Bullet Journaling is trending and I personally have hopped on the bandwagon too. I love it because it's so easy to customize...but is it perfect? Definitely not. I have identified a few problems over the few months that I've been using this system. Read below to find out what issues I have with the Bullet Journal system.
This post may not apply to everyone. The following issues I have with the Bullet Journal are a mix of problems with the original system and problems I have with how I make my Journal.
I have uploaded a few videos and a few posts on Bullet Journaling and if you've seen my videos are read my posts, you know I have a minimal theme with a simple 3-color palette (black, white, and gray). Check out the posts below (will open in a new tab so you don't forget about this one!)
Here are 8 problems I face with the Bullet Journal system and my Bullet Journal:
1 🖉 Too neat to mess up
I always have to keep it neat and tidy for it to be aesthetically pleasing. If not visually satisfying, I still feel the need to keep it uniform, have the same handwriting, etc. I am one of those people that don't have one single handwriting and so my handwriting changes depending on my mood, time, whether I'm lazy or not, etc. When planning in my Bullet Journal, I have to try and stick to one "font" so that it doesn't look bad. The worst part is when I make mistakes or have to cross out something and it causes my effort on that entire page (that I'd worked hard on looking beautiful) to go to waste.
2 🖉 I can't do amazing lettering (frustration)
Sometimes I can astonish myself by writing a word beautifully when attempting hand lettering. But that's not always the case and usually, my brush doesn't want to cooperate or sometimes my hand is shaky. Seeing amazing Bullet Journal Spreads on Pinterest with flawless hand lettering and type-like fonts makes me sort of jealous because my spreads don't look that perfect! It kind of repels me from wanting to decorate and write in fancy fonts in my Bullet Journal because I can't achieve that sort of perfection yet.
3 🖉 Can't switch up pages
For example, if you want to change the position of a page/element to the front, you just can't. What if, when you get to your second monthly spread and then realize you wanted a TV Show tracker? You can't just add it between two monthly spreads as a stand-alone spread. That would not be called "organized". Either you have to plan your Bullet Journal properly or have to have random elements in random places in your Bullet Journal. I'm lucky if sometimes I find a way to incorporate the newly desired element into a monthly spread, but otherwise, there's nothing I can do about it other than cringe while placing a completely random element in a place it doesn't fit in.
4 🖉 Decorating can be time-consuming
Yes, decorating is therapeutic to me most of the times. I love art and this is a perfect way to do some "light" art if that makes any sense at all. However, I don't always have time to bust out my Washi Tape Collection and spend half an hour or more decorating my journal with supplies like washi tapes, markers, watercolors, etc. It can sort of make you less productive if you spend a lot of time trying to make your page look perfect, which is the opposite of what a Bullet Journal should make you do.
5 🖉 Can get overwhelming
Looking at the hundreds of videos online of monthly spreads, whole journal set-ups, different aesthetics, etc. can be pretty overwhelming especially if you don't know or are not very sure of how you want your BuJo to look like. There are so many elements that you can or can not add and so many ways you can position the elements and so many ways your pages can turnout. It can get overwhelming because of the variety or overwhelming because of the number of elements you want to have.
6 🖉 Only for intense planning
If you have a week of no important tasks, you'll just end up wasting the entire daily log section for that week. Pages can be wasted when you are on holidays, have no homework/studying/errands to run, and so on.
Also, the BuJo is for intense planners. Future log, monthly spread, weekly log, daily log. You may only be able to fill up all four of those categories if you like to plan a lot and plan everything and anything. If you only like to plan a certain part of your life, and it doesn't require all those logs, the BuJo may not be for you. This type of journal is amazing and flexible. It's basically like the unicorn of planners, but it's only helpful if you fill those pages up at least partially (with actual tasks, not just the fancy headers and doodles).
7 🖉 Page/space can be wasted (the struggle of trying to be a minimalist and efficient)
If you want to achieve a minimal-looking journal like me, you will end up facing the problem minimalism vs page wastage. Minimal doesn't necessarily have to mean spacing all your test. A minimal BuJo could be minimal in the sense of just writing words and no doodles or unnecessary distractions or minimal in the sense of appearance and spacing between elements. If it's the latter, you may not like the fact that something that could fit on one page now takes two and all the empty space could frustrate you a little, especially if you don't like the idea of wasting paper.
8 🖉 Sometimes trying to make it look pretty results in bleed-through
Markers and all that is really in right now. I love the idea of using markers that are faded grays or pastel shades as a background for text or anything like that. The only problem is that if you don't have a good notebook (which are usually a bit more expensive) there will be ink bleeding to the other side (or worse to the next page) and that is never a pretty sight to see. If your journal has thin paper, you're restricted to using only certain pens, and hardly any markers at all.
