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Set your goals - make the plans - artfully create your life - live it beautifully. Grab the good chocolate and find your muse.

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Home » Why Use a Future Log – Even If It’s Late.

Why Use a Future Log – Even If It’s Late.

January 2, 2018 3 Comments

Happy New Year! Why Use a Future Log – even if you’re late starting

I recorded many videos the middle of December – and didn’t have them all ready to go – some until this morning. I wanted to do it, but there was just something keeping me from completing it. Not sure if it was that little voice of doubt in the back of my head, if I didn’t have the right kind of music playing in the background, or if I simply wanted to watch some more of those good ‘ole classic Christmas movies. I want to represent to you that planning can take place anytime, even if you miss a big date like January 1.

Do you ever feel that way? I have seen so many people say the same thing for planning. Here’s your question – why use a future log if it’s starting later than the ideal date?

Want to see an overview for my month? Read the post here & watch the pre-planning video.

Future Planning Can Take Place at Any Time – Even if You Missed A Big Date

Planning can take place at any time. Even if you missed January 1 or the start of a month. I want you to rest assured that just because you missed the first day to ‘go live’ with your plans, it doesn’t mean that you have to scrap the idea. Pick up where you are and move forward. I am here to tell you that it is perfectly ok. Our lives are not perfect nor are our plans. Real life gets in the way of a perfectly planned one. But don’t let that stand in your way, make plans anyway, no matter when you start.

Bullet Journaling Taught me it was Okay to Move Forward

Believe it or not,  And what’s more, taught me to accept it. I used to worry about making a mistake and wanting to rip out pages from the bound book. (Though I never would rip out a page because it would compromise the integrity of the stitching in the book and further ruin it.) Planning petrified me because I wanted the start date to be perfect, my writing to be immaculate, and everything laid out ‘just so’. On my first bullet journal, I messed up on the first line of text. I learned to accept whiteout and move on.

I’ve been really mulling that concept over – and even more so when a perfect stranger reached out to me for advice on how to start. I gave my advice and then I started thinking about the advice I would give myself. I think I will be developing a series dedicated to such thinking. You’ll notice in my video below that I mess up on the lines starting with October.

Bullet Journal Future Log - Why use a log if you are late starting

Here’s My Advice for Starting:

When starting a journal, don’t worry about all the things. 1) Start with A future log, 2) a monthly calendar and try out a 3) weekly log to start. I don’t plan enough to do a daily log, so I don’t.  That’s it. Start with just those three. Then you’ll find that you want to include other ideas in your journal. Those become collections.

Here’s my advice when you start late on planning:

Plan anyway. It will be ok. If it makes you feel better, do a future log starting from January (no matter where you are in the year) and work forward. That’s what I did in my first bullet journal. I started in April and it felt weird to start my future log in April, so I included January-March for good measure and wrote down big events that happened in those months as a review then I started my first monthly with April.

Once you turn the page, it’s not going to matter.  And the last piece of advice: it will be an evolution. Your style will evolve. You will become more comfortable with what you like and don’t like, so I would say skip the frills for the first bit and just focus on including the things you want to include on your spreads (trackers, all the days on one page, a place for meal planning, etc.)

Why Use a Future Log – Even If You Are Moving to a New Journal Soon

I’d like to present my Future Log – I decided to include a future log in this planner even though I would be in this book for just a couple more months. For one thing, I reaaaaally wanted to include a bullet train in my bullet journal since my monthly theme was transportation based. For another thing, I thought I might be more free-minded with my future planning if I knew I would move to a new journal. I would write things I actually wanted to do instead of just the things that I had to do. In this case, I will appoint wishes versus musts.

So here are some reasons why you should use a Future Log even if it’s in the middle of a journal or in the middle of the year:

  • Plan the future – yes, please! Plan the future in front of you and not the past behind. You want to start something because you want to just do it already, but you are letting your past hold you back. So what if you didn’t start on an ideal day? Make today be that ideal day.
  • Don’t miss big dates – who wants that?
  • Dream Big – writing something down makes it more real in your mind, chances are if it is on the calendar, you might work a little harder to achieve it. Even if you migrate it, that dream just became a goal.
  • Add your goals so you are working on an actual timeline instead of a mystical date in your head.
4 Reasons to Future Log even if you start planning late in your Bullet Journal

For the Set-Up: Watercolor – with Markers?

Trying out some new techniques for watercoloring this month – with Crayola Super Tip Markers. It’s a really fun technique and I think this would work for most other markers too – like the Tombow dual brush tip markers.The super tips are really inexpensive and now are more versatile in my life. There are specific marker palettes that you can use, but a simple dinner plate works well for me. I’ve also thought that a piece of transparency film would work well too if you didn’t have a smooth finish plate you could claim from your kitchen.

Watch the video below for how I set up my future log. I’d love to know what your future planner looks like. I’m going to brainstorm some ideas and showcase a few of my favorites in a post to come.

Remember to plan your life so you live beautifully.

~Tricia

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Chocolate Musings by Tricia Murdock
YouTube Video UCefWa0NWVt5a_q9LWofOWhw_yIQ4ggBQBsg From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Ideas and Plants - Loose floral wreaths
Lots of spring-inspired doodles with pastel colors. I changed it up this month with horizontal weekly layouts.


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Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:12 Sneak Peek
00:33 Welcome Page
01:26 Monthly Calendar
02:42 Brain Dump
03:34 Weeklies
05:35 Journal
06:17 Habit Tracker
06:55 Flip Through
From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Ideas and Plants - Loose floral wreaths
Lots of spring-inspired doodles with pastel colors. I changed it up this month with horizontal weekly layouts.


____________________

Brain Dump Names: https://chocolatemusings.com/different-names-brain-dump/

Social Links - Let's be Friends!
Website: http://ChocolateMusings.com
Shop: https://chocolatemusings.com/shop/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateMusings
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/chocolatemusingscreates
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateMusings/

____________________


Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
00:00 Introduction
00:12 Sneak Peek
00:33 Welcome Page
01:26 Monthly Calendar
02:42 Brain Dump
03:34 Weeklies
05:35 Journal
06:17 Habit Tracker
06:55 Flip Through
From the Archives: Fun & Whimsical Bullet Journal Set Up - Experimenting with Watercolor Leaves in my Bullet Journal. Featuring 2-to-a-spread weeklies and a loosely painted watercolor theme - I hope this planning session inspires you to paint or to try something new.


00:00 Introduction
00:15 Welcome Page Wreath
01:41 Monthly Calendar Page
03:04 Habit Tracker & Monthly To Do Pages
05:47 Gratitude + Week 1
06:35 Weeklies
06:52 Brain Dump
07:15 Journal
07:42 Whoops! Adding a Page
09:06 Final Flip Through


____________________

Social Links - Let's be Friends!
Website: http://ChocolateMusings.com
Shop: https://chocolatemusings.com/shop/
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/ChocolateMusings
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/chocolatemusingscreates
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/ChocolateMusings/

____________________


Products I Used: 
Daniel Smith Watercolor: https://amzn.to/3Ip8xbD
Princeton Velvetouch Paint Brushes: https://amzn.to/42IVnPQ
Archer & Olive A5 Dot Grid Notebook: https://archerandolive.refr.cc/triciam
Helix Circle Maker Tool: https://amzn.to/49kx5xY
Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen: https://amzn.to/42MogKR



Video Set-Up:

Photography Lights (I use these for my everyday drawing). They're amazing https://amzn.to/2shdb4j
Canon PowerShot G7x Mark III Digital Camera https://amzn.to/3yt2lb4
Blue Yeti - USB Microphone https://amzn.to/2SNwb6a
Scissor Arm Mic Stand https://amzn.to/2CcGgm0






Contains affiliate links - if you use them, I may receive a small commission at no charge to you.
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Here's another #minimal #weeklylayout idea - use t Here's another #minimal #weeklylayout idea - use these cute day-of-the-week stickers, add the dates, and VIOLA! Your weekly setup is d.o.n.e.⁠ ✔️⁠
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Looking back at this February calendar page 📅 S Looking back at this February calendar page 📅 Sometimes simple is best!
Here's an easy-peasy heart layout. Add some paint Here's an easy-peasy heart layout. Add some paint splatters for extra color and fun!⁠
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3 Comments
Filed Under: Blog, Bullet Journal, Get Organized & Start Planning, Plan With Me, Planner Spreads, Start Planning Here Tagged: #BuJo, Bullet Journal, Bullet Journal Advice, bullet journaling, future, future log, future planning, goal, goal setting, goals, plan with me, planner, setting up your bullet journal, setting up your planner, train, what to do if you don't start in January, what to do if you mess up

Comments

  1. Patti Aziraj says

    January 12, 2018 at 12:29 pm

    This is such a great reminder that it’s never too late. Too much dwelling on something that didn’t turn out the way you wanted. I always do a future log because if nothing else, you can migrate it when you move to a new book and know you haven’t missed anything!
    Patti Aziraj recently posted…How To Trim Your Grocery Budget: Save Money Bullet JournalingMy Profile

    Reply
    • Tricia says

      January 12, 2018 at 9:46 pm

      Future logs are a staple for me. I think I am going to try out some ways to do a future log. I need to see what yours looks like. And I love the migration – it doesn’t take too much effort to do it!

      Reply

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About Me


Hi! I'm Tricia, the creative behind ChocolateMusings.com, I know how it feels to lose your inner muse. After years of darkness (which I call the dark ages of my life), I found my inner muse hiding in the forgotten corners of my soul, I vowed never to lose sight of her again.

Bullet journaling helped reignite the passion for art and living life again while organizing my days. I also discovered modern calligraphy and watercolor. Since then, my use of the bullet journal system has evlolved and I call it 'creative planning'. Here on the blog, I show you how to use your planner to ignite your inner muse and explore creativity and art while staying beautifully organized and living a joyful life.

I invite you to grab some good chocolate and dive into my musings. Let’s ignite your inner muse.

Read more on the about me page. You can also find my policies and disclosures here.

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