So you struggle to find time to Bullet Journal. Initially, you were so excited about it all. You set up your BuJo and you wrote in it daily. But that was last month and you can’t find the time to set up the new month. And you may be wondering if you will ever do.

Personal planning has some powerful benefits, but to reap the rewards you need to do it regularly. Today we will talk about why finding time to bullet journal is such a big struggle for you, how you can make time and how to prioritize.

Over the years I have received many e-mails from my readers and some questions are getting asked over and over again. Which is why I want to tackle these questions one at a time. So let’s start off with this one, which gets asked in slight variations all the time:

My biggest struggle is finding time for my Bullet Journal. Any help you could give me and streamlining the process so that I could do it more easily would be fabulous!

How to Find Time to Bullet Journal?

While you most certainly can streamline the process of bullet journaling, the most important thing you need to do first is to make bullet journaling a priority in your life.

So if you want this struggle to belong to the past the question you need to ask yourself first is

Why do you (want to) Bullet Journal?

What are you trying to get out of it?

• Are you looking for a creative outlet?
• Do you want to become more productive?
• Do you like to store all your thoughts, plans and ideas in one place?
• Something else?

You need to find your why. Because it will be your motivation and the kick in the butt you need to make bullet journaling a priority in your life. Because right now, it is obviously no priority of yours. If it was you would make time for it.

So take a few minutes to answer the question and write it down.

If you want to succeed at anything, you need to find your WHY first. Click To Tweet

And while we are at it let’s be totally honest here.

I have the feeling sometimes people just want to Bullet Journal because there is such a huge hype around it. And while there is nothing wrong with experimenting and trying something new – on the contrary, I highly encourage it – you need to be aware that if you don’t really want it, you might never have the time for it.

Wait, what?

The truth is we all have the same 24 hours in a day. So you need to prioritize and decide every day what you want/need to do. So if bullet journaling is just a ‘sounds nice, maybe someday’ in your mind – it will always be replaced through more important tasks and plans. Which is totally fine.

If you are unsure if this is you, just keep reading. You will have figured it out very soon.

Check your priorities

Next, I want you to write down your

• Daily to-dos
• Goals
• Plans
• Appointments
• Fun activities

All the things you do regularly and which define who you are. Maybe you just need to grab your old planner or calendar app on your smartphone and copy them over. Otherwise just think on it and jot them all down on the same sheet of paper as your answer to ‘Why do you bullet journal?’.

At the bottom of your list add one more point called ‘bullet journaling’.

Done that? Perfect!

Next, sort them all by priority.

Look at your list. What on it is super important to you? What do you want to happen? What needs to happen? Give the most important thing a ‘1’ and go from there.

Already finished? Nice.

How high a priority is bullet journaling for you?

Look at your list. Did bullet journaling make the cut? Or is it the last point on your list? If it isn’t. What is? Would you be willing to replace this task/activity/goal through bullet journaling?

The thing is time won’t suddenly show up. You need to decide what is most important to you and focus on that. So maybe you watch only one hour of Netflix in the evening instead of two and bullet journal instead? Or if you are already super productive: Is there a task you can automate, delegate or remove?

There is no way to magically find the time. Twenty-four hours is the length of every single day and we just have to deal with that. But what you can do is make a decision. A decision to bullet journal every morning for 30 minutes. Or once a week for an hour. Or every night for 10 minutes. It is up to you!

If bullet journaling scored high on your list of priorities then make time for it. Test it for a month and see if it has a positive impact on your life. If it does stick with it. If not, adjust the amount of time you spend on it or remove it all together.

You need to make time for the things that are important to you. Click To Tweet

I truly believe planning ahead can have a huge positive impact on your life. But I personally don’t care if you plan using the backside of an old receipt. If you use an app. Or a bullet journal. As long as you decide on who you want to be. How you want to get there. And put in the hours to reach this goal. I will always root for you!