2025 Bullet Journal Setup

A brand new year lies before us, which means it is time to get myself set up for a new bullet journal! I hadn’t been using my planning system as diligently as I’d hoped in 2024, so I decided to switch things up and try something quite new with 2025. So keep scrolling to see what unfurled in my 2025 new year bullet journal setup!

A New Leaf

After spending over a year trying to make a 6-ring A5 binder work as my main planner, I am ready for something new. My 6-ring planner was great in theory, but I found that I never pulled it out to update it—I think we can all agree that ain’t it.

I learned long ago that I am quick to forget my planner if it doesn’t interest me, which leads to gaps in my planning and a chaotic schedule. So I cast my mind around to identify what I needed to recapture my fickle interest, and an idea struck me.

For the past few months, I’ve been successfully building a habit with near daily Sketch Session streams on YouTube. So why not pair up my planner with my sketchbook? After all, getting creative and making a beautifully designed planner worked for me all those years ago when my bullet journal first clicked into place, so it makes perfect sense.

With that stroke of inspiration in mind, I began my 2025 master plan.

My 2025 Bullet Journal Materials

Let me share what materials I chose for my new year setup!

Royal Talens Art Creation Sketchbook, 11.7″ x 8.3″

This is easily the largest size I’ve ever worked with as a bullet journal, but I’m excited for the challenge. I want to use it half as a sketchbook and half as a planner to incentivize me to do both every day.

Newsprint Drawing Paper

Faber Castell Colored Pencils

Prismacolor Colored Pencils

Tombow Dual Brush Pens

Tombow Fudenosuke Brush Pen, Black

Karin Pigment Decobrush Markers

Sakura Pen-Touch Calligrapher Pen in Gold, 1.4mm Flat Nib

Helix Circle Maker

Black and Decker Laser Level

Reflecting on 2024

To kick off a new year bullet journal spread, I like to take a moment to appreciate the year we leave behind. The way I like to do this is with a 2-page spread; one is a collection of memories and important moments from the last twelve months, and the other is a simple goodbye illustration.

Memories

Starting with memories, I begin the process outside of my journal on a scrap piece of paper. I first list out all the milestones and exciting events I can think of from 2024. Then, on a bit of newsprint paper, I doodle the sort of illustration that I feel goes best with each memory. In years past, I stuck with simple shapes, but this year I let myself get funky with it.

Once I have my rough illustrations done, I cut each piece out of the larger piece of newsprint and take some time arranging them on the final page like a puzzle. Getting everything to fit neatly can take some fiddling, but I get a composition that I like before long. I snap a photo on my phone so I can see where everything is placed before clearing the page and beginning to draw, letter, and color each individual memory.

The memory page is one of my favorite additions to my new year bullet journal setup. Ever since I started doing them a few years ago, I have enjoyed flipping back and looking at previous years. They only get better with age!

Looking Ahead at 2025

Now that we have bid farewell to 2024, I start to plan for the year ahead. The first page is dedicated to a simple but useful year-at-a-glance calendar. This page gives me a bird’s eye view of the year ahead, and it looks so good while doing it!

Then I create my title page—the first page officially welcoming in 2025! This page was a lot of fun to create, with a riot of color and texture to bring it to life. I first start with markers to cover as much white as possible. Then I go over with colored pencils to add a more layered, nuanced look and tons of scribbly texture.

My Annual Level 10 Life Chart

What would a new year’s bullet journal be without a Level 10 Life chart? I’ve had this annual tradition going strong for nearly a decade, and I’m not stopping now. This simple exercise in reflection gives powerful insight on how satisfied I am in all the major areas of my life.

Unlike previous years, I omitted the chart title and dedicated the room around the circular chart to my thoughts and intentions for each of the ten categories. Drawing the chart with the Helix Circle Tool was easy for the larger circles, but became much more challenging with the smaller inner rings. I ended up doing a lot of eyeballing and guesswork, but it turned out fine.

On the adjacent page, I decided to highlight my priorities for the year ahead so they are communicated loud and clear. The three sections that landed in the top priority position were, unsurprisingly, the three areas of my life that ranked the lowest this year: health, finances, and spirituality.

Then I have my second tier priorities: career, creativity, and fun, which all ranked in the middle this year. Finally, all the highest rated areas of my life are at the bottom of my priority list: giving, relationships, personal development, and marriage. These final four are going great, so I just need to keep doing whatever I’m doing to maintain that satisfaction.

Looking At Myself

Something that’s new in my 2025 bullet journal setup is this 2-page Identity spread, which features a self portrait and my I Am statements. These not only help me take a snapshot of this moment in time, saving it for myself, but it also helps me strengthen my ideals and sense of self as we move into the new year.

A Self Portrait—Me At A Glance

Drawing a self portrait is a brilliant idea, and I’m surprised it took me this long to bring it to my new year’s spreads! There is a temptation to draw myself at my best, but I wanted to be honest with this assessment. I haven’t had a haircut in months, my hair dye is totally bled out, and I’ve been living in strictly comfy clothes for the past six months or so—all characteristics that I tried to capture in this self portrait.

On top of that, I added my current age so I can easily see that bit of information when I inevitably look back. I also drew the items that are most often in my orbit; my backpack and its contents, my wallet and keys that I forget all the time, and all the bits and bobs that come along for the journey. This helps me get an even deeper insight into this stage of my journey and adds a fun element that makes for a more interesting illustration.

I enjoyed this page so much that I know I’m going to keep doing it for years to come. I know I’ll thank my past self when I look through these treasures later in my life.

My Identity

Another interesting page that I added is this I Am page; basically, a series of statements that I feel encompass who I am right now. As someone who struggles with depression and anxiety, I often have a little voice in my head that tells me I suck, that I’m falling behind, that people don’t like me… the list goes on.

This quote from Tony Robbins sums up the importance of this exercise nicely:

The strongest force in human personality is the need to stay consistent in how we define ourselves.

Tony Robbins

My Word of the Year for 2025

The final spread of my 2025 bullet journal setup is my Word of the Year. For many years now, I have selected a word or short phrase to summarize my intentions for the year ahead added an illustration of some sort.

This year, I chose “Level Up” as my personal mantra. I feel myself exiting one stage of my life and growing into a new one, but change is hard and I’m finding myself stuck in old patterns. That’s why this year, I’m trying to take myself to the next level and see what this stage has in store for me.

I also want to think of my life more as a game—where rules make sense and there is logic to everything. It’s a framework that has helped me with many aspects of my life, from chores to business to health. In fact, I’m currently working on a system of rewards at home to help me do tasks that I struggle to remember. I’m also developing my own system of custom cards to help me with exercise.

Basically, I want to make everything as fun as I can to get myself on board. If a task is difficult, boring, or stressful, I unconsciously avoid it like the plague. But by turning everything into a game, I’m shifting my perspective and leveling up.

Moving Forward into 2025

This whole series of pages was a lengthy, difficult project for me, but I’m glad I did it all the same. It’s so easy to get wrapped up with the day-to-day hustle that we forget to look at the bigger picture and take stock of life. Each page holds a purpose, and I feel more prepared to step into the unknowns of 2025 thanks to all that hard work.

I hope you have a fantastic new year and feel excited for the opportunities that lie ahead. Now let’s take on 2025!