Monthly Update (February 2021)

          Last month was a complete disaster when it came to my studies, my blogs, and my journalling. I mostly failed at adulting in that month. 

As you can see a lot of half done boxes and crosses. The only thing I really kept up was practicing my languages via the apps. 

          I decided that some bits of what I did last month were good but the rest had to be changed so that is what I did for this month as a trial.

          First let me start with the monthly review. I did that using my new glass dip pen set. 

I loved using the set, and it worked wonderfully with my new journals from Notebook Therapy. Some of the inks did ghost but not all of them. 

I had half a page of nothing so I decided to try and see how much water the pages of the journal can take...boy they can take a lot of punishment. I piled on the water and it didn’t warp much. 

Notice that because some of the inks had ghosted and I added water to the mix they showed up even more but the words on the previous page stayed just the same. So this journal can really take a lot of punishment. 

          Next I decided to work on my February cover page. I had a picture in my head of what I wanted to do then I sketched it out and used my new Ohuhu Acrylic markers and stamps to work on the picture. I like the end result!

          I also decided to not do a daily tracker but instead use a new format that I have been playing with last month. I have a weekly study log and I kind of have what should be done on any given day but if I don’t finish it by that day then I have the rest of the week to catch up. The important thing is that by Saturday everything has to be done. I did keep my monthly calendar the same with a little tweak to make the page look even and the boxes a little bigger.

The next spread is my goals, blog ideas and books read spread. These have not really changed.

I’m hoping this new way of doing things will help me get motivated and going.

Monthly Update (January 2021)

          I started working on my goals at the end of December. I used a workbook that I put together myself. I worked on each of my goals separately but first I did a survey of my goals from last year.

Since I had my yearly goals all set I decided to work on my new journal. I knew I didn’t want to stay in my ferris wheel journal because I wanted nothing to do with anything from 2020. So this is the notebook from Notebook Therapy that I am currently using. 

          First I set up the pages that are going to stay as a staple like a grid that shows me the box count on each day and how many boxes I am going to need for my month at a glance for example. 

          Next a title page for 2021, a review of last year and my budget page. 

I made a title page for January and a month at a glance page which included my trackers.

Finally a page for my goals, blog ideas and books read. 

I also have a weekly study tracker and a daily study tracker which I made for myself. I like to know what I expect of myself all week (weekly tracker) and what I actually get done during the day. 

This is how I use the daily tracker. 

By using this daily tracker I can see what bits take up more time and how much time I am really spending at studying.

I love my new journal. The pages are really thick which makes it easy to use watercolor and other mediums on it. 

Monthly Update (December)

          Last month’s lack of motivation really messed me up when it came to my studies, and my journalling. I went days with out writing one sentence in my journal and I hated it. So I vowed that I wouldn’t push myself too much this month but That I should write as much as I can. 

NOVEMBER TRACKER PAGE:

Notice the crosses and brown splotches. The brown is me taking time off and the crosses are just me not having enough energy to do anything. 

There is one thing that I did do and that is pass the first semester of ZAD Academy.

DECEMBER TRACKER PAGE:

I messed up the grid a little so I used white out and then added a sticker on top. 😂 

I took out my morning routine and instead I added Apps as a thing I wanted to track otherwise nothing else changed. 

MONTHLY REVIEW:

I did do the monthly review and I poured my thoughts into it and what I might do different in December. 

DECEMBER COVER PAGE:

Yeah, don’t ask me why unicorns are a thing on this page, in fact don’t ask me why it looks like this. I have no idea.

MONTH AT A GLANCE PAGES:

December month at a glance page. 

This is November’s month at a glance.

MONTHLY GOALS:

Notice how compact it is. Yeah, I’m not doing much this month and that is deliberate. I need to regroup and relax. 

I decided that doing one book at a time right now was the way to go instead of working on many books all at once. 

Well, this is my update for this month.

Monthly Update - September 2020

           This would be the first month I try my new set up for my bullet journal. But first, let us look in on last month. The power sheet calendar had a few of my finished goals and ones that I didn't know I would finish in red.

Also, my tracker sheets in the power sheets and my journal were semi-complete too. I did a lot of work this month especially at the end of the month.

          The next thing I did was look at the goals I had in my power sheets combined with my power sheets calendar last month so that I could do the Month in Review page in my journal.

It was interesting how I was really enjoying answering the questions I put for myself as opposed to the ones in the power sheets, which are standard and for everyone. The purple pen I used for the title actually bled through to the back so I glued this page to the one below it to cover the bleeding.

          Next, I worked on the cover page for September. I decided to finally try using watercolor in my journal which is supposed to be watercolor friendly...It was and it wasn't. The paper did crinkle but once it dried and I put a book on top of it and it flattened out a lot then I glued it to the next page and it was fine. So next time I will probably use this method.

  

Next, I added some stickers and just wrote in September 2020. I like simple things I guess.

          The next page after the cover page was the calendar. It was easy to put together thanks to my doing all the planning and counting previously last month. I like how it turned out.

I added my dates and all my bills and I was set. If I need to add anything else after that I can just add it in.

          Monthly goals came next and I decided to just divide them into three sections which correspond to my three main goals. and add in my mini-goals.

          This page gave birth to my tracker page which was divided into pretty much the same thing plus a few extra tasks that I do daily and want to track. I also put in my weekly and monthly trackers on the same page. And of course some stickers to pretty up the empty spaces.

          Finally, I added my "Blog Ideas and Books Read" page. This page is a staple of my monthly setup and the easiest to deal with...unless I didn't have ideas for my blog...then it is hard.

Thoughts on my journal (Part 2)

          I was going to give you a break from my journalling madness this week but...oh well! I continued thinking over the structure of my journal moving forward and I decided that I liked the idea of a goal refresh every three months. However, not all the questions were meaningful to me so here is what I came up with: 

I simplified the questions and streamlined them and kept the Word For the Next Three Months portion.

          Next I looked at the upfront work that you have to do at the beginning of each year. And again lots of things just did not resonate with me and needed to be removed or streamlined so this is what my upfront work is going to look like:

Next I looked at the section where you develop an action plan for your goals and this is what I came up with:

And that is it. My thoughts on the new setup are done. I will try the monthly setup and see what works what needs to be changed and what needs to be dropped and when the time comes I will do the same for the yearly setup. I’m also in the mood to add color and stuff but that could change 😂  

Thoughts on my journal (Part 1)

          I'm sure you all know by now how much I like the Power-Sheets Journal and how it makes me think, but now that I have tried it for 7 months the verdict is in. While I love the current journal and liked working in it but I've also come to see its limitations for me. Some of the questions posed in the summaries of each month and a few of the questions in the 3 month check in don't work for me. I've been filling them in mainly because I hate leaving them empty. I've come to realize that the "Tending Sheet" is basically a big tracker (Daily, Weekly and Monthly), and I've got a perfectly good one in my journal. I also have come to hate the fact that I have two journals. I prefer just using one. Yep, I know in the beginning of the year I wanted many but now I realized that is not the kind of person I am. So starting next month I'm going to try my own system. I'm going to take what I liked from the Power-Sheets and add my own spin on it in my journal. 

I've counted boxes and this helps me know how to size my two page calendar.

This is what my monthly calendar will look like. I've counted boxes and know exactly where the lines should go. Our week starts on a Sunday so that is how I'm going to start my calendar.

This page is where I will break down my main goals into small mini steps and also prioritize my goals.

This is my "Tending Sheet" AKA Tracker page.

This is my month in review page at the end of the month. I love it in the Power Sheets, but I hate the questions on it so I changed that.

I'm keeping the "Ideas for Blog and Books Read" page, and next I'm going to think about how to structure my 3 month check in pages and the work that needs to be done up front each year... The second part to this might not come next week but it will come :-)