The HeartWord Way

Hello, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your summer so far!

As you can probably tell from the title, today I will be showing you my new bullet journal!

My Opening Pages

Below is my title page. At first, I thought I would leave this page blank. But then I decided that my journal needed a title page.

Next is my key/reference page. This key is different than all of the keys I have done before, and I think it will really help me out! I’ve drawn out lines that correspond to 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 marks on the page. I also counted out all of the dots both vertically and horizontally.

Here is my future log. Here I will write down future holidays/dates that I need to be aware of. When I start a new month in my bullet journal, I look ahead using the future log so I know what’s coming up. I decided to use a rainbow theme for this month since I haven’t used that in a while.

Here on page four, I have my books-to-be-read page. I didn’t really use this page a lot in my previous bullet journal, but I’m hoping to use it more this time. I also changed it up a bit from my last page. I did the shelves differently (definitely more interesting this way, I think) and also added some decorations to the shelves (using stickers). When I think of a book I want to read in the future, I’ll draw a book on one of the shelves and label it. Once I’ve read it, I’ll color it in with a colored pencil.

Page five is my summer goals, which you can check out in more detail in this post.

On these two pages, I am giving an inventory of my washi tape collection. I’ve seen other bullet journalists do this, and I really enjoyed organizing all of my tape into little collections (I just love organizing things!). Also, at the bottom right corner, you probably see a cat. I gave this cat some clothes and also stuck some washing tape on the clothes to make it look like he is wearing the washi tape (because the washi tape is on hangers, like clothes normally are). Maybe it was a bit much, but I think it’s cute.

Page eight consists of a page where I will write down all of my favorite books, movies, songs, hobbies, and foods.

This was a page I designed to help me spend more time doing art. It might be kinda hard to read the banner, but it says, “Art Projects.” The categories are the name of the project, start date, end date, and the “Fun Scale.” The fun scale is basically my rating of how much I enjoyed it. The banner was a lot of work, because I had to use a ruler and measure out every single flag, but I think it looks neat (I am too much of a perfectionist).

And as a finale for my opening pages, I dedicated two pages to “Bullet Journal Extra Ideas.” These pages just have a bunch of borders, titles, page corners, boxes, and banners for me to look back at to use in this journal.

June Monthly Pages

To start off the month of June, I have my usual monthly overview. On the left, beneath the title, I have spaces for my goals, memories, books I read during June, and a place to record the time I spend writing. On the right page, I have my calendar, a cat sunbathing, and spaces for events and notes. Beneath notes, I have a quote: “Girls just wanna have sun.”

Next I have my June money plan. This is where I record how many shifts I work, all of my checks, and the total amount I earned. To the right of all of that, I have a space to record how much I want to spend, save, tithe, and also how much money is leftover from my spending amount. At the very bottom, I have a place to write out spending ideas.

This is my highlights page (I just realized I spelled it wrong on my picture). I’ve never done one of these pages before, so I thought it was time to try one out. Basically at the end of the day, I’ll write in the designated box what the highlight of my day was. At the bottom, I doodled a cat stretching after getting out of bed. This is my favorite cat doodle I did!

Next, I have my mood tracker. I saw the design on Pinterest and absolutely LOVED IT! On each day, I’ll color a heart according to the main mood I felt that day. I did have a mood tracker for all of 2020 in my past journal, but as I finish each month, I’ll go back to my old journal and fill it in.

Next, I have my usual habit tracker with my habits going down the page and dates going across.

Whew, onto the last one. This is my first weekly page. This is the first time I’ve used circles as the daily sections, so I think it should be interesting. I also have spaces for my to-do list, goals, and notes. I labeled this “Week 1” because this is my first week in this journal.

My Bullet Journaling Experience

I have been bullet journaling for about a year and a half now, and I’ve gone through two journals.

I’d say I’m pretty experienced and knowledgeable in the bullet journaling method. I’ve tried all sorts of different spreads, and I know which ones will and will not work for me. I have had a few bumps along the way (failed spreads, unfinished pages, periods where I haven’t had time to journal, etc.), but I’ve always worked them out.

I’m going to try to be more creative in this journal than I have in past journals. I’m going to let my creative side thrive! I’ll do this by using more types of titles, borders, designs, etc., and also doing more doodles on each page.

If you have any questions, I’d love to answer them as best as I can! Let me know in the comments!

And here is a review page I did in the back of my last journal:

*Note: The pages that have a red X beside them were failed pages.

Until Next Week…

That’s it for this post! I hope you enjoyed all of my pictures and all my doodled cats! Next week… Well, I’m actually not sure what next week’s post will be yet.

Thanks for reading! Happy writing!

But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. (1 John 1:9 NLT)

Hello, everyone! Happy summer!

I just finished my school for this year, and I am so happy! I’m going to have a lot more time on my hands now! I feel so free!!

Alright, moving on. I don’t want to bore you guys with my excitement!

Today, I’m going to share my summer goals with you guys, and give you some tips on how to be productive.

Step 1: Planning

The first step in being productive is to plan. Specifically, plan out what areas you want to become more productive in.

Here is my list:

Studying for my driver’s test
Spending less time on screens
Reading more books
Taking more time to write
Doing more blog posts
Doing more art
Doing more exercise

Your list can even just be one word ideas. That’s how mine was at first, but I formed it into phrases so you guys would understand.

Step 2: Forming Goals

The second step is to form goals. Basically, you just want to take your ideas and form them into reachable plans.

An important thing to note in this step is that THESE GOALS NEED TO BE REASONABLE. If you make them too hard or complicated, it’ll be too hard and you’ll probably just end up giving up.

Here is my goal list:

Take driver’s test before fall.
Do a blog post each week.
Write two hours or more each week.
Read for at least thirty minutes each day.
Use art as a substitute for screen time.
Exercise at least three times a week.

Once you’ve formed your list, write it down. You can even decorate the page! Below is my page I created in my bullet journal:

Step 3: Idea List

Next, you should create a list of ideas of how to form these goals.

Here is mine:

Take driver’s test before fall.
- Study every day (if possible).
- Schedule appointment.
- Take test.
Do a blog post each week.
- Start working on post several days before the day you want to post it.
- Post on the same day each week.
Write two hours or more each week.
- Have a goal of writing time for each day.
- Record when you write.
Read for at least thirty minutes a day.
- Read instead of picking up a screen 🙂
- Make a list of books I want to read.
Use art as a substitute for screen time.
- Do art while watching tv.
- Do art instead of watching tv.
- Learn how to paint.
Exercise at least three times a week.
- Go for walks with my family.
- Go for runs.
- Watch exercise videos.

Step 4: Tracking Your Goals

Next you need to come up with a way to track your goals.

I highly recommend trying a bullet journal. If you would like more information on what that is, check out this post. You can have a separate page to track your goals, or you can track them in your habit tracker.

Step 5: Do it!

Next is the hardest part: actually doing it. You may not feel very motivated at first, but after you start seeing results, you’ll become excited and motivated.

Be Nice To Yourself

An important thing to remember while trying to fulfill these goals, is that you need to be nice to yourself while you’re getting started.

Don’t push yourself too hard. For example, I want to start exercising more. On day one, I’m not going to go run a marathon; that would be ridiculous. I’m going to start slow, like maybe taking a brisk walk or going for a run.

Don’t expect to be a superstar after the first few days. I know I’m not going to be super fit after I’ve done my first two runs. It’s going to take time.

If you miss a day on something, that’s okay. I know I will have a few days where I’ll be too busy to study for my driver’s test. I’ll just study as much as I can in the future.

Until Next Time . . .

That’s it for this post! I hope this information was helpful for you! Let me know in the comments if it was!

Next, time I’ll be giving you a look at my new bullet journal. Stay tuned!