This post may not apply to everyone. The following issues I have with the Bullet Journal are a mix of problems with the original system and problems I have with how I make my Journal.
I have uploaded a few videos and a few posts on Bullet Journaling and if you've seen my videos are read my posts, you know I have a minimal theme with a simple 3-color palette (black, white, and gray). Check out the posts below (will open in a new tab so you don't forget about this one!)
- Bullet Journal Setup
- Bullet Journal - June 2017 spread
- Bullet Journal - July 2017 spread
- Bullet Journal - August 2017 spread (New!)
Here are 8 problems I face with the Bullet Journal system and my Bullet Journal:
1 🖉 Too neat to mess up
I always have to keep it neat and tidy for it to be aesthetically pleasing. If not visually satisfying, I still feel the need to keep it uniform, have the same handwriting, etc. I am one of those people that don't have one single handwriting and so my handwriting changes depending on my mood, time, whether I'm lazy or not, etc. When planning in my Bullet Journal, I have to try and stick to one "font" so that it doesn't look bad. The worst part is when I make mistakes or have to cross out something and it causes my effort on that entire page (that I'd worked hard on looking beautiful) to go to waste.
2 🖉 I can't do amazing lettering (frustration)
Sometimes I can astonish myself by writing a word beautifully when attempting hand lettering. But that's not always the case and usually, my brush doesn't want to cooperate or sometimes my hand is shaky. Seeing amazing Bullet Journal Spreads on Pinterest with flawless hand lettering and type-like fonts makes me sort of jealous because my spreads don't look that perfect! It kind of repels me from wanting to decorate and write in fancy fonts in my Bullet Journal because I can't achieve that sort of perfection yet.
3 🖉 Can't switch up pages
For example, if you want to change the position of a page/element to the front, you just can't. What if, when you get to your second monthly spread and then realize you wanted a TV Show tracker? You can't just add it between two monthly spreads as a stand-alone spread. That would not be called "organized". Either you have to plan your Bullet Journal properly or have to have random elements in random places in your Bullet Journal. I'm lucky if sometimes I find a way to incorporate the newly desired element into a monthly spread, but otherwise, there's nothing I can do about it other than cringe while placing a completely random element in a place it doesn't fit in.
4 🖉 Decorating can be time-consuming
Yes, decorating is therapeutic to me most of the times. I love art and this is a perfect way to do some "light" art if that makes any sense at all. However, I don't always have time to bust out my Washi Tape Collection and spend half an hour or more decorating my journal with supplies like washi tapes, markers, watercolors, etc. It can sort of make you less productive if you spend a lot of time trying to make your page look perfect, which is the opposite of what a Bullet Journal should make you do.
5 🖉 Can get overwhelming
Looking at the hundreds of videos online of monthly spreads, whole journal set-ups, different aesthetics, etc. can be pretty overwhelming especially if you don't know or are not very sure of how you want your BuJo to look like. There are so many elements that you can or can not add and so many ways you can position the elements and so many ways your pages can turnout. It can get overwhelming because of the variety or overwhelming because of the number of elements you want to have.
6 🖉 Only for intense planning
If you have a week of no important tasks, you'll just end up wasting the entire daily log section for that week. Pages can be wasted when you are on holidays, have no homework/studying/errands to run, and so on.
Also, the BuJo is for intense planners. Future log, monthly spread, weekly log, daily log. You may only be able to fill up all four of those categories if you like to plan a lot and plan everything and anything. If you only like to plan a certain part of your life, and it doesn't require all those logs, the BuJo may not be for you. This type of journal is amazing and flexible. It's basically like the unicorn of planners, but it's only helpful if you fill those pages up at least partially (with actual tasks, not just the fancy headers and doodles).
7 🖉 Page/space can be wasted (the struggle of trying to be a minimalist and efficient)
If you want to achieve a minimal-looking journal like me, you will end up facing the problem minimalism vs page wastage. Minimal doesn't necessarily have to mean spacing all your test. A minimal BuJo could be minimal in the sense of just writing words and no doodles or unnecessary distractions or minimal in the sense of appearance and spacing between elements. If it's the latter, you may not like the fact that something that could fit on one page now takes two and all the empty space could frustrate you a little, especially if you don't like the idea of wasting paper.
8 🖉 Sometimes trying to make it look pretty results in bleed-through
Markers and all that is really in right now. I love the idea of using markers that are faded grays or pastel shades as a background for text or anything like that. The only problem is that if you don't have a good notebook (which are usually a bit more expensive) there will be ink bleeding to the other side (or worse to the next page) and that is never a pretty sight to see. If your journal has thin paper, you're restricted to using only certain pens, and hardly any markers at all.
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