How To Do a Mid-Year Check-In with Your Bullet Journal
Finding Summer Joy in New Growth
I feel like I would normally be starting this post with what it feels like to finally be in summer. it’s official. Writing camp at Western Michigan University wrapped up last week, and I started to work on the anthology this week with a renewed sense of feeling (more) free from obligations. While I always stay busy, summer is a freedom of sorts from time. However, this year has been so different. We had five weeks off in between schools closing down and starting online learning. We then ran through online learning at a sprinting pace, and June hit all of a sudden before I could even register that I wouldn’t be able to say goodbye to my students. I can’t honestly say the number of Google Meets I have been on since April. I miss my classroom. I miss my students. Now, it’s July. I am just as tired. I feel just as drained. However, I am wondering if it is for other reasons than the weird way the school year ended.
I think I am exhausted because I was not feeding my own creativity and growth in terms of reading and writing during the time of online learning. I felt so frustrated with online learning and the systems and processes in place that I realized that my own goals in terms of creativity just weren’t there. So, after figuring this out about myself, I made July’s plan-with-me post a mid-year check-in review and inventory of where I am at in terms of goals, habits, and dreams. This post outlines how I set up my productivity pages for the month of July, and it also includes how I am doing a mid-year check-in. If you want to also do a mid-year check-in, follow along with the prompts. I hear so many people in the teaching profession and in my own personal life saying that they have “given up on 2020” and “I am already looking forward to 2021.” We have this time, and I know that living in the present moment has been the necessary water my life garden has needed for each phase of my life.
Let’s grow in July.
July Cover
Mid-Year Check-In Layout
Your mid-year check-in may look entirely different from mine based on your goals and habits. I always do a previous month’s reflection, and I didn’t want a new layout in my journal for that spread. I wanted to see the most recent reflections on the same page as the first 5 months of the year. I include a timeline to outline my year so far with big events (Hello, school closures and COVID-19), establish a spot for my goals/habits check-in, put a spot for the blog and dreams, and then start with a June-in-review section.
TIMELINE
GOALS/HABITS CHECK-IN
HEALTH/FITNESS
FINANCES
STRESS
CREATIVE/PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT
HOME
TEACHING
JUNE-IN-REVIEW
BLOG FROM JANUARY -JUNE
For my mid-year review, I include monthly layouts for the next 6 months. This is not for planning each month. I will use the July monthly layout to help plan as usual, but the other months are there to help outline my goals after I do my mid-year review. I found these little monthly tabs in the Target dollar spot. This little tabs are for events that are on my calendar. The spreads on the left are for my own planning in terms of goals, habits, and bigger projects. This is not for appointment booking. I have weekly layouts for that work. This work is all about how I want to spend the time that I have to work on who I pictured myself to be at the beginning of 2020. For example, already in my July layout, I have included my plans for workouts on each day, and I have labeled new blog projects I want to get done with blog posts. Sometimes when we think of productivity we leave out our dreams. I think a mid-year review is an excellent place to re-establish our goals and make sure it aligns with our dreams about who we want to be.
Some questions to ask if you want to do a mid-year review:
What were your goals at the beginning of the year?
What months went well?
What months did you fall off track?
How did COVID-19 interrupt your plan or vision for 2020?
What moments in January to June are you proud of?
What good habits did you establish?
What bad habits do you want to break moving forward?
How do you feel about where you are with your finances?
How do you feel physically? emotionally? mentally?
For teachers, how will you change your teaching lessons, curriculum, etc to be actively antiracist? How will you approach being an ally in 2020-2021?
For teachers, how can you prepare yourself for moving into an uncertain school year with COVID-19?
What would it take for you to be and feel happy moving into 2021?
Weekly Layouts
I kept my weekly layouts pretty simple. I love to get ideas for weekly layouts from planners and agendas that are available at the store. More often than not, I tweak the layout to work with what I want in that present moment. During the school year, I leave myself more space to write for the days or use daily layouts. However, with summer, I can get away with fitting everything in on one page. I am also trying to keep weekly priorities to 3 at a maximum because I can easily fill time if needed. I need to slow down during this time on purpose. Notes will end up being what needs to get moved over into the next week or something important to remember.
DAYS OF THE WEEK
PRIORITIES
TASKS
NOTES
All of my weekly layouts are the same. I love a beautiful intricate layout like what you see on Pinterest. However, I much prefer a simpler layout for when I am in the middle of my week. It makes me feel more productive, and then I have room to doodle, put arrows, and circles around things that are important. My weeks get messy. My weekly layouts should be just as chaotic.