I wasted a full month of my bullet journal trying to make it perfect

For the first six weeks this year, I spent over an hour every night drawing elaborate weekly spreads. I used a ruler for everything, and if I made one small mistake, I'd tear the page out and start over. It stopped being a tool and became a chore. I switched to a simple pencil for my rough layout about three weeks ago, and it changed everything. Now I can move things around before I commit to ink, and my journal actually helps me instead of stressing me out. Has anyone else found that letting go of perfection made their system work better?

3 comments

3 Comments

hannah_price795d ago

Twenty-two brand new journals sitting on my shelf say I feel your pain. But @riley_king16, I have to ask, is it really that serious that a smudged line makes your whole brain feel messy? A bullet journal is just a notebook, not a sacred artifact, and if you can't scribble out a mistake without losing your mind you're turning a tool into a boss.

riley_king162mo ago

See, I'm the opposite. "Letting go of perfection" just sounds like giving up. That hour every night with the ruler? That's discipline. My journal is a physical record I have to look at every day, and if it's sloppy, it makes my whole brain feel messy. A pencil sketch feels temporary, like I didn't really commit to the plan. The ink forces me to think before I act, which is the whole point for me. A perfect spread makes me want to use it.

lily892mo ago

So what happens when you make a mistake in ink, @riley_king16? Do you just live with it on the page?