Free Your Mind with a Bullet Journal Mood Tracker

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the modern world. We have so many different demands pulling at us from all angles. It becomes easy to get all tied in knots. With a bullet journal mood tracker, you’ll become more organized. You’ll also take the time to assess how you feel on a day-to-day basis. The process of journaling your days and tracking your mood allows you to see areas for improvement more easily.

When keeping a bullet journal, you have room for customization. But it’s important to know the core principals. Once you understand how to keep a standard bullet journal and use it effectively, you have the jumping off point from which you build the best journal process for you. An effective bullet journal is one which makes your life easier and your mood happier.

What’s a Bullet Journal Mood Tracker

Bullet journals use short notes in a bulleted format to keep track of your daily tasks and events. With the addition of a chart to cover your mental state from day-to-day, you convert it into a bullet journal mood tracker. The shorter, uniform format from one day to the next provides structure and makes planning and tracking easier. Once the formatting of your journal becomes second-hand, you’ll have no problem using your bullet journal to stay organized, efficient and happier.

Bullet Journal Basics

Before you can begin a bullet journal routine, you have to first set up your bullet journal mood tracker. It’s also important to understand the notation used in your journal. Fortunately,getting started with a bullet journal is easy to do once you learn the basics.

Sections of a bullet journal

Every bullet journal focuses on making your life and tasks into manageable chunks. In addition to the daily logging, focus on tasks takes on a monthly approach. That doesn’t mean you can’t address long-term tasks, however. You’ll have sections for everything once you know how to use them.

Index

A journal isn’t any good if you don’t know where to find anything. This is why every bullet journal begins with an index. Write “Index” along the top of the first two pages of your journal to reserve this space. Whenever you add a new section to your journal, write it down in your index with its page numbers. This helps you to find what you’re looking for when referencing your journal.

Future Log

As the bullet journal takes a monthly focus, it’s possible that some of your tasks or objectives will fall outside its current purview. This is why you have a future log. As with the index, reserve the next two available pages in your journal by writing “Future Log” along the top of both. Whenever you have an event or task which takes place beyond your current month, write it down in your future log along with its relevant date. In future months you can move bullets over to your monthly log once appropriate.

Monthly Log

The middle ground of your bullet journal, your monthly log, helps you to plan for the coming month. For your first month, it goes on the two pages after your future log. In future months, simply add it on the next available two-page spread. On the left page, write the name of the month atop the page. Then write the dates of the month in a vertical line to create a monthly calendar. Add the first letter of each day next to the corresponding date. Write the month on the right page. Then note any tasks you have for the month underneath. You are now prepared to plan.

Daily Logs

Your daily logs are the meat of the bullet journal. While it can seem intimidating to think about journaling every day, the bullet journal format makes it easy. Create your first day by writing the date in the upper left of the next page. Use your daily logs to track events, tasks, and notes from your day. Daily logs are also a great place for your bullet journal mood tracker. Never write dates into your bullet journal in advance, as you never know how much or how little space a given day will need. Simply fill out your journal for today. Then add tomorrow’s date below it when you wake up tomorrow morning.

Notation

When making bullets, there are three main styles you can use. There’s no need to keep bullets of a single type together, so feel free to add any bullet as needed.

• Mark tasks with a single dot then write a brief description of the note.
• A small circle next to a description is the correct notation for marking an event.
• Take notes about your day by using a horizontal dash next to the note.

With those three simple bullets, you have everything you need to start tracking your day. Add bullets both as plans to get done today and as a log of events and tasks already completed. Adding simple notations next to bullets, like a star or an exclamation point, allows you to highlight particular bullets or signify a group of bullets which relate to each other.

Updating a bullet journal

Even the best planning is no guarantee that you’re going to get everything on your schedule done. Bullet journals include a system for managing your tasks and goals, including how to assess those which did not get accomplished. When you place a task on your log, multiple forms of markup help you monitor progress.

• A task with a normal dot remains open and may need further markup.
• Cross out a task’s dot with a small “X” after completion to denote finishing the task.
• Move a task forward in the journal to a collection by adding a right arrow next to the dot.
• Place tasks which are not pressing into your future log, and add a left arrow to tell you it’s now written in the front of your journal.
• Strikethrough an entire task if you decide that it is not important and does not warrant completion.

Collections

You can group Some tasks or objectives into logical lists. Adding collections to your journal helps you to track these different collections effectively. A collection can be anything you need it to be, such as a collection of art projects to work on, or a collection of films you want to see. Always be sure to note your collection’s page number in the index at the front of your bullet journal when adding a new one.

How to Keep a Bullet Journal Mood Tracker

Tracking your daily moods is an excellent way to improve your overall mental health. When you look back on the last few months, weeks or even days, it can be hard to remember exactly how you felt from day to day. While it’s important to be able to take a wide view of your mental state, it’s difficult to find specific causes with a wide angle lens.

Utilizing a daily mood tracker, as well as other tips and tricks for monitoring your mental well being, you can improve your identification skills and provide a better foundation for finding solutions. Unfortunately, many people still do not view their mental health with the same scrutiny as their physical health. A bullet journal mood tracker helps you to treat your mental well being with the importance it deserves. There are multiple ways to track your mood, so find the system which works best for you.

Simple scale bullet journal mood tracker

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer. When filling out your daily log in your journal, add a rating for your mental state. Use a simple scale, like one to ten with ten being a great mood. Note down your mood on the scale each day. To add extra information, note your mood in the morning, midday and before bed, as well as an overall rating for the day.

Monitor events which cause you mental duress

One of the most effective ways to remove harmful influences from your life is to track what causes your mood swings. Create a section in your journal to track notable events. Next, add it to your index or add individual event notes in your daily logs. A simple method is to note the date and time of the event, one or two emotions it caused you to feel, and a few bullet notes about the event.

Get creative with your mood tracker

Turning your bullet journal mood tracker into a creative outlet is a great way to double your benefits. Use different colors for different moods, then fill in a drawing or design to yield beautiful results. There’s virtually no limit to your design options, but some great ideas include a circle divided up into one slice for each day of the month or a garden of flowers with one petal for each day.

Benefits of a Bullet Journal Mood Tracker

Whether you’re someone who struggles to complete daily tasks or you obsess over them too much, bullet journals have a solution for you. With a bullet journal, your daily tasks are made manageable. Doing too much shows itself when your pages fill up too quickly. Leaving too many tasks unfinished tells you that it’s time to address your follow through. Just the act of keeping your tasks organized and written makes planning your day easier no matter which camp you fall into. Determining that a task on your log was not vital and striking it out is highly therapeutic.

The addition of a bullet journal mood tracker takes your benefits to the next level. It doesn’t matter if you consider yourself generally happy or are managing depression. The more you know yourself, the better prepared you are to improve yourself. Mood trackers allow you to see patterns in your feelings and behaviors. By combining them with the daily logs of your bullet journal you add depth to your knowledge. Checking to see if there are common elements to your down days helps you to identify areas for change. Whether it’s a particular task or the number of things you’re asking of yourself, a bullet journal mood tracker lets your find trends and fix them.

Is a Bullet Journal Mood Tracker Right For You?

The best way to determine if a bullet journal is for you is to try it out. Pick up a blank journal and start keeping your daily logs today. With the addition of a mood tracker to monitor your well-being, you can begin working on a happier way of life. Bullet journals are not for everyone, but all you have to lose for trying is a few minutes a day. If you never try it out you may be missing out on the tool that would change your life for the better. Quit wasting time wondering if a bullet journal mood tracker is right for you and get tracking!