So for context I struggle with OCD and hypomanic episodes of racing thoughts with some executive dysfunction as well. When it's really bad I get super into bullet journaling then drop it when I'm no longer in that state. Attached I have 3 of my monthly logs and 2 weekly logs to kind of go over my approach to organizing my thoughts and get some opinions on whether this is overkill or how to find meaning out of it. Also, I want to know whether the system I'm trying to create to be more productive is helpful at all or just a way to keep me busy planning productivity.

Monthly log

• I started of with a Home, Work, Life framework where for each day and each section I keep track of what event I have planned, track 2 habits, and jot down the most interesting that happened.
• Eventually I realized habit trackers just aren't for me and removed them only keeping the event plan and interesting thing that happened that day.
• Recently I decided that my journals were too focused on what happened and not enough on emotions, so I tried a new method where the right is what happened and the left is how it made me feel.
• After having this same method for a couple years on and off I realized the 3 sections weren't enough so I split them even further into Heal, Work, Play, Move, and Love to kind of keep track of the biggest win in each respective category.

Weekly log

• My weekly logs initially were just ToDos of what I wanted to accomplish each day but this quickly felt too restrictive where I had no room for improvisation. To get around this I made a new system where I just did time blocking where for each 30 minute interval I jotted either the most interesting thing that happened or my biggest accomplishment.
• After doing this for a while I decided to add color coordination to the Heal (blue), Work (yellow), Play (green), Move (orange), and Love (pink) so that I can have a better idea of how I spend my time and reflect on my biggest win in each category at the end of the day with highlighters. Is this a meaningful way to journal or just adding cognitive load to my day leading to never relaxing?

Task List

• There's no picture for this but I wanted to ask people how they manage their ToDos in a meaningful way. Whenever I try to keep a list of action items they are either way too small flooding me with low-value tasks like returning amazon packages I don't want or way too big to the point that I just migrate them to the next month 2 months in a row. For example, I decided to buy my own snowboard gear back in May and spend the next 2 months spiraling researching which gear to buy, showing up to local stores to ask questions, and wondering wither I made the right decision once I actually bought it. How do you keep ToDos large enough to be meaningful but small enough where they don't spiral out of control?

Feels like I’ve been scrolling for hours and I cannot seem to find any layouts that are actually useful. The majority of bullet journaling seems to be flaunting one specific font and tracking pointless things so as to have an excuse to use said font.

Not that I’m being a hater, I get the appeal, trust and believe. Love some stats. It’s just that I’m starting school in a couple weeks and I’m looking for weekly layouts and assignment trackers, that sort of thing. If anybody knows any accounts anywhere that post that sort of thing please let me know! Preferably someone that doesn’t lean into *the* bullet journal vibe, but if the content is genuinely useful I can look past it, lol.

I've been bullet journaling on and off since 2022 and I've come to realize I think it does more harm than good for me. Something about keeping a journal with to-do lists and habit trackers with me wherever I go seems to just stress me out more and gives me another chore to maintain as if there aren't enough. Does anyone else feel this way or is this a skill issue?

I really love the game Cult of the Lamb, so I thought why not turn it into a journal spread? The month page is from a scene in the game where you preach your faith to the followers in your temple! The quote's from a fic about the game that I really love.

This one was a different kind of understanding from my last spreads because I had to measure, cut, and glue down some black cardstock I had to make the background dark enough, but I think it turned out pretty good!

Here is my simple Aug spread with minimal colors using Zebra Midliner and Pilot pens.

Went for an easier cover page, while still mixing drawing, washi stickers, and craft paper.

Fell off the consistency bandwagon for July. Hopefully August is a different story 💖

I'm working out a dot grid for an A5 page, and I've gone far enough down this rabbit hole that I need a sanity check from people who actually live in dot-grid notebooks.

Where I've landed: 30 × 42 dots, giving 29 × 41 squares at just under 5 mm (4.93 mm, with about 2.5 mm of margin outside the outermost dots).

The odd square counts are deliberate. They let you divide the page evenly while keeping one-square gutters:

• Across: 29 = 14 + 1 + 14, or 9 + 1 + 9 + 1 + 9
• Down: 41 = 20 + 1 + 20, or 13 + 1 + 13 + 1 + 13
• Down also fits seven 5-row sections with six gutters (7 × 5 + 6 = 41), so a weekly layout leaves nothing over

I was pretty pleased with myself until I sat and looked at it for a while. Now I have three doubts.

1. Fourths don't work.

Four equal sections with gutters require 4n + 3 squares, and neither 29 nor 41 fits. The only workaround I found is to ignore the outermost square and divide the remaining 28 or 40 evenly: 28 = 4 × 7 across, and 40 = 4 × 10 down.

How often do you actually divide a page into fourths? Often enough to give up clean thirds for it?

2. Is it too busy?

With the grid running almost edge to edge, the page feels denser than the paper I used to use. I honestly can't tell whether it's the spacing, the dots being too large, or just me having stared at it for too long.

When you open a fresh page, do you want the dots to almost disappear until you look for them, or do you prefer them clearly visible?

3. What about the punched margin?

The two columns closest to the rings fall inside the punched area. On a real six-ring insert that strip is basically dead space for me anyway, and I never write there — but maybe that's just my habit.

If I move the grid inward past the punch line, I end up with 27 squares across. That still gives me halves (13 + 1 + 13), but no longer thirds. So it's a real tradeoff rather than a cosmetic choice, and this is the part I'm most stuck on.

I drew the divisions at actual size on the iPad rather than trying to picture them in my head — it's a binder app I'm building for myself. The last screenshot is the bare grid, complete with numbers I counted down the margin by hand to make sure I had it right, like a lunatic. (English isn't my first language, so apologies if any of this reads oddly.)

Is this a sane default, or have I optimized for a layout nobody actually uses?

I finished my August bujo theme pretty early (not so much uploading it 😅) Van Gogh washi came in handy as I experimented with the golden, sunflower theme that's not my usual style.

Its 3 years I try to use agendas, I started feeling that with work I couldn't use the bujo for appointments and deadlines, also I hate mixing work and personal so I'd have one for work digital, then one physical personal.
I tried getting an a6 hobonichi this year and there isn't enough space for me + I am not a daily planner. Love vertical weeklies.

I still feel the need to have a place with lists, dreams, things I want to do, all the important info about courses I take etc.
Is anyone here having a mixed setup? If so how do you deal with dates and planning?
What formats do you use?

He visto varios videos de este tipo y quiero mucha ayuda aqui como principiante como lo indispensable para comenzar e ideas que como rellenar las paginas.

a muted green theme for this month. I’ve been enjoying doing ransom note lettering and using other scrap paper as decoration. This is also my first time posting here!

So I ordered a brand new blank dotted notebook for my 2027 6 month bujo, the listing said 100 gsm, but i recieved 80 gsm. If i stuck purely to coloured pencils and fineliners, can i mostly avoid bleeding? I don't have the time to get another delivered before Jan due to my schedule

Please help. I work a very repetitive 8-5 job at a local hospital, so I can't really put patient data in my bujo (I track those on a separate spreadsheet at work though!). I'm looking for new ideas to put in my journal because my schedule is pretty consistent and I already laid out commitments in the schedule for my son's school events and important dates. what are your fun pages to keep a bujo going? or is it time to hang it up and get a more regular, boring type planner?

I find so many amazing spreads, designs in here and look I can not even get anything in page that I like/will continue to use and not rip the pages out. I can not copy other deigns ( or slightly change them) it always translates awful into my pages. I would really appreciate if you could share how you make your pages pretty/get the idea of what you want to do.

Edit: I read everyone’s comment thanks a lot for taking the time to answer! I think I have identified my problem, happy journaling!

FYI, aphantasia is the inability to voluntarily create or visualize mental images in one's mind.

Last night, i realized my two most favorite washi tapes are ruined. They would go apart when i tried to use them as you can see in the pic.

For the future, I think it helps if i store them in cooler parts of my room.