disclosure: this post is sponsored by Skillshare.
How do you organize your life?
In total disclosure—there are areas of my life that are super organized. Areas where I rock. Areas where I’m amazing. Areas where I think a standing ovation should happen.
And then?
There are areas where I’m scatterbrained and unorganized and totally forgetful and think I should just start over.
Isn’t that random? To be so organized sometimes and so unorganized at other times? In 2019, I decided I wanted to figure out why that was. I wanted to research and do some soul-searching and figuring out why it all happened like that.
And so I did.
And do you know what I figured out? Do you know what my very best guess what the answer was?
All my life wasn’t in one place.
I know that seems over-simplified. I get it. I understand. But truly? I had this organizer for this and this organizer for this and it was all in different places and some of the organizers worked really well and some not so much.
And then I discovered bullet journaling.
It all started with this class over on Skillshare. You’ve heard me talk about Skillshare before.
I’ve learned so much over there. I’ve learned how to take better pictures with my iPhone and the best photography tips and I’ve even looked into arm knitting.
Seriously.
Skillshare is an awesome learning community full of more than 25,000 online classes on skills that are just waiting to be learned. Classes on photography and crafting and creating and designing and blogging and so much more.
I just logged into my Skillshare account and searched for bullet journaling.
There were so many different options, but I learned so much from Jess.
She was sweet and friendly and open and walked me through how to bullet journal.
And now?
Here’s a look inside my pages.
The basic concept behind bullet journaling is to have a notebook with a page for everything. You can have business pages and personal pages and workout pages and healthy eating pages all in the same notebook.
And the best part?
You don’t have to think of everything at the same time and keep it in order. I started with a table of contents at the front.
My first page was this e-mail list. E-mails are my lifeline. So I started an e-mail page and added it to the table of contents. It’s page one. Then I made a list of all the e-mails that I needed to do and things I needed to take care of on e-mail. I left a couple of blank pages for this because e-mail is such an important part of my day and I know it will fill up quickly.
My next page was a business one, too.
It’s my consulting page.
I do blog consulting and business consulting and even now book consulting. If you are ever interested in talking, you can see more about my consulting business here.
Whew.
It’s a lot to keep straight.
I added this page to the table of contents and started making my list.
Then I added an upcoming projects page.
And an SEO to work on a page.
And a grocery page.
And an idea for posts page.
And a supplies page like this one.
For every area of my life that I needed to keep track of something, I added a page. The pages can be a little random. I just add one as I need it and take away a page if I no longer need it. The table of contents in the front helps me keep everything in order.
It’s truly amazing.
Bullet journaling your life.
I take this notebook with me wherever I go and it’s my lifeline.
Literally.
And now—in super exciting news–you can take this class and hundreds of others just like it when you try Skillshare for two months for FREE by clicking here or by entering the promo code THISTLE3 at checkout.
Here are a few others I found that I want to try:
How to Fix the Oops with Your Bullet Journals
Hand lettering (Jess teaches this one, too)
And this one sounded so 2019: How to Bullet Journal On Your Ipad
This is just a sampling of some of the classes on bullet journaling.
I’m not done yet. I’m going to take a few more. I want to learn a little more about hand lettering and a little more about what to do with more pages when I run out of room.
Good thing there’s Skillshare. Good thing there are classes that can help me with that. There are over 20,000 classes in every possible area you can think of–from bullet journaling to building your social media platform to learning how to blog.
You can check them all out here and design and create and dream and learn to your heart’s content….
….for FREE. 🙂
To try out Skillshare for two months for FREE, simply click here.
There are thousands of classes waiting with a seat with your name on it…
….just waiting to help you learn something new. 🙂
disclosure: This post was sponsored by Skillshare.
All opinions are my own and I would shout them from the rooftops if I could.
Please see my advertising page for more information.
