HAPPY 2020! It’s a beautiful new year, and you know what that means: a new journal spread. Grab your pens and highlighters, pull out your Pinterest boards, and make yourself a fresh brew of french press, because things are about to get organized. If you’re looking to start a bullet journal or in need of some inspiration, today I’m sharing a few spreads that I sketched out for my 2020 journal.
Year at a Glance
We’ll start with a simple year-at-a-glance spread. This one is especially useful if you’re using your journal as a planner. Here, I wrote out the twelve months of the year, calendar-style, so I have a broad overview of the year on a single two-page spread.
On the following page (not pictured), I copied out this exact year-at-a-glance layout—but without the monthly spread. In the blank space for each month, I wrote down all the events and projects for the year: events, travel plans, birthdays, vacations, deadlines. Voila! The year at a glance.
Goals and Focus
What dreams do you want to see come true this year? On the first page of this spread, I sketched out a list of things I wanted to manifest in my life in 2020. Because I’m very visual and intuitive, this page acts like a catch-all vision board, allowing me to grasp abstract ideas that I’d like to bring into my life in the new year: things I want to experience, traits of the person I want to become, habits to incorporate (like exercising every morning and reading every night), travel plans, aesthetics, etc.
Then on the page across from my manifesto, I copied out my goals: specific, large-scale moments or experiences that I want to work towards. For 2020, these are my five goals:
- graduate college with honors
- travel europe with friends
- finish the first draft of my current novel
- begin posting monthly videos on youtube channel
- attend a writing conference
Beneath my goals, I wrote out areas of my life that I want to focus on in the new year: academics, family, writing, health, creativity. Alternatively, use this space to record a letter to your future self on December 31st, 2020, recounting your vision for the year. How do you want to grow as a person? What do you want to experience? What do you want to say “yes” to this year?
Quarterly Plan
Alright, so now that we have our vision for the year, let’s narrow our focus. What about the first three months? From January to March, what do you want to accomplish? What’s in the forecast? More importantly, in the next three months, how will you make 25% of progress towards reaching your goals?
Lately I’ve been reading an amazing book by James Clear called Atomic Habits, which is all about how the tiny habits you adopt can transform your daily life. Since coming back to college, it’s helped me refine my daily routine. I’d highly recommend picking it up if you’re looking to make your daily life more productive, healthy, and focused.
January spread
Ah, January! The month of rosy pink hues and sleepy white dreams and fresh beginnings. Let’s start the fresh month with a simple monthly spread. Often, I’ll jot down a playlist of the songs I’m listening to on repeat, write down a few things I want to focus on, maybe scribble out an inspiring quote or verse of Scripture. I like to leave one page blank. At the end of the month, I’ll return to it and make a list of all the highlights of the month.
Now that the opening pages of your journal are all set up, you’re all set to write the story of your 2020 as it unfolds. I’d encourage you to set aside a time—perhaps early in the morning or right before you go to sleep at night—when you grab your journal and cuddle up with a mug of tea and write down a few things that are on your mind. Anything goes; you make the rules. Your journal is for your eyes only.
Remember, if any of this is too overwhelming, just keep it simple! Pick the layouts that work best for you. Journaling is meant to be fun and keep you organized; that means it will look different for everyone.
Happy journaling,
<3 Olivia Grace
