Is a minimalist bullet journal a waste of time or the whole point?

I keep seeing these super artsy spreads with washi tape and drawings that take hours. But my buddy says if you aren't decorating your pages you're missing the whole creative outlet part. I've been keeping a plain tracker for 8 months and it works fine for my schedule and habits. But then I tried adding ONE simple doodle to my weekly log and it actually helped me remember the day better. So which is it - am I doing it wrong by keeping it basic, or are the fancy folks missing the utility? Who else has landed somewhere in between?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_dakota1mo ago

Oh man, I used to be totally on the "utility only" side. I had this strict black pen, no frills setup for like a year and thought the fancy people were just wasting time. But then I started using a mildliner to color code my work tasks and personal stuff and it actually made scanning my week way faster. Now I'm in this weird middle ground where my spreads are still super simple but I'll add a tiny border or a little dot pattern if I'm bored and it honestly helps my brain hold onto the info better.

brookerobinson1mo ago

Yes exactly that middle ground is where it clicked for me too! I started with just a black pen then tried a single highlighter for appointments and suddenly everything made more sense visually. Now I'm hooked on a simple layout with one accent color per month, keeps it clean but gives my brain something to latch onto.