I've been Bullet Journaling since September and I LOVE it!! I use it for planning my daily life, planning my meals, planning vacations. I use it to keep up with my work to do list. I use it to keep track of books I want to read and also when I finish them. I keep lists of movies and TV shows I want to watch. I keep track of Christmas gifts to buy for others. I love it because it changes often to be whatever I need it to be at the time! Sometimes I get creative and make it pretty, sometimes it is just plain and simple with no extras. It's also great to help start new habits with a habit tracker! I just can't say enough good things about bullet journaling.
Love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bullet list on my iphone-have for years and it really works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Teresa, Seriously? You have it on your i-phone? How does that work? I saw a class on that and I may try that one next! Happy day friend! karianne
For real! On your iPhone?? I'll have to look for that class.
You are going to LOVE bullet journaling! I've been doing it for a couple years. It's fun, creative, and oh, so helpful to keep life in order! You are right about keeping everything in one place. I LOVE my Leuchttrum1917 dotted pages and have a whole section on sermon notes. Customizing it just for you is the best! Have fun and thank you for the free inspiration!
I love your bullet journal. Mine would have to be one where I could add pages. I have to go to Hobby Lobby today for wedding stuff, so I might just see what journals they have. Lord knows I need more organization in my life. Already a skillshare member, so ADDED BONUS!
Jolyn, That's where I got my bullet journal. They have the cutest selection right over by the books at the front! Happy day! karianne
I use three ring binders specifically so I can add and edit pages as life (and my interests) change.
I am trying to sign up and it keeps starting over...help!
I just wanna say that I love your handwriting!!! xoxo
I love when things become a trend and are given a name and then you look into it and you're like...oh hey I already do that! Like minimalism...I wouldn't call myself one, but when I read articles or tips, I realize I am already doing those things, but I didn't have a fancy name for it. Same with bullet journaling...perfect for a scatterbrained person like me! It is always so helpful to see how others do things though, then you can tweak your own system when you see something better! I love skillshare too!
I've heard about Skillshare over on Jen Hatmaker's Podcast as well. I need to try it out. I love your suggestions! I organize my to dos in this way and never knew it was a named strategy! Now I've seen how to make it prettier!! Thanks for the inspiration!
Love my bullet journal. Started last fall and going strong now. I have even started to do some doodling to make it pretty. I had tried about every planner out there and none met all my needs but bullet journal-ling works because you make it whatever you need it to be.
I just signed up for Skillshare and watched Jess. Thanks for leading me to this resource. Did you know I needed it? You are the best!
Hi Karianne! I’m kinda new to social media etc... and had no clue that something like Skillshare even existed??!! I know, I’ve been living in the dark ages, lol! Thank you for telling us that aren’t hip to all this stuff, about it. I’ll definitely have to check it out. I think though, that I’ve always been bullet journaling, lol! I buy notebooks by the box and have always kept a running journal with notes and things I need to remember. Otherwise I’d forget everything! As you get older, it helps to have things written down, trust me, lol!! I wasn’t doing the table of contents though, like duh, how helpful would that have been?! I’ll check Skillshare out and see how to improve upon what I’ve already been doing. I’m always up for learning new things. Thanks for the tip! Have a great day tomorrow! 😊
I love the idea of bullet journaling! What a great way to organize everything we need to do in life. Have a great Wednesday! 🌸
Yaaasss!!!! Thank you for sharing this information!! I’m looking forward to checking out the classes. XO Roxanne
I just am in process of setting up my journal. I have been so overwhelmed by how complicated some people have made theirs. Can I just say, yours is the closest to what I am going to do with mine? No fancy journal with dots, maybe later. There are "working" bullet journals and then there are "elaborate" journals that require all kinds of fancy stuff. I'm not going to make mine that complicated. I felt a sigh of relief when I saw yours. Thanks for sharing.
I just discovered bullet journaling and it’s wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Can you tell me where you got your black and white journal, please?
So sorry, Karianne! I found where you said you got it at Hobby Lobby.