Journaling: Monthly Spreads

In my first post on journaling, I referenced the original basic system that Ryder Carroll developed. He listed four core sections to his system:

• Index/ Key
• Future Log
• Monthly Log
• Daily Log

Today, we are going to focus on monthly spreads.

Monthly spreads in a journal, like everything else we've discussed in journaling so far, is exactly what the name suggests. It is a month at a glance view. Also, like everything we've discussed in journaling so far, there are several types of monthly spread formats that you can choose from depending on your preferences and needs.

The first type of monthly spread I would like to share is the basic calendar view. Your typical weeks in rows and days in columns. Most calendars are set up starting on Sunday and ending on Saturday. Because I like to group my weekend together and my week technically starts on Monday, I start my weeks on Monday and end on Sunday. You can set it up however works for you.

1st Journal December Monthly

This is a two page monthly spread. I started journaling in November and had done a different monthly that I did not like (see below). So, for December I decided to do a traditional calendar view with my week starting on Sunday and ending on Saturday. I had intended on doing my daily Zentangles (stay tuned for a whole blog post on this) in this calendar, but abandoned that idea when some of the designs took up the whole box and didn't leave room for things I needed to write down.

2nd Journal December Monthly

When I switched to my second journal (my first one only lasted the month of November), I decided to stick with the calendar view, but shrink it to one page. On the second page, I decided to track my monthly goals. I still wasn't sure what I was doing at this point which is why this goals page is blank.

2nd Journal January Monthly

3rd Journal February Monthly

This January monthly is still from my second journal. I started to fill in some monthly goals based on my Level 10 Life spread (more on this in a future blog post). But by February, I started to become lazy and didn't plan for much in my monthly spread or for my goals.

3rd Journal March Monthly

By March, I finally got it together. I have my calendar view set up. I have my goals completely filled out. I might not have completed my goals, but that's ok. The act of actually putting them down on paper was therapeutic. 

I would like to note that one of the main reasons that I like doing monthly spreads this way, is that it always me to add color and be a little creative. If you notice, none of my monthly banners are quite the same and the colors matched something that was going on in the month. That is one of the best things about journaling this way, is that you can be as creative as you want to be. Some people are very minimalistic, sticking with the black and white (or ecru) theme. However, my brain does not function that way. I NEED color and I NEED some type of artistic element in order for my journal to work for ME!

1st Journal November Monthly w/ Gratitude Log

Monthly calendar layouts are not the only way you can set up your monthly spreads. When I first started, I saw the list style layout and thought that is what worked best for me. Besides, I was, at the time, trying to stick as closely as possible to the structure and set-up laid out in Ryder's video. So, my first monthly started in November and likes like that list view. 

I decided that I did not like this option for two reasons. 1) I am a very visual person. This list view threw off my sense of time. Yes, I had the day of the week listed next to the date, but I found that my days flowed into one another and I got confused as to when things were actually happening. 2) There wasn't a lot of room to add multiple events to the same day. So, if I had a birthday, parent/teacher conferences and 1/2 day school day, I couldn't necessarily fit everything on one line. If I left space between dates to add more events, I wouldn't have been able to fit the month on one page. You may find this view helpful, though, which is why I included it here.

I also tried doing a daily gratitude thing on this monthly too which added to the lack of space. This is a perfect example of seeing something awesome on Pinterest and discovering it doesn't work for you.

However you choose to set up your monthly view, please do not leave it out. Even if you think you will never use it because you have a calendar on your phone, on your desk, on your wall, on your car dashboard, next to your bed...I'm sure that you will appreciate having it handy in your journal when none of those other options are accessible.

Below are affiliated links for the products I used in conjunction with this post. Affiliated links simply means that if you click on the products listed below and purchase them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Mrs. MathMagician is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Journaling: Future Log, It's NOT a Year-At-A-Glance

In my first post on journaling, I referenced the original basic system that Ryder Carroll developed. He listed four core sections to his system:

• Index/ Key
• Future Log
• Monthly Log
• Daily Log

Today, we are going to focus on the future log.

Have you ever forgotten a birthday or missed a doctor's appointment because you didn't have a place to write that information down? Do you constantly find yourself checking the website for your upcoming convention because you can't remember the dates? Are you going to remember that concert you bought the tickets for months in advance? If these are a concern for you, then you need this post.

