Productive Pixie: April 2021

Do you love the idea of using a bullet journal, but feel like you won't have time to keep up with it? If it takes up too much time, then it won't help you be productive and you won't feel like you are saving time. Well, don't worry because today, I will show you how you can keep your bullet journal running smoothly and use it to help you be more productive in just ten minutes a day or less!

How to Bullet Journal in Just 10 Minutes a Day

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Updated for 2024

If you don't know what a bullet journal is, and you would like to start one, you can read Bullet Journaling: What Is It? to get started.

Please keep in mind that this post is for keeping up with your bullet journal, and not for creating new collection layouts as that usually takes a little bit longer time, but if you create very minimalist layouts you might still be able to make new layouts in under 10 minutes!

If you already use a bullet journal and you are thinking about giving up on your bullet journal, it might be because you are making your bullet journal system too complicated. Try the 10 minutes a day bullet journal method and see if you can get back into your bullet journal routine!

This method can be easily adapted to work for pretty much anyone, so let's get right into it!

How to Bullet Journal in Just 10 Minutes a Day

First of all, your bullet journal should already be set up with the basic layouts that you use, or else you will have to take some time to set it up, which will probably take longer than 10 minutes, but after that, you can use this method to keep up with your bullet journal.

1. Pick a Time

Pick a time whether at the start of the day, or the night before that you will set aside 10 minutes to bullet journal. You could do that during the day as well, but in the morning right after you get up or at night right before you go to bed would probably be the ideal times.

2. Have an Organized Bullet Journal

Before you start using this method, it would be a good idea to have an organized bullet journal so everything runs smoothly. Making sure you have an index and the pages numbered can help you be a lot more organized.

3. Make a Bullet Journal Routine Layout

This is an optional step, but it might be a good idea if you have a lot of collection pages that you have to go through and fill out on a daily/weekly basis.

Basically, you will want to go through your bullet journal and then write down the pages you want to look at on a daily basis. For example, filling in a sleep tracker daily.

Your list might look something like this.

Sleep tracker
Food log (you would fill it in for yesterday if you fill in your bullet journal in the morning)
Mood tracker
Yearly Overview
Monthly Overview
Weekly/Daily Layout

Next to the collection layouts, you might also have a page number or you could use washi tape to mark these pages.

4. Set a Timer for 10 Minutes

Now it is time to do your actual bullet journal routine! When it is time for you to do your bullet journal routine, set a timer for 10 minutes and fill out all of your collection pages. If you have a lot of them, you can use your bullet journal routine layout to help you out.

After you fill out those layouts, you can make your to-do list for the day after checking your monthly or weekly layout if you have them.

Then with the remaining time (If you have any time after that), you can check your other bullet journal layouts or spend a minute or two making a new layout.

A little bit every day adds up!

How to Bullet Journal in Just 10 Minutes a Day

All you have to do after that is to remember to do your bullet journal routine! It will probably take at least fifteen days to turn this into a habit, so remember to have your bullet journal somewhere where you can see it and access it easily. Good luck!

If you liked this post, you might also like these ones as well.

I hope you found this post helpful! Have a productive week!

Remember to save this post for later! :)

April 24, 2021 No comments

*Beep* *Snooze* *Beep* *Snooze* *Beep* Have you ever been stuck in this cycle? Sometimes, it's really hard to get up when your alarm goes off, especially when you went to bed late the night before, but if you sleep in, then it throws your entire daily routine off. So what can you do to still have a productive day, when you sleep in? Here are some simple ways you can have a productive day even when you wake up late!

How to Have a Productive Day Even When You Wake Up Late

Updated for 2024

It would be nice if we could all wake up at the time we need to wake up to get to work or school on time and have plenty of energy too! Sometimes though, you just simply need more sleep, so you end up waking up late and then feel like you wasted some of your day. You don't have to feel this way! Today, I have some tips you can use to get your day back on track, but first I wanted to mention two other very popular productivity posts that you might also like to read.

When you go to bed late the night before, you have two options: waking up early the day afterward feeling tired and maybe you have to take a nap during the day, or sleeping in and feeling like you wasted part of your day, but not feeling as tired.

There are plenty of posts online on how to wake up early, but when I looked for how to be productive when you wake up late, I had trouble finding anything. For all of you out there who woke up late today, here are some tips on how you can have a productive day today!

How to Have a Productive Day Even When You Wake Up Late

1. Get Out of Bed Without Procrastinating

Okay, so first up when you wake up late, get out of bed! Don't sit there in your bed and think of how much time you just wasted. Instead, just get up out of bed.

And don't even think of turning on your phone while sitting in your bed. In fact, if you can, don't turn on your phone right when you get out of bed either. If you have a problem with procrastinating in the mornings, you can read How to Stop Procrastinating + Be More Productive to help you!

If you really want to stay in your bed for five more minutes, you can think about what you have to do for the day, and decide on your most important task.

If you want a quick win right at the beginning of your day, you can make your bed, and/or you can say, "today is going to be a great day". This is an idea found in the book Tiny Habits, which I entirely recommend.

