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bujo-lettuce-tomato · 7 years

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Planning Ahead for Fall: How I do it

So last week, I outlined some steps you can take to plan ahead for the fall semester (that’s in 19 days for me, I am literally counting!) and this week, I’m going to show how I made use of them in my bullet journal :)

Looking Back

I do a lot of this when making any spread, tbh, partly because a little bit of continuity helps my brain, and partly because I really like the way I’ve planned previously! I’m going to draw inspiration from a couple of places: my summer spread (gorgeous, functional!), my April monthly/class-tracker hybrid spread (somewhat like my typical monthly one, but with a class-tracker stuck in) and of course, last semester’s class schedule page (very, very important). Weekly spreads are going to change as needed, of course, but I’m going to try to model them off of my newer vertical spreads rather than my horizontal ones.

Breaking it Down

Now comes the time to think about how I’ve used those spreads I’m drawing from, to figure out what’s worth keeping and what needs changing.

First, my summer spread: I just can’t stop gushing over how darn useful and practical it was! I put a lot of love into it, and it shows. I did fourteen weeks on a single page, with each month color-coded and each day with a dozen squares, in sort of a compressed running calendar. I added mini calendars on the bottom, and used little checkmark-banners on the sides for my exam grades. The writing space was a little bit cramped, and obviously I couldn’t put every event in there, but that also forced me to really focus on the important stuff: upcoming school assignments. Fun fun fun. To extend this spread to seventeen weeks (the semester, the week before, and finals) I’d move the calendars to the side and make the title smaller. I’d also have my grades moved on a separate page, because I like having a hard copy and 5 courses just won’t fit.

Now for monthly spreads. I’d like to keep them consistent, and April seemed to work well. I combined my tried-and-true Class Tracker with part of my typical monthly spread. I used to have important highlights right next to my mini monthly calendar, a week-by-week thing with more room to write underneath, and finally habit trackers at the very bottom. I’m bad at consistently using habit trackers, and that is probably correlated with me not using the “week-of” space either... and besides, the semester-long spread covers that purpose. It all works out. Of course, to have my monthly-class-tracker, I need to use five-week months, which just so happens to work out this semester with some overlapped weeks and a three-week December.

My schedule page is a no-brainer: I’ve had it sketched out since I registered for classes in April, and it looks just like my spring one. Of course, this page also determines the most important thing: color coding! I've been using more or less the same color-coding scheme since middle school, so it’s just a question of adapting what I already have :)

Designing My Spreads!

When I actually put my semester spread on paper, I realized that having the calendars on the left hand side didn’t make sense visually, so I moved everything over to the left. Finally I decided that the calendars were kind of redundant since I already had some in the front of my bujo, and the space would be much better used as a notes-space, where I can expand on weekly events if needed.

I sketched out my monthly spread with a few modifications: The calendar and month title now are squeezed to one side, while monthly highlights and a blank space for goals and motivation take up the rest of that empty space. Also, my class session boxes are going to be outlined in their respective color for quicker visual recognition, because that can’t hurt! ...aaaaand then I realized I wanted to have a grade tracker spread right after my semester spread, because that makes a whole lot of sense. This is why you always sketch spreads in pencil first! Either way, I wasn’t planning to finish this spread until I get back in town for school, so it’s not a big deal to move it at all. Now let’s just hope I don’t wreck this page with eraser smudges :/

I’m also not going to finish my schedule page until after add-drop week is over, because you never know, but given my current classes, I’ve ended up with a really happy, vibrant color scheme! (shown here on my pen test page, because I don’t want to put anything permanent down until I have my final schedule) Purple for developmental bio, magenta for biochem and pink for its lab, red for choir, green for critical writing in biology, yellow for performance in world cultures (my last non-bio elective class, RIP me). Biochem also has what’s listed as a lab but I hear is optional recitation/scheduled office hours? It’s weird, imma roll with it, and definitely not pick a color for it until I can ascertain what, exactly, that hour is dedicated to.

Next Steps

Obviously, I can’t really evaluate my spreads until I actually start using them, but I can set aside time for self-evaluation. I’m going to be doing that purposefully every week (my weekly spreads now include a weekly summary section! I’ve done a mixture of regular journaling and reflecting about my productivity and goals in there, and so far it’s at least not a negative thing. I also do it automatically whenever I make my next monthly or weekly spread, even if it’s more of a “maybe I should move this box over a little and write smaller” kind of thing. I always try to focus on the practical rather than the pretty: yes, sometimes I’ll start on a spread with a theme in mind, but that’s because I already know that the spread is going to work for my purposes that week or month. Usually I just sketch things out and then doodle around the “skeleton”. Art is nice, and it’s part of why I keep doing what I’m doing, but my bullet journal is always also a tool.

So that’s pretty much it! Over the semester, I’ll be posting more regular posts (including study tips, life tips, etc.), and at the end I’ll probably revisit this post to talk about what I’ve learned! It’s all just part of the journey :)

#bullet journal #bujo #bujoinspire #studyblr #myposts

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