How I Use My Bullet Journal To Stay Organized In College
By: Celine Vazquez ‘24
Let’s face it - online college is rough. It can be easy to lose track of zoom meeting links, class times, and what assignments are due when. Luckily, bullet journaling has come to your rescue, and can keep you organized in a fun, creative, and aesthetically pleasing way. Grab your colored pens and Mildliner highlighters - it’s time to get our lives together!
Materials
The best thing about bullet journaling is that you don’t need a ton of supplies! All you need is a blank journal (I love these inexpensive ones from Amazon), some pens, and a few highlighters. My favorite brand of highlighters to use are these Mildliners. I love their soft, pastel colors - but feel free to use whatever brand fits your vibe! Other extras to spruce up your journal could include some sticky note tabs, stickers, and stylish binder clips.
While some like to stick to the original bullet journal method, there are hundreds of other ways to go. My friend Meg made me this amazing bullet journal that helps keep me on top of everythinggg. The following spreads are the ones that work best for me, but feel free to look at other layouts that will best fit your needs! Let’s get started!
Goals Page
The first pages in my bullet journal are my goals pages! Going into my freshman year of college I wanted to make sure that I had a clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish during my first year at USC. This page helped me do just that! What I love about this page is the flexibility of it - it doesn’t necessarily have to be goals for a school year, but could even be just for a month, week, or day!
Monthly Calendar
The most effective way to organize your bullet journal is to divide it up into months. This monthly spread can help you organize any important test days that may be coming up, what days your homework is due, and when club meetings will be occurring. Seeing an overview of your month in two pages can really help you visualize what you need to accomplish before a new month begins!
Weekly Agenda
This spread is what keeps me on track with my weekly meetings and assignments! Each day of the week is listed with their corresponding dates (also make sure to leave space so you can write). This is where I list my daily homework assignments, any events I have going on, and to-do lists. Having a spread like this comes in handy when you want to make checklists of what you need to get done on a daily basis.
Sleep and Exercise Trackers
An essential part of zoom university is balance. It’s super important to keep your mental health up when taking on a heavy online course load! My sleep and exercise trackers help me make sure that I get enough zzz’s and actively move my body to keep me feeling ready to take on any day! For my exercise log, I use a key that helps organize what type of exercise I do on a certain day (arms, core, cycling, or meditation).
Gratitude List
One last spread I use each month is a gratitude list! This is such a great way to put everything in your life into perspective. Although grades are super important, it’s also nice to remember that there is so much more to you than just being a successful college student! This spread is a great place to just write down everything you are grateful for each day of the month. Having this layout has made me that much more of a happier person.
I hope you consider bullet journaling to organize your life in college! The beauty of bullet journaling is that no two journals will ever look identical. Put your own spin on the spreads you design, and who knows - you may consider yourself to be an expert bullet journalist very soon!
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