Tracking Accomplishments: April Bullet Journal Set Up

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I love being able to look through my bujo for inspiration. Tracking accomplishments, projects and progress in my bullet journal keeps me motivated. For me, my journals allow me to track my accomplishments for the day and it gives me a visual reminder of how much I have actually done.

There are days where I feel like I have done nothing except household chores. I might have set a goal of writing a new blog post or to get multiple rows crocheted on the blanket I am working on but, at the end of the day, it might not have happened.

The laundry and dishes usually takes precedence to personal projects. Cooking meals and caring for my children take precedence to household chores.

No matter your lifestyle, there are only so many hours in the day.

While I want to be able to focus on things that I want to do, in this season of life, they are further down on the priorities list. But nevertheless, I do try and take baby steps towards my goals.

I love using my bullet journal to track accomplishments because it allows me to see how much I have actually done.

Trackers instead of To Do Lists

I love making lists.

Being able to write something down and check off the list really helps with the mind-body connection of completing a task. When I write down a task, I am a lot more likely to actually finish it.

Recently I have started making trackers instead of to do lists.

There is nothing wrong with a to-do list but, for everyday tasks or habits that I am trying to establish, it can get quite repetitive. Writing down “drink water” every day while trying to establish a habit can become monotonous.

Instead, I now focus on trackers.

My two favourite kinds of trackers are monthly and weekly trackers. They allow you to see the whole time frame that you set to work on that task for. In terms of tracking accomplishments, it is my preferred way to visually see what I have done.

There are all sorts of things you can track.

If you are trying to establish new health habits, you could track your daily exercise, water intake, calories in vs calories out.

Perhaps you are a yarn crafter – you could track the number of stitches or rows you worked on that day, the number of skeins of yarn you worked through while stash busting, or how often you shared your projects on social media.

If you are a new mom, concerned with breastfeeding your newborn, you could track how often your baby nurses for and the duration. You could track dirty diapers or nap times.

For me, I recently have been tracking accomplishments related to running this blog and YouTube channel. Things like dates I need to stick too, posts I want to write, and the behind the scenes tasks like editing and making thumbnails.

Tracking Accomplishments

I love using all sorts of different layouts throughout the different months.

The wonderful part of a bullet journal is that if a spread, or layout, is not working for you then you can change it. Because a bullet journal is not a set layout for every day, week, or month, you can tailor it to fit your needs and as your needs change.

I like to use monthly charts and smaller weekly habit trackers for tracking accomplishments. Some people like lists or even doodles.

Tracking accomplishments in this way allows me to see progress over time and just not individual days. It allows me to see the bigger picture.

This is my weekly spread.

I like to track 2-4 habits each week that I want to focus on completing on a daily basis.

For the beginning of April, I only wanted to focus on two main habits. I was getting really good at doing my work power hour and planning ahead in both January and February but they fell off my radar, in terms of priorities. I am starting slowly, with only the two habits, to get back into the habit of doing this things routinely.

Tracking consistency allows these habits to develop over time and become a part of my routine. These are habits that, on a good day, I really want to focus on. When I notice that I am checking these habits off on a regular basis, I will add in a third and eventually a fourth habit.

My monthly charts are not necessarily things I do on a daily basis. Some of the items I track on my monthly charts are things that are completed over several days, or even things I can schedule in advanced. The things that can be scheduled in advance, like Pinterest, can be checked off when those days are scheduled so I know I do not need to worry about them in the coming days. These trackers allow me to see how consistent I am being over the entire month and also remind me of what still needs to be done

The Importance Of Mindset

When looking at trackers, it is very easy to see the empty spaces.

This is where the importance of mindset is key. When I look at my trackers, I try not to focus on what I did not do. Instead, I look at all the marks I have made and how much work I have done.

Tracking accomplishments in this way also allows me to make connections between different triggers that prevent me from getting things done.

I know that, on average, Tuesdays will have fewer items checked off in my work-related bullet journal. I know this because Tuesday is a busy day for us as home educators. We have group classes that day. We also typically go to the library and the park on our way home. By the time we get home, it is time to make dinner and get some household chores done. After dinner, I would rather play games with the children or sit and read. Rarely do I get a lot of work accomplished on a Tuesday and I know why.

When Nothing Goes To Plan…

Sometimes life happens.

My last month was a perfect example of this. Nothing went to plan.

I set up a beautiful monthly layout for the month of March, but I barely used it. I had planned out a whole month of Instagram content. My ideas for content were flowing freely at the beginning of the month. But then life got in the way.

From dealing with chronic illness, to the death of my grandmother… I just was not in the mindset to focus on anything other than myself and my family. Getting through the day was sometimes hard enough.

My journal remained closed for days at a time.

Reaching Your Goals

Understanding your abilities as well as your limitations can really help you reach your goals.

By planning out goals that are achievable based on where you are starting, and having a plan along the way can be crucial for reaching your dreams.

Whether you use a bullet journal or not, tracking accomplishments as you work towards your goals can really help to motivate you.

Want to see how I set up this monthly layout? Check out this video:

https://youtu.be/lXsXfXIzIgI

Just remember, that at the end of the day, to be kind to yourself.

We can only do what we can do each day and sometimes we need to stop and smell the roses or watch the clouds float past.

Let me know what kind of goals you are working towards and if tracking accomplishments will help motivate and inspire you to get there!