4 simple steps to get over your Bullet Journal mistakes + Freebie

So, you screwed up in your Bullet Journal.
And now you’re banging your head against the wall thinking you should’ve known better.
Ok, so it’s probably not that bad, but it SUCKS and you’re completely frustrated.
Keep on reading to get my trusted four simple steps to get over any frustrations you may have on Bullet Journal mistakes you’ve made.

As I was creating a new collection for my bullet journal I made a few mistakes that to me (well, at least ”the old me”) kinda ruined it.

I say ”the old me” because in some ways I’ve been able to move past that. My initial reaction is still frustration, irritation, insert-negative-emotion-here. But then I have my trusted mind games that help me move past that. And in the end I tend to be ok with it, warts and all.

So let me set the scene for you and then we’ll get into those mind games…

I was sitting at our dinner-turned-office-table in our airbnb apartment, overlooking the Barceloneta beach, and I was creating a new collection in my Bullet Journal.

Haha, I just had to write that, as blog-gurus always say we should tell more stories and set the scene. And honestly, I’m so happy to be here in Barcelona for a couple of months I just want to talk about it all the time LOL

Anyhow, I wanted to create some collections in my Bullet Journal as memories for this trip. And since I’m a self-proclaimed foodie I thought it’d be fun to have something related to the restaurants we go to and other food experiences we have here. Hence this collection.

Some examples of my mistakes

I decided to share some of my mistakes from this last collection because maybe you struggle with these similar ”issues” and I always like to hear when other’s have similar issues as me. It makes me feel not-so-alone-after-all.

So, what are the mistakes you might ask. Since these aren’t the focus of this blog post I’ll do my best to just mention them briefly.

And before I start I just wanted to say that I know these might seem trivial to some of you, and maybe even something you wouldn’t give much thought to. But we’re all different, and some things that bug me might not bug you and the other way around. Everyone’s different and that’s ok. The mind-games will work for you no matter what bugs you :)

Ok, shall we get into them then? So, some of the things that I’m not very pleased with are;

• I did the dividers for the sections with dots. I’d originally planned to do a thin line to keep with the tone of the lines in the header + give it a cleaner fresher look. But when I was creating I just did the dots without thinking. Darn it!
• I guess most of us have done something like this in our BuJo’s and other creative projects… look at the thick line just below the header ”Barcelona”. Yep, it’s the smudge-thing going on there that I wasn’t too happy with. It’s something that happens all the time but whenever it happens I think ”I should know better by now”…
• The logotypes of the restaurant ”TOTO” wasn’t one of my best. I always struggle with o’s, and this was no exception.
• I could go on and on, but I’ll drop it here as I think you get the picture.

As I said, some of these mistakes aren’t that big-of-a-deal, and some of you might question my sanity at this point LOL but there you have it.

As someone wise once said ”we aren’t our thoughts, we have thoughts”. And so, we can alter our thoughts and consequently alter our feelings.

And that’s what I wanted to talk about here. How to get over mistakes like these and not let ’em bog us down.

How to get over your Bullet Journal mistakes

So, how do we get over mishaps like this? How did I manage to let go (after, of course, having had a few minutes of being frustrated and grumpy about it)?

Get the free printable PDF from the Library (click here if you’re new to the list and click here if you’re already signed up to access all my freebies).

1. What’s done is done

The first step, as stupid as it sounds, is to embrace the fact that what’s-done-is-done. It’s done. There’s nothing you can do to go back in time and do things differently.

2. View it from a larger perspective

View your mistake from a larger perspective. It’s not like we’re dealing with a life-or-death situation here.

So what if your handwriting on a header looks completely off. Or a flower looks completely crooked. It’s frustrating and irritating, yes. But viewing it from a larger viewpoint makes it easier to relax a bit and see it for what it is.

3. Imperfections brings personality

This is actually a mantra I came up with when I was starting my first bullet journal. I had such a hard time getting started because I didn’t want to mess it up. The mantra helped me get over that initial bump and get going. And it has helped me a lot since then too.

It’s a try to flip the negativity surrounding imperfections into something positive. Maybe you’ll want to change the words to something that’s true to you.

But either way, I would suggest you find a mantra that speaks to you and have it on repeat in your mind whenever something goes wrong.

4. Turn the page

And if the first steps don’t help you ’get over’ the mistakes, well then simply turn the page and re-do it ;)

But, what to do with this mishap of a page?

Write an inspirational quote or draw some pretty flowers on a piece of paper. Then use paper glue or washi tape to stick it to that page. You could also write/draw directly on sticker paper. That way you simply add it to the page like you would any sticker.

I’m thinking of adding printables to my Etsy shop perfect for these situations. What do you think, is it something I should do?

(As you can see – I haven’t used glue or washi tape to place these in my BuJo just yet. I had to get the photos done in a hurry to get this blog post out… Just keeping it real here :))

I did that exact thing here because one of the pens I was using was bleeding through. A lot! I didn’t want to use that page for anything else, so I figured it was a good a place as any for some motivation and prettiness ;)

You could also use some of my freebies available in the Tribe Library. There are some quotes that would be easy to print and use. If you’re already signed-up you can access the library here . Otherwise you can easily sign-up and get instant access here .

Well, there you have it. I hope you found these steps helpful. I’d love to hear how you handle your frustration when you make mistakes. If you get frustrated at all? Maybe I’m the only one? :)

If you want to leave a comment you can do so in the comments below or over on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.