After  researching and using bullet journals, and interacting with various bullet journal communities on social media, I feel that future logs are a little misunderstood. My original take on future logs was that they were yearly calendars with a fancy name. However, after watching Ryder Carroll's introductory video again, I realized that the future log is not a calendar. Yes, you list the months. But, unlike a calendar, you only list the dates of future, up-coming events that do not fit in the current monthly, weekly and/or daily spreads that you are working with.

That being said, I do not know why there is such confusion around them. They are the simplest spreads to create and maintain. I think that the lack of actual set dates is why people struggle with it. They would rather have a Year-At-A-Glance view, then a blank space that may or may not get filled with possible up-coming events.

Here I'm going to present Ryder's original future log concept, a Year-At-A-Glance (YAG) set-up and a monthly set up that could be used as a future log, if that is what you want.

1 Journal Future Log

This is a traditional future log. Because this future log was made specifically for this blog post and not something I actually use, I forgot to put in dates for the events. But, based on this layout, you get the general idea. Whenever you get a future event that is not in the current month, you put it in your future log with the date and time if you have it. What type of events??  You can log birthdays and parties, weddings, personal & business trips, vacations, due dates for major projects, medical appointments, oil changes, etc. The idea is that if you are not going to immediately schedule it in your daily, weekly or monthly spread, BUT it is important, put it in your future log.

I mentioned that I don't use this basic future log. Remember that I didn't grasp the simplicity of this basic layout until recently. I have managed to schedule my future events using a Year-At-A-Glance and monthly spread combination. Here is my first Year-At-A-Glance and one of my monthlies:

1st Journal Year At A Glance

1 Journal December Monthly

Together, they let me plan events for the future until I can actually schedule them into my journal.

There is one more Year-At-A-Glance/Monthly combo that I will be testing out in my Teacher Journal (stay tuned for the full reveal). Here is what they look like:

Teacher Journal Yearly August to January

Teacher Journal Yearly February to July

Teacher Journal August Monthly

Future logs are an invaluable way to keep track of important dates that you can't immediately schedule. Whether you choose the traditional future log set-up or a variation that works for you, this concept will keep you from missing that doctor's appointment or forgetting to send that birthday card. When does my oil need to be changed again? Just check your future log.

Below are affiliated links for the products I used in conjunction with this post. Affiliated links simply means that if you click on the products listed below and purchase them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Mrs. MathMagician is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Journaling: Index and Key

In my first post on journaling, I referenced the original basic system that Ryder Carroll developed. He listed four core sections to his system: 

• Index/ Key
• Future Log
• Monthly Log
• Daily Log

Today, we are going to focus on the index and key.

1st Journal Index

1st Journal Key

Now, I have a confession. In the eight months I have been bullet journaling, I have only made an index or key twice, in my first journal, which was never completed, and in the teacher journal I am in the process of creating now. After my first journal, I didn't see the need to indexing every minute topic that came up in my life. And, since this was my journal and I new what the bullets meant, I left I could save myself some time by dropping it from my journal. That is until I started setting up my teacher journal and realized there are going to be topics (such as RTII data) that are going to come up several times a month plus the trackers I will be using. So, having those pages listed makes referencing them during meetings much easier. After this realization, I went back and indexed my second bullet journal.

The purpose of the Index is to catalog all the topics that you need access to on a regular basis. Ryder calls these topics, collections. If you look at my 1st Journal Index, you can see that I listed some reoccurring topics in my journal, but I failed to indicate the page numbers. For this layout, I started listing the pages (had I ever finished) on the left and the topics on the right. This is how it was presented for Ryder's system.

2nd Journal Index

In my 2nd Journal Index, you can see that I listed all the topics I needed to keep track of, as well as the page numbers where they are located. Notice that they are not bunched together. I think that was my biggest hang-up in using an index, that the topics jumped pages several times. However, that is precisely why you need an index in your journal. For this layout, I chose to put the topics on the left and the pages on the write. I did this because I wasn't sure how much space I would need to catalog everything. As you can see, there were a couple of topics listed twice because I ran out of room on the original line.

For my teacher journal, I went back to the pages on the left and topics on the right format. I didn't do this for any particular reason. The way I planned my teacher journal, all of my collections WILL be clumped together, for the most part. I did leave room incase I needed to expand this list. I will focus on the setup of my teacher journal in a future post.

I hope that this clarified the purpose and importance of these two journal essentials: Index and Key. Feel free to leave me your comments and questions below. I look forward to hearing from you.

Below are affiliated links for the products I used in conjunction with this post. Affiliated links simply means that if you click on the products listed below and purchase them, I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

The Mrs. MathMagician is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.