January 2021 is here and it is a fresh year that is hopefully going to be a lot safer and happier. A new year means it is time for a new planner, a new bullet journal or even a new notebook. I love the feeling of an ultimate fresh start that a new year brings.
A new year means a new bullet journal set up, if you didn’t already know I am using an Archer and Olive dotted journal that I was kindly gifted last year as a part of National Stationery Week. If you are new to bullet journalling and not sure how to set up your 2021 journal, I have created an illustrated guide to setting up your 2021 bullet journal and I take you through step by step.
Here are ideas that you can start using in your bullet journal for January that will not only help you become more organised but it can be a great tool to monitor your mental health.
Mood tracker
A mood tracker is what it sounds like it the ability to track your mood. This can take many different forms ranging from simply writing down your mood next ro raw date to a creative design with a key and colour. Monitoring your mood is beneficial as understanding your moods can help you manage them and improve your mood faster. Charting your mood can help you connect your feelings to what has happened that day which will help you better understand those feelings. Mood and anxiety difficulties can sometimes be defined by how long they have had the condition, so using a mood tracker can be helpful to a healthcare professional and they will have a better understanding of your situation.
Blog statistics
Keeping a record of your blog statistics is a task that all bloggers should be doing regularly as it allows you know more about what is happening on your site. It will also allow you to monitor where your blog is succeeding as well as where you can be making adjustments. Recording aspects like what blog posts were the most popular can highlight to you what content your audience wants to see and you can create that content and extend on the content you have already created. Having a record of each months blog statistics can act as motivator and helps you set mini targets you would like to achieve. When you start to see the hard work pay off can then motivate you further to improve your blog.
Habit tracker
Studies show that forming habits can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to become automatic. Habit trackers are a tool to help remind you daily of these existing or new habits. You can track these habits in a list form or in a creative table style. The notion of crossing off something on your list whether it is a habit task or a work task, it can give you a sense of achievement and productivity. Checking tasks off can invoke a feeling of motivation to achieve more on your habit or work task lists. Keeping z habit tracker is a great way to hold yourself accountable for certain actions and is a great reminder. You will feel more organised and will be more productive with your time by using a habit tracker system. Habit trackers are not only for bullet journals and you could use on in a spare notebook or paper you have.
Gratitude
Gratitude is the act of being thankful and the readiness of appreciation. Showing gratitude to yourself and others can be beneficial for your mental health and your mindset. Practising gratitude helps you to feel more positive emotions which then makes you feel good and can improve your mood. You can live a much better life when you are grateful because as your improve relationships to the world, you will better your body and mind. Reflecting on what you are grateful for in a gratitude journal or just voicing them can be nourishing for your mind, body and soul. Writing down one thing you are grateful for allows you to end your day on a positive note.
These pages will help you make some productive and mindful choices throughout 2021. What is one goal that you have for this year? I’d love to hear in the comments.
This is a good guide and easy to understand. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thank you for sharing the gratitude tracker.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
I’ve actually always wanted to start journaling and this post was really helpful. Its very informative, especially for those that don’t know where to start lol!
I am so glad you have found it helpful. If you have any questions I am happy to answer them about bullet journalling.
I am setting up a journal in a binder. Part of my New Years resolution is to continue studying Japanese and get N5 level by the first quarter of the year. So I’m taking your page ideas and doing them all in Japanese.
That is a great idea. I hope you have a very successful studying year. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thank you – I am setting up my first bullet journal this year and this is super helpful!
That’s awesome. If you have any questions feel free to tweet me and if I can help I will. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Your January spread is so pretty, I would love to get into journaling but I’m so unartisitc and I’d be worried it would look a bit silly!
It’s all about practise and using this bullet journal can be a simple design it is how you use the journal that is important. I am creating something so keep an eye out.
I really like the sound of this journal. I usually just have one journal that I write my thoughts or what has happened that day and I do that whenever. But this journal sounds so much organised. That’s something that I’m lacking. Great post as usual!
Thank you! I hope this post is helpful when you come to possibly starting a bullet journal.
This is a really lovely bullet journal and I love each section, it’s really organized and covers a lot of areas.
Thank you!
I’ve wanted to start a bullet journal for sooo long! It’s so organised and I might have to bite the bullet (no pun intended) and go for it! Xx
Definitely do it. It is worth it. X
I don’t have a bullet journal but I do write down my blog statistics! I agree with what you said, and it can be really helpful so you can adjust your weaknesses sooner. Great tips!
http://www.lifebeginsattwenty.com
That’s great you still write down your blog stats. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I absolutely love your spread – it’s so gorgeous! I recently bought a dotted journal to maybe try and give bullet journalling a go so this has been great for inspiration and for ideas on what to include – thanks for sharing!