2. Get Dressed Right Away

Now you might just feel like staying in your pajamas if you slept in and you don't have anywhere to go right away, but if you get dressed right away, that will be one thing you won't have to do later and it will put you in the right mood to be productive because hey, you sleep in your pajamas, so if you stay in them, then you will feel like (surprise! surprise!) sleeping.

While you do this, you can also think about what you have to do for the day, if you haven't already.

3. Have a Good Breakfast

Since you woke up late, it might be tempting to skip breakfast altogether and just waiting to have lunch, but if you eat breakfast now, it will give you some energy and help you be more productive, rather than just waiting until lunch.

Plus, now would be a good time to make your to-do list for the day, even if you don't look at it later, it will help you know what you need to do for the day, and you can just use this to-do list to put your thoughts in order.

I usually make my to-do list for the day, while I eat breakfast. Even if you have to grab something to eat while on the go, it is still a good idea.

4. Don't Turn on Your Tech Until You Actually Have To

Now it might be tempting to turn your phone on during breakfast if you have some extra time, but that will probably be distracting. Instead, you might choose to make your to-do list, read a chapter of a book you have been wanting to read, or take a few minutes to think of what you are grateful for, etc.

Notifications are always distracting and can take up large chunks of your day. Besides your phone, this includes your laptop, your tablet, and any other electronic devices you might have.

Checking notifications and emails is not a good excuse to turn on your tech because most likely you will get sucked into spending more time on it than you thought you were going to.

5. Use Timers

Then when you do turn on your tech to check something, you can turn on a timer to see how long it actually takes to complete. It might be longer than you actually think!

You can use time-blocking to see how much time it takes for you to complete the tasks on your list.

6. Cut Out Distractions

Even though you woke up late, you might still be able to get everything done and you might be surprised at how much time you actually have when you cut out all distractions!

Time-blocking and using tip #5 will help you do this because if you get distracted when your timer goes off, you will realize that you were distracted, and you can get right back on track.

Here are some ways to cut out distractions...

Turn off your phone and put it in another room
Maximize your browser window so you can only have one tab open at a time
Sit in a room where you can have silence (or music of your choice, that will not distract you)
Have an organized workspace so you can be efficient
Avoid multi-tasking
Don't sit in a room where food is available, but have water nearby

Planned breaks are important though. You might choose to get up and walk around the room a few times or something similar that will relax you.

How to Have a Productive Day Even When You Wake Up Late

Even when you wake up later than you wanted to and are behind on your usual daily routine, you can still have a productive day! At the end of the day, if you still don't feel like you were productive enough, you can grab a piece of paper, and make a done list so you can see how much you completed during the day. And remember, you always have tomorrow to try again and do better!

If you liked this post, you can also read these ones...

Even if you woke up late this morning, you can still be productive! Good luck and have a great week!

Please pin this post if you found it helpful. Thank you!

April 17, 2021 No comments

Usually one of everyone's new year's goals is to eat more healthily, exercise more, and maybe lose a couple of pounds. Your bullet journal can help you reach these goals! One way to eat more healthily is to track what you are eating so you can have an idea of how much you are eating and how healthy the food that you are eating is. A great place to put this information is in your bullet journal!

Updated for 2024

Just another side note, I have another post showing my eating tracker and workout tracker from last year and you can read it at the following link: Healthy Eating + Fitness Tracking in My Bullet Journal.

Since I have changed my eating layout quite a bit from last year's layout, I wanted to make a new post to show you how it works and offer some suggestions on how you can make this layout work for you in case you are wanting to be more healthy and use your bullet journal to help you accomplish this goal!

Okay, let's get onto the supplies I used for this layout, how I set it up, and how it works!

Supplies Used For My Food Log Bullet Journal Layout

This layout is pretty minimalistic, so I didn't use very many supplies. If you don't have Crayola SuperTips, another brand of markers will do as well, and the same goes for all of the other supplies on this list. I don't think I used a white gel pen on this layout, but I wanted to include it on this list as well because my white gel pen is really helpful to me!

Crayola SuperTips - Crayola SuperTips are used on almost all of my spreads! They are great for beginners, really affordable, and there are tons of colors. If you are looking to buy some markers to use in your bullet journal, then I recommend these ones.
Black Sharpie Pen - If you have read probably any of my other posts, then you will know that I always use a black sharpie pen for writing in my bullet journal.
White Gel Pen - I use a white gel pen to mark out any mistakes I make on my layouts, and while it is sometimes still a little bit noticeable, it doesn't bother me. I also used a white gel pen for the numbering on the calendar.
Mechanical Pencil - I used a mechanical pencil to sketch in some parts of this layout to make sure they were positioned correctly.
A Ruler - To draw straight lines of course! Straight lines are a must for me and I can't get them without a ruler.

Food Tracking in My Bullet Journal

First of all, I finally decided to use a color besides pink in this bullet journal! It only took me four months to decide to use another color. lol

This layout is for one month and it takes up two pages. I only made one, so I can try it out for a month and see if I like it, and then if I do, I will continue to use it, and probably change up the color every month.

