Does bullet journalling actually make you productive?

I know this is a very controversial opinion, but I find bullet journals to be very ineffective in keeping me organised. I’ve kept countless bullet journals, but I’ve never been able to sustain the habit for more than a couple months. Although others might find them useful, I feel as though bullet journals are more trouble than they’re worth, and there are many reasons for this. As a quick disclaimer – this is just my opinion, I’m sure bullet journals are very helpful for many people. Unfortunately, I’m not one of them 🙁

Analog vs Digital

One big factor for me when considering organisational methods is whether they’re analog or digital. This is because digital methods are much easier for me to adjust as my plans change. Yes, I can cross out an event in my bullet journal, but I can also just delete it without a trace on Google Calendar. As well as this, my events are accessible from anywhere, like my phone, laptop, or even someone else’s device!

Lack of portability

Although bullet journals are praised for their portability, I find that I don’t want to carry another notebook around. My school bag is already much too heavy! My current system of Google Calendar and Notion is accessible from everywhere, and weighs much less. Instead of carrying round another notebook, I can just add an event on my laptop.

Perfectionism and mistakes

There’s a really big pressure in the bullet journalling community to make your journal look beautiful. Everywhere you look, there are seemingly perfect notebooks filled with fancy calligraphy, intricate drawings, and a multitude of colours. If you want to look online for inspiration and ideas to improve your bullet journal, you’ll likely encounter some of these images. These “perfect” pictures can make it seem demoralising when your own bullet journal looks less good. Because of the constant pressure to make my notebook look great, I don’t like bullet journalling.

Time-consuming

Let’s be honest – setting up a bullet journal takes a really long time. Even if you’re making the most minimalist spread possible with only the bare bones, it still takes a really long while to draw it out. You’ll also have to re-draw each spread every week or month (depending on the spread), which adds up to a lot of time. I found that I’d spend more time on setting up my bullet journal than actually doing the tasks in it.

Currently, I’m really happy with the organisational method I have now. I know a lot of people love bullet journalling, but it really just isn’t for me. If you want to learn more about other organisational methods, check out some of my other posts!