Tash – A Girl with a View
Oh I love the tracker habit, it’s something I looked into last year but never got around to getting started, I like the way you have it laid out, simple and effective, I’m trying it out. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal on and off for a while now, this year I committed to writing gratitude every day. Great ideas, thank you xoxo
Thank you for reading and commenting. Writing down what you are grateful for is so beneficial.
This look great! I’ve been keeping mine very simple so far.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much! Definitely write down the blog statistics it is definitely helpful.
I am so jealous of your Bullet journal skills. I have always wanted to get into them, but I don’t have any artistic ability.
I just keep practising but keep an eye out as I may be bringing something out to help ☺️
What a great idea, especially the mood tracker! I tried to make a scale from 1-10, but that was too difficult so I just stopped using it, which is a shame. This seems way easier!
I hope you find this way a lot easier. Thank you for reading and commenting.
I love your set up! So pretty too! I think I’m going to have to add a blog views tracker to my bullet journal too! Thank you for sharing your journal set up with us!
I hope you find the blog stats tracker useful. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
You’ll be pleased to know that I have actually set my bullet journal up for January. I feel totally ahead of the game lol
Your journal looks absolutely gorgeous. You’ve done such a good job. I’d never really thought about how useful a mood tracker would be, particularly if you’ve been struggling x
Great little post, I love bullet journalling, I don’t have the time to be as creative as I used to be with it, so I have a normal planner now for every day and just a bullet journal/notebook for blog/social media related things. I do love a good tracker though.
Thank you for reading and commenting. Hopefully it is something you can pick back up in the future.
I love the gratitude tracker!! thank you so much for sharing this! bullet journaling is beautiful to me!
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Great post! Thank you for sharing these ideas as it’s very useful for me! I will definitely be including blog statistics, habit tracker and gratitude pages in my bullet journal! I love the designs of these pages!
I love it! What a very beautiful journal! I just made my first workout tracker and a front cover. Still searching for inspiration for the rest, until now 🙂
Lindifique
Thank you so much. Glad you found some inspiration in my guide. Thank you for reading and commenting. I have checked out your blog but unfortunately I don’t understand it as it is not in English 🙈
Beautiful journal! I still haven’t got around to starting mine yet, but I’m hoping to tomorrow. Wonderful page ideas on here though, that I’ll deffo be using – thanks for sharing x
Sophie | https://www.loveandliterature.co.uk
I don’t currently keep a bullet journal, but I track most of these things in separate journals or spreadsheets. Your bullet journal designs are beautiful! xx
Thank you Sophie. That’s great that you found a system that works best for you. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Love the theme! I wish I had artistic talent lol it’s pre-printed planners for me!
Thank you. Well keep an eye out for a pre-printed bullet journal 😝
This is so pretty and functional. Very well done! Really love how it looks.
Thank you!
Love how you set up your bullet journals each month. Oooh, being able to track your blog stats is a huge plus! It is cool when you can see the result after the whole year. The gratitude tracker is a big plus – like that you kept it simple. One of the things I like doing is think about one positive thing that happened that day
Nancy ✨ mdrnminimalists.com
Thank you Nancy! Happy New Year. I hope this year is a lot safer and happier for us all.
This has come at the PERFECT time for my new notebook I got for Christmas! Thanks for sharing!
Enjoy setting up your journal!
I love this! Very helpful! I was looking to set up a tracker page for my blogging stats. Thank you so much for sharing these idea! I’ll definitely Utley be using some of these!!
Thank you for reading and commenting! Can you link your blog?
Another beautiful BuJo layout, Lauren. Very clean, minimalist and stylish. I love your mood tracker, it will be so easy to see at a glance how you’ve felt at the end of the month 🙂
Thank you lovely. With all my health conditions at the moment it will be really helpful for me and my doctor. Thank you for reading and commenting.
Thanks for sharing this Lauren, as you know I like to keep track of things myself, its important to have targets and goals to maintain focus and I know now more than ever, moods and tiredness in particular can affect my enthusiasm and performance. So a journal like this make perfect sense for a lot of reasons. Thanks for continuing to share these very helpful tips for us novice bloggers, its much appreciated dated, take care
So glad you found this post helpful.
My goal for this year is to get on the right medication and level out my moods then I can hopefully start leading a more normal life 🙂 x
i always love how you prepare and set up your monthly bujos! Mine are very short as I never get a chance to do mood trackers – but I like to track my monthly sales online etc – I use my bujo as therapy and will randomly write my thoughts and feelings and acheivements of the month.
great work!
-Lena
http://www.lenasnotebook.co.uk
I love this! I don’t have a bullet journal as I’m one of those fussy people who can’t stand their own handwriting, but I do use a lot of these tips. I have a gratitude journal that I write in every morning and evening and it’s made a HUGE difference to how I feel daily. I also like to track my habits but I haven’t made mine look as pretty as yours does! A mood tracker sounds like a good idea, I need to incorporate that into my journaling!
Beth x Adventure & Anxiety