pain or discomfort.

WEEK IN A GLANCE

Then, we've come to the part where most of the detailed planning takes place. Basically, I just transfer what’s on my "Month on a Spread" in this portion and do the more detailed planning such as adding time/deadline and details on the tasks at hand. I use legends here. Some legends I adopted from the original BuJo Method, others I just created for my own use. Just make sure whatever legend you'll be using you'll use it consistently page after page.

This is also the part where I do my Meal Planning. I used to have a separate worksheet for my monthly meal plan but I'm moving towards using one notebook to work for me, so I write on the "Week in a Glance" the meals I’d be cooking for myself for the week.

_{A blank "Week in a Glance" ready to filled with tasks}

_{The legends I am using for my BuJo}

TODAY I AM GRATEFUL FOR

One of the things I look forward to writing is the “Today I am grateful for...” section. Every day, I write one thing that I am truly grateful for. If you do this you’ll be amazed how you can be grateful for the smallest of things.

BRAIN DUMP AND TRIGGERS

On the last part of my month’s journal, I have a small portion allotted for “Brain Dump” and “Triggers”.

Brain Dump is reserved for any random thing I can think of - a recipe I found online that I’d like to try the following months, a random short quote I find attractive, or anything random. I dumped here. This way I free up my brain its ever high-priced space without fear of forgetting valuable insights and ideas.

For the Triggers, I write here special events that made me anxious at a certain point of the month. I could write here why I was anxious, how I got better, and my realizations from the event I encountered.

NO ONE-SIZE-FITS-ALL TOOL

Just like anything else, I firmly believe that there's no one-size-fits-all tool and strategy in organizing our months, weeks, and days.

You can always do it differently. You can use your phone. You can use applications. Do what works for you. Bottomline is that don’t waste your time on things that don’t add value to your life, things that don’t bring you closer to your goals, things that don't spark happiness, things that don't help you grow.

That's it for Part 1 of The Essentials of Time Management. I'll be writing more about Time Management in the next articles so make sure you follow! I am really hoping this article will help. If you have insights, comments or suggestions or additional inputs, please comment down below. I'm excited to read them. 😊

See you on the bright side, fellas! ❤️

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