What Is the Difference Between Journaling and Bullet Journaling?

For a novice or someone with no experience with bullet journaling, you might not know how to distinguish between journaling and bullet journaling. When you are first starting out, bullet journaling can be a little confusing because it gets mixed up with diary writing.

To help get you started, let’s explore the differences between the two!

Bullet Journaling

Bullet journaling is a tool for organization and self-improvement. You can include things to track your habits, mood, etc. Daily to-do lists, as well as monthly calendars, are common in bullet journals.

Basically, a bullet journal is a detailed agenda. However, you do need to put in more effort to create any of the pages compared to a regular journal. A bullet journal comes with blank dotted pages. To use them, you need to design and draw your own spreads.

Bullet journals are less for writing than they are for organization, tracking, and self-improvement.

Journaling

Journaling is a different experience. When you are writing in a journal or in a diary, you are recording what you did that day or how you felt.

Journaling is intended for getting out your feelings from the day. It is an exercise in expressing yourself. When I think of journaling, I think of the therapeutic benefits that come with writing down your emotions and experiences. It can be really healing to get down all of the things that bothered you that day.

Writing in a journal is the perfect rap-up for your long and stressful day!

The Difference Between Bullet Journaling and Journaling

Now that we understand both types of journaling, we can go into the differences. Bullet journals and journals are actually quite different.

When it comes to the purpose of both journals, there are clear distinctions. Bullet journals are not intended for the same things as regular journals. You use it to organize your day and your habits. It helps you on your journey to self-improvement.

Similar to bullet journaling, journaling is also great for self-improvement. Writing down your feelings and stresses of the day helps you to let all of them go. Journals, however, have a different method for self-improvement than bullet journals. Its intention is to write. Bullet journals include little writing in comparison.

Design is another difference. Bullet journals come with dots instead of lines on the pages. The dots are meant to be better for creating spreads compared to lines. Lined pages are seen in journals so that you can write down all that you need to.

You add spreads to your bullet journals, which does require more work. A regular journal is easy enough to manage. You just write down everything you want to. No need to add any other elements. If you want to bullet journal, you need to keep in mind that it does require quite a bit more work.

Bullet journaling and journaling are two completely different things. Before you begin journaling, you need to know the differences and choose which one works best for you. Now, you have the information you need to make an informed decision on how you want to journal. Have fun with whichever you choose!

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