Plan with Me! My October Bullet Journal Setup

Who loves October?? I love the cooler weather, and the feeling of magic that starts to come as the holidays roll around. Today, I’m sharing a few pages from my October Bullet Journal setup.

A look back at September

September was a whirlwind month at my house. We had a family medical emergency, and my life got wrapped up in that for a couple weeks, so I never shared my September setup, so here are a couple of my September pages.

This one is a picture of my favorite daily pages from September. I had fun doodling the leaves, and adding a quote each day. I did feel limited by trying to fit 4 days on two pages though.

Monthly Review

Reflecting on the past month is one of my favorite and most useful pages in my bullet journal. It’s so interesting to look back over time and see how I change from month to month. It also helps me see patterns that need improvement when I seem to struggle with the same things over and over. It helps me set goals in specific areas that could use some focus.

October

I love creating a title page for the month. It gives me an opportunity to be creative and is a good divider between months. I also wrote out the #planwithmechallenge and #rockyourhandwriting prompts this month.

Monthly Overview

After a few attempts at the original monthly layout recommended by Ryder at BulletJournal.com, I found it didn’t really work for me. I keep all my appointments and future planning in Google Calendar, so I just use the monthly layout as an overview of the month ahead. I like having the full month calendar so I can glance at it if I need to look up a date. I’m also still trying to use a habit tracker, but not doing so well. I made it a lot smaller this month, so hopefully that helps.

I always set general goals to focus on in each of the major areas of my life. These are usually conceptual rather than tasks to cross off, but writing them down at the beginning of the month, and reviewing them often helps me remember where I want my focus to be. I also made a brief list of projects I’m working on this month.

Weekly Spread

Here’s my first weekly spread for the month. I’ve been using this type of layout for the last few weeks and it’s working well. It’s simple, but includes the most important things. Again, trying to include too many trackers and section on a spread just overwhelms me and I tend not to use it, so I’m aiming for simplicity lately.

On the left page, I have a column for scheduled appointments. I transfer these from my google calendar every Sunday evening. Then, for each day, I come up with my top 3 priority tasks. This helps organize my week ahead of time, spreads the tasks throughout the week, and keeps me focused and out of overwhelm. I also include a list of other business and personal tasks I’d like to get to during the week.

I usually don’t plan much for Friday because I call it my input day. I spend the rest of the week creating, and putting things out into the world, but there are so many amazing things to learn, books to read, and courses to take, so I save Friday for those types of things. I love it and look forward to it every week. I do usually spend an hour or two in the morning crossing off simple tasks from each of these lists, so I end my week with most of the tasks finished and don’t have to migrate them.

October #Zenartchallenge

I decided to limit myself to one doodling challenge this month, so chose the #zenartchallenge hosted by @mindfulcreativity on Instagram. She also has a Facebook group where you get the prompts each month. This photo shows my first 7 days of the challenge so far. Throughout the month, I’ll fill both of these pages. If you haven’t tried zentangle yet, it’s super fun. Come join in!!

Golden Moments

One of my ongoing goals is to be present and focus on the moment I am in. That exact moment is really all you have. If you focus on moments, instead of regretting the past, or worrying about the future, you’ll find your life is actually made up of some pretty amazing things.

I’ll be tracking these “GOLDEN MOMENTS” in my bullet journal next month. For me these moments are usually very simple:

The surge of love I feel as I brush through my daughter’s hair in the morning.
The smell of rain outside.
The sun rising over the mountains when I’m driving my kids to school.
Laying on my husband’s warm chest at the end of a tiring day.
Hugs from my grown-up sons.
The smell of a yummy meal baking.
A compliment from a friend.
The amazing feeling at the end of a good workout.

None of these are big things, but they are the moments my life is made of, and the things that bring me joy. I know the more I look for them, the more I’ll see, and the more joy I’ll experience, so that’s my goal for October.

I’m tracking them throughout the month by writing the date in the stars, and the moment next to it. I’m also sharing them throughout the month in my Bullet Journal Facebook group.

I’d love to hear from you! Did you see anything you’d like to implement in your own journal? Are you trying anything new for October? I’d love to hear about it. I’m always inspired by how others use their Bullet Journal. Feel free to share in the comments below!