The calligraphy font I used for the header is Champagne Dreams, which you can find on Creative Market, and I went with a minimalist look, which is pretty much my usual bullet journal style.

Food Tracker Bullet Journal First Page

On the first page, I have one line for each day, with enough room for space to write down what I ate for breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner.

If you are trying to not eat snacks, you would of course, just leave out that space.

Plus, if you are trying to count calories, you could have a column for that.

On the left side of the page, I write down the date in light blue, and then I write my breakfast on top of it in black. This way, at the beginning of the day, I can make sure I am writing on the right line.

This first page, is just so I can have an idea of what I am eating, and to make sure I am eating a variety of foods.

Food Tracker Bullet Journal Second Page

This page is pretty simple and complicated at the same time. It sure took a long time to draw all of the blue dots!

At the top of this page, I have a quote that says, "A healthy outside starts from the inside". I wanted to do the quote quickly, so I wrote it in my best regular handwriting, and I didn't even bother to center it, but that's okay!

The purpose of your bullet journal is to be functional first and aesthetic second if you want it to be. If I make this layout again, I will probably use a different quote.

The idea behind this layout is The Daily Dozen Challenge. I just try to fill up as many circles as I can each day.

For example, I am trying to eat 3 servings of beans, 1 serving of berries, 3 servings of fruit, etc. I changed flaxseed to chia seed because I usually eat chia seeds more than flaxseeds. I also added a column for "no sugar" because I am trying to cut my sugar intake, which is already pretty low.

Everything else is the same as the original Daily Dozen challenge.

If you are trying to track other things, you could very easily use this same type of layout.

Food Tracking in My Bullet Journal

That's pretty much all there is to know about this layout! If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comment section below, and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

If you liked this post, you might also like to read these ones...

Thank you for reading this post and supporting my blog! Have a productive week and I hope you reach your goals!

Remember to pin it! Thank you! :)

April 10, 2021 No comments

Your bullet journal is supposed to help you be more organized, but if it isn't organized, your bullet journal won't help you be organized. Try saying that three times fast! How to organize my bullet journal was one of the big questions I had when I started my bullet journal and I wish that I had had a post like this to give me some guidance, so today, I wanted to give you some options on how to organize your bullet journal.

4 Ways to Organize Your Bullet Journal Layouts

Updated for 2024

When you are starting your first bullet journal, it can be very fun and exciting, but it can also be a little bit overwhelming because of all of the options.

Should you put your collections in the back of the book or the front? Should you put your weekly pages in between your collection pages? How do you know how many pages to leave at the back of your notebook for collection layouts?

Yes, it can definitely be confusing to figure everything out, so let's get into some options, that you might want to use for your bullet journal setup, and hopefully, these ideas will give you some clarity.

4 Ways to Organize Your Bullet Journal Layouts

1. All of the Collections at the Back of Your Notebook

This is a popular setup that a lot of bullet journalists do. All you have to do is put your index and key at the front of the book, and then put your monthly and weekly layouts after it. Then starting at the back of your book, you put your collections.

Some people might leave a third of their notebook at the back of their journal.

The only problem with this method is that you might run out of room for your monthly and weekly layouts or you might not have enough room for all of your collections.

You might also not be able to decide which collections to put at the back of your book and which to put at the beginning of your notebook. For example, putting your yearly overview at the back of your notebook or the front of your notebook.

You might not know how many pages you need for your monthly and weekly layouts, so you might end up with blank pages in the middle of your journal.

2. Putting All of Your Collections at the Front of Your Notebook

If you mainly want to use your bullet journal as a planner, then you might consider putting all of your collections at the front of your notebook.

This way, you will have plenty of space for calendars and weekly layouts.

The only problem with this is that if you want to add a collection layout later, you will have to add it in between your other layouts and then you might forget about it. A solution to this would be to add a tab at the edge of your page so you can find it easily.

3. The Bullet Journal/Planner Hybrid

The bullet journal/planner hybrid was a method I used for a while. It solves quite a few problems because you can move your pages around. You can have sections in your bullet journal if you want to.

For example, you might have sections like...

Monthly Layouts + Weekly Layouts (Basically, the planner portion of your bullet journal)
Finances
Fitness
Work
Other

The problem with this method is that because the pages are double-sided if you move one layout to another section, you also have to move whatever is on the other side. You have to keep this in mind whenever you make a layout.

4. Mixing Everything Together

Talking about being entirely unorganized! This is the method I currently use and I find it works very well as long as I make sure to add the layout to my index so I can find it.

You just have an index at the front of your notebook, and then everything after that you just put in chronological order. Make sure you have your pages numbered!

I also don't use monthly layouts. I only use weekly layouts and collection pages.

4 Ways to Organize Your Bullet Journal Layouts

So which one should you try? Well, it depends which setup you like best and it's hard to know without trying them.

The fourth option is obviously the easiest one to set up because you don't really have to plan it out and you can just start at the front of your notebook. In the end, it is all up to you!

If you liked this post, you can also read the posts below.

I hope this post helped to give you some ideas on how you can set up your bullet journal!

Please share this post! I even made a pretty pin for you! :)

April 03, 2021 No comments