Monthly Bullet Journal Review Process

Hey all,

Its the end of the month and I thought instead of doing a Plan With Me post I would share something more helpful, my monthly review process. Reviewing the past is part of what helps us prepare for a better future. How did we get to where we are today and how can we change, replicate and improve yesterday for a better tomorrow? It helps to look back especially when I am feeling like a loser. Essentially, I feel like I accomplished nothing and all the negativity of my thoughts and feelings overwhelm me. I also review weekly and daily but those routines and rituals are not as lengthy as this one. If anyone is interested in seeing how I do those, comment and let me know. You can see the video down below.



So let's get on with the show.

My monthly review consists of 4 parts; collecting stats, checking progress, memory keeping and spiritual overview. None of these are official names. I just came up with them on the spot.

Collecting Stats
First, because I run two businesses and therefore have social media accounts for them as well as this blog and sales to keep track of, I check my stats. Sometimes, I have yearly or monthly stat goals that I want to achieve and checking in will let me know if I am on track to reach those goals with the marketing and promotions I have been doing during that time period. This part is relatively quick since I just go through and write down the numbers. This includes sales income, expenses and any profit. The last takes a little bit of basic math but its good to know where you stand.

Checking Progress
This next part consists of asking myself questions. I check in on the goals I set for that month and see how many I accomplished or did not accomplish and why. What worked for me and what didn't. What can I do to improve on this progress? Its not about placing blame or claiming credit. Nothing is ever perfect but it helps to take the time to sit and think about cause and affect during this short time period. If something went really well in one area of my life I should celebrate that and find out how I can make that sort of thing happen more often. If something went wrong, what can I potentially do to either avoid that result or look at it more positively in the future. And it is not all about business which the first part is (though I may change that now that it occurs to me). I consider my financial, spiritual, mental, physical and relationship goals when going over these questions.

These first two parts are based off of Lisa Jacobs Your Best Year workbooks. All of which are on sale currently; digitally for $5 and print for $10. Though many people do them in some form or another without having ever known these workbooks exist.

Memory Keeping
Next we come to my favorite part of my monthly review process. This idea spawned from the Bullet Journal community. Its a combination of the popular gratitude log and the monthly cover pages. As I mentioned earlier, I sometimes forget what I did all month. Particularly when I have gone through a depressive or anxious state that lasted more than a day. When this happens its like walking around in a fog and when I come out on the other side it looks and feels as if I got nothing done.

So looking back at the month I go through my calendars, my social media and my bullet journal to see what I did. The previous checking progress sections helps a lot too. Then looking at all I've done, I go to my monthly cover page which up until this point only has the name of the month, and I fill it in with all the moments and accomplishments I think made this month great. It can be anything from completing a project to hanging with friends after a long time, to celebrating the full moon or even attending a concert. Its whatever memories I want to keep and see and acknowledge as stand out memories from that time period. I usually do some sort of colorful hand lettering here with a few doodles. Every time I look at these finished pages I feel joy. And I like that there is no pressure to fill in something every day like there is with the gratitude logs.

Spiritual Overview
Okay, I'll be honest, I had no clue what to call this part. Every year, I do a massive year ahead reading where I pull four tarot and oracle cards for each month of the year. That's 48 cards. Then at the end of each month I look at the four cards that correspond with it to see what energies I was working with that month and how they manifested. Each card corresponds with an element and therefore an area of life. Earth= financial and physical, air = mental, fire = spiritual, and water = emotional. So I look at the cards and go over everything I'd reviewed already and journal about how I was feeling about the situations. Its a kind of letting go. Acknowledging that these things happened but not carrying them with me as burdens into the next month.

Here is a video of how I do all of this in my bullet journal and tarot journal so you can see what everything looks like.

So that's it. That's my monthly review process.  Let me know what you think in the comments below.