STUDENT + WORK Bullet Journal Spreads
Master Syllabus/Calendar
For both school and work, I find I get stressed when I have to rely on my brain to keep track of everything I have to do, so getting things down on paper has always been really helpful for me, and this spread is designed to be a place to remind me of any pressing dates.
There’s a calendar for the next four months: September, October, November, and December. At the bottom of the spread I made a key: one set of symbols that represent different types of alerts like test, due dates, and appointments, and another set of colours that differentiate different categories like school, work, and personal.
To add some colour to the spread I used a *Tombow in the colour 553 to create a drop shadow on each calendar. There’s also space beside each calendar to highlight any specific dates. There’s obviously not enough room to list EVERY DETAIL— it’s meant to be an overview spread, because details can be written in each month’s individual calendar— but any major events can still be marked down here.
Working from Home Routine
Both as a student and content creator, I’ve had to figure out effective ways to work and live life in the same physical space. One of the biggest struggles with working and living in the same environment is knowing when to put work away—it’s easy to feel on the clock 24/7. Creating a “working from home” routine is a great way to intentionally balance life and work.
This spread is a spot for roughly planning out a routine for the week. It has an hourly layout from 5am-midnight so that it’s easy to not only assign main tasks to each day, but to also roughly plan when those tasks will get done.
On the right side is a key to represent the different categories of tasks: school, work, personal, and meals. I know this is a working from home spread, but making time for yourself is important so I think it’s worth scheduling into this routine. Making time for yourself daily — whether it’s for a hobby, working out, or social time— is so valuable for your mental health!
Digital Information
With so many people having to do school online this year, chances are you’ll be relying heavily on emails to your professors and TAs as a way of asking questions and submitting work— the same applies for those working from home and communicating with their boss. So the top rectangle is a spot to write down professor/co-worker’s contact information.
Online classes and work also means signing-in to various sites to access class content, research, and/or to join virtual meetings. It’s important to have different passwords for everything so, if you’re not using an online password keeper, writing them down in one spot can be really helpful.
Goal Setting
On the right page I created a spot to write down any goals you have for the semester so that, when you’re planning things like your “working from home routine,” your goals are always top-of-mind. For example, if your goal is to get a good mark in a particular class, something that might help you get there is spending 20-30 minutes reviewing course concepts each week. Those review sessions can then be booked into your weekly routine.
Meal Ideas
During busy seasons of life, I’m guilty of poor meal choices— it’s so easy to opt for something quick and fast, but usually those options aren’t the best nutrition-wise. This “meal ideas” spread is a space to brainstorm meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It can be used with a meal planner to schedule in meals for different dates, or it can be used as a “what should I make” cheat sheet that’s filled with meals you actually like! It’s an easy spread to create, but one that I think comes in handy when you’re busy with other things and really don’t have the brainpower to figure out food, haha :)
Readings Tracker
On the right page, I drew out a chart to be a home for a readings tracker. I designed this one to track the readings for one semester for one course (you can duplicate this for however many courses you’re taking). The chart has a spot each week to check off whether you completed the readings, a column to write down what those readings are, and a column to write down the key point or theme of the week. If you wanted room to write down a bit more information, this can easily be expanded into a two page layout.
Assignment & Project Planner
If you’ve seen any of my assignment trackers in the past, then you know I love creating a spot for a progress bar so I created the progress bar for this spread at the top of the page with a spot to write the beginning date of the project and the end date (watch the video at the top of this post to see this spread in action). Below the progress bar is a section to plan out each stage of the assignment on the left column, and to track actual progress you’re making on the right column. Having a spot for planned progress and actual progress makes it easy to compare and contrast between the two to see if your assignment is on schedule, ahead, or behind.
Weekly Spread
This weekly spread is a horizontal layout with a rectangle for each day of the week. Each day has a spot to write down a mini to-do list, a spot to track how many hours you worked that day and how many hours you slept the night before. There’s also room to do more formal meal planning by figuring out, in advance, what you’ll have each day of the week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And lastly, there’s a section for habit tracking— everyone’s habit tracker looks different depending on what things you’re wanting to prioritize, but my habit trackers typically focus on hydration, meditation, gratitude, working out, and reading.
BONUS SPREADS!
Weekly Spread — Vertical
Since I shared a horizontal weekly spread layout in my video, I thought it’d be fun to design a vertical design using my new favourite bullet journal supply— *kraft paper! This spread also has a sleep and study tracker, habit trackers (hydration, meditation, gratitude, working out, reading, outdoor time, and self care). If I’m being honest, I think I loved how this weekly layout turned out better than the one in the video; however, I avoided using kraft paper in the video so that all of the layouts would be really easy to replicate!
Course Outline
After editing this video, I realized there wasn’t a “one-stop-shop” spread to cover multiple planning needs for each course, so this course outline has designated spots for keeping track of all the assignments, homework, and grades each course has. There’s a spot at the top left page for writing down contact information, class time, your final grade and the course’s difficulty (for future reference).
Products Used….
Archer and olive dotted notebook: https://bit.ly/2Nb7FKK
*pink grid ruler: https://go.magik.ly/ml/s2ts/
*sakura pigma microb black pens: https://amzn.to/2Q3qQrb
*fabercastell Pitt artist black pens: https://go.magik.ly/ml/vb58/
*kraft paper cardstock value pack: https://go.magik.ly/ml/y08g/
*muji black gel pens: https://amzn.to/2va1m4
*gelly roll pens: https://amzn.to/2VrciFC
*glue tape: https://amzn.to/3eTMb0J
*tombow dual brush pens: https://amzn.to/2WGwuU9
Which spread was your favourite? Let me know in the comments below! If you’re looking for more bullet journal inspiration, check out this month’s NEW SPREADS HERE. Until next time, Xo. —C.
*affiliate links
