ADHD Bullet Journaling Part 2 is all about the contents. Your “BUJO” can be anything you want it to be or everything. By the way, you may notice that my photos are from my 2016 Bullet Journal. That is because it is the one I am most proud of in many ways. It was one of the first things that I actually saw through to completion after my divorce at the end of 2014.
Since this was my first Bullet Journal, we can forgive that I used the word Index at the front of the book instead of “Table of Contents.” This particular notebook did not come pre-numbered, so numbering the pages myself, each time I created something of significance, I added it to this list. I did reserve several of the initial pages for this section. I had planned on creating my BUJO at the end of 2015 which allowed me to begin in January.
Choosing Your Word of the Year
Let’s start by saying that you can skip this part. Choosing a Word of the Year isn’t for everyone, but I love it. It is the word you can continue to come back to all year through to help ground and guide you through any self-improvement journey that you may have begun. If you are ADHD though, there is no guarantee that will remember that you even have a Word or Phrase of the Year. Each time you open your notebook, you will see it and it can bring you joy.
My 2016 Word of the Year was Accountability. It wasn’t a wise choice because it was supposed to be about actions being louder than words. That doesn’t work very well when your brain isn’t always into what you know that you should be doing. It doesn’t take into account the procrastination, the ADHD paralysis, the inability to choose a priority, or the fact that many of us will not remember what we said we were going to do ten minutes after we leave the room. The word was guilt-inducing and self-sabotaging.
My Word of the Year for 2022 is Manifest. What a difference an optimistic word can make!
The Daily To-Do List Layouts
Many folks choose to use their Bullet Journal as a planner. If you are an artistic type person, you may wish to create daily, weekly, and/or monthly layouts. There is nothing wrong with just using it as a daily to-do list. My journal is filled with different types of layouts as learning new things is what gets the dopamine flowing. These frameworks can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Please note that there is no right or wrong way to Bullet Journal. There is no guilt in skipping days or even large chunks of time. There are no pre-made fill-in-the-blanks with dates on them that bring on unwanted pressure and stress.
(You can find beautiful pre-made pages on Etsy to paste into your notebook if you do prefer not to have to think about the structure.)
The example above shows the use of washi tape allowing for easy separation of the days. It gives you the basis of a color theme and is just overall more visually appealing. Rule #83 of ADHD, if the ADHD person likes looking at it, the more apt they are to use it. On this one, you will notice that by taping the day off after a certain number of lines, it prevented me from putting down an unreasonable to-do list. The small symbols next to each task denoted at the end of the day how much or how little was actually accomplished.
I wish I could express how satisfying it is at the end of the day to check off the tasks you’ve completed from a goal list. I also wish I could express how utterly frustrating it is to keep track of symbols meant to help you. Perhaps this does help some people who deal with ADHD, to me, it only made it into a chore instead of something fun. The symbol key above is based upon the original creator’s (Ryder Carroll) key. It is pretty self-explanatory. After changing the key several times, thinking I just needed the right formula of little icons to make my life perfect, I gave up on them.
Wait, There’s More to ADHD Bullet Journaling
There are so many more things you can add (or not) to your journal. There are pages called “Collections” which could be a list of your favorite TV shows, music bands, movies, or books. There are trackers for everything from weather to your mood. Those are especially helpful for people who have a chronic illness or when you are trying a new medication for a mental health issue. You can create fun birthday/anniversary lists or bucket lists, or practice your handwriting skills. You can fill pages with memories and ideas that you do not want to forget. There are Instagram sketch challenges that you can in and nothing is stopping you from gluing in some photos.
Gamify Your ADHD Bullet Journaling
This mood tracker above was created before I hit menopause and I wanted to track my moods to look for patterns. You also see a “Habit Tracker” which can be a wonderful game that you play against yourself. Give yourself the option of treating yourself at the end of the month if you could color in “x” number of boxes.
In addition to ADHD, I also deal with major depressive disorder, PTSD (CPTSD), and anxiety. My monthly memory pages are true treasure troves since I do not have the gift of remembering. Also, every evening when I would check off my checklist and color in my trackers, I would add 2 – 3 sentences about what I was grateful for. These bonus memories and living a life of gratitude improved the quality of my life a thousandfold. It may sound like a lot, these checklists and trackers, but they are completely worth the time and effort.
Whether yours is an ADHD Bullet Journal or not, this is a tool that can benefit everyone’s mental health. May this encourage you to start your first or like me, get back into doing one. There is no harm in starting one in May or at the end of the month or on a Tuesday. Just write.
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