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I am feeling so on top of my blogging game right now. From starting this journey in April last year probably up until November, I used to get by releasing posts whenever they were ready, I was not very organised at all. There would be no predictability in my posting.
And then everything changed for me, wandering around the sales just after Christmas last year I picked up this Journal in The Works. Having only read about bullet journals and really not understanding them, I flicked through and instantly saw that this was a book I just had to purchase.
What is a Bullet Journal?
I am totally obsessed with everything to do with notebooks. I have so many of them but yet I actually worry they'll be used and never replaced, so I just buy more and more, very weird huh? With them all as my first love, since buying this bullet journal, I haven't written in one of my notebooks since!
A bullet journal is not just lines in a notebook, it is actually organising and scheduling all rolled into one, if that's not enough, it is a goal setter, a list maker and a quarterly review diary, pretty amazing I think.
The journal has its own notes pages to jot down anything you may need to add to a specific post when releasing it. It is one of the reasons why my notebooks are now gathering dust, believe me you will not want to leave your home without the Journal ever!
How I use my journal
I actually don't use everything on the pages available, for example the meal plans or things I'm waiting for, so this is how I have implemented it solely for my blogging purposes:
- I pick a date in the future for the release of a post, usually in a couple of months time and write it under the planner part next to the day.
- I then count back either two or three weeks prior to the release date and schedule sorting photos for that post under the 'to do' part.
- And then I count back a further two or three weeks to schedule the start of writing the post.
- I usually cross each item off my lists once completed and I find I am actually working weeks in advance.
The part where I schedule to find photos for my posts has been a lifesaver, it might just be me here, but it's one of the difficult parts of putting together a great post.
Quarterly review
Every three months in this journal is a review page, so I organise a coffee meet with my editor (my boyfriend) and I write everything that I need to query and address, I also note down some ideas for upcoming events that I want to take part in, I have recently had my first review and it was more than helpful, it also made me look forward to getting on and knuckling down with my writing.
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Goal setting
I must admit I had over the past year read people's goal posts and thought 'why do we need to set goals?' But actually they were right. If we can't set even just one goal, how do you chart your progress?
So why is scheduling so important?
Reading everything above, why wouldn't you do it? I am now scheduling, and have been posting sometimes two posts a week, purely because of this bullet journal. It works for me, it has made me a different blogger, it has shone a light on what was an unorganised mess at the beginning and it guides my focus from procrastination to busy bee, with the journal, it's easy to set out a kind of 'to-do' list so you can follow it right up to the release date. I have not had one problem with my scheduling tasks that are set out and I have made it easy to follow which is only a good thing for me. Scheduling increases your productivity tenfold, you just can't beat it, organising is important to keep us motivated and allows us to prioritise everything.
I know everyone has different ways that definitely work for them but this is mine that I wanted to share.
I'm hoping you are now more excited to get on with filling out your own scheduling program if you haven't already and can understand how it helps us writers and bloggers in many numerous ways.
Thank you for reading.
What helps you to stay organised?
Do you have general good organisational skills?
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Comments
Have always been interested in a bullet journal and your run down of it has helped me decide I need one for sure!
Thank you Natalie, I just had to share, scheduling for me helps me keep on track, good luck with your new journal x
I love using a bullet journal to help keep me organised as well as organising my blog. Thank you for sharing your post.
Lauren - bournemouthgirl
Thanks for reading Lauren, they really are quite